Certification

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Heat exchangers
Certification manual
Certification Manual
Documents
Technical Certification Rules

Scope of programme

The Eurovent Certified Performance (ECP) programme scope for Heat Exchangers (HE), covers five groups of products used for refrigeration and process cooling, using axial flow fans. These include Direct Expansion (Dx) Air Coolers using HFC, Dx Air Coolers using CO2, Air Cooled Condensers, CO2 Gas Coolers and Dry Coolers.

Programme exclusions can be found in the Technical Certification Rules.

Certify-all principle

Whenever a company participates in the programme for Heat Exchangers (HE), all applicable products that are promoted by the applicant/participant, are certified. This is done in accordance with the Technical Certification Rules and includes all models in modular ranges. For the HE programme, the certify-all requirement as defined in the Certification Manual shall be limited to the European market. This means that it will be mandatory to declare and certify the model ranges promoted on the European market and participants will be free to certify or not the model ranges promoted out of Europe. The European market includes EU-27 +Switzerland+ UK + Turkey + Norway.

Product type

The products below are used in refrigeration and process cooling applications for buildings. 

Air coolers (HFC and CO2)

Air coolers are a refrigeration system component, which transfers heat from air to a refrigerant, or liquid. Air coolers typically consist of a heat exchanger, fan(s) and casing. The coil is normally of fin and tube or microchannel construction. 

Also known as refrigerant evaporators, air coolers allow the refrigerant to move from the "liquid" state to the "gaseous" state by heat transfer via forced air convection. Air is blown or drawn across the heat exchanger fins at a temperature higher than the refrigerant within the coil. As the refrigerant absorbs heat from the air, it evaporates. The movement of heat to the refrigerant in the coil, cools the outside air.

Air coolers can come in a range of sizes and designs. The heat exchanger can be built using a number of different materials such as copper and aluminium, and include specialist coatings. Air coolers can also operate using a wide range of refrigerants. Fans are an important component when it comes to energy use and can utilise AC or EC motors. Air coolers for refrigeration are commonly used in buildings for commercial and industrial cold room applications.

In the HE programme, two types of air coolers are certified. You’ll find them under the product types Air Coolers CO2 (air cooler using CO2 as refrigerant) and Air Coolers HFC (air cooler using HFC refrigerants).

Condensers

Condensers are a refrigeration system component that condenses refrigerant vapour by rejecting heat to air mechanically. Condensers will typically consist of a heat exchanger, fan(s) and casing. 

Condensers allow the refrigerant to move from the "gaseous" state to the "liquid" state by cooling it via forced air convection. Air is blown or drawn across the heat exchanger fins at a temperature lower than the hot refrigerant gas within the coil. As the refrigerant releases heat to the surrounding air it condenses back to a liquid. 

Condensers typically use fin and tube or microchannel heat exchangers, and can come in a range of sizes and designs. Fans can utilise AC or EC motors. The heat exchanger can be built using a number of different materials such as copper and aluminium, and include specialist coatings. Condensers are designed to be installed outdoors as they expel heat to the ambient air. They are primarily installed in buildings, in chilled water production units and can be used for process cooling or refrigeration.

In the HE programme, two types of condensers are certified - Air Cooled Condensers (using HFC) and CO2 Gas Coolers (using CO2). 

Dry coolers

Dry coolers are a refrigeration system component that cools liquid by rejecting heat to air mechanically. Dry coolers will typically consist of a heat exchanger, fan(s) and casing.

Dry coolers are heat transfer devices that cool water, or water glycol mix, used in a closed circuit by forced air convection. Air is blown or drawn over a heat exchanger, which can either be a traditional fin and tube design or microchannel. The air passing over the heat exchanger fins attracts heat from the water / water glycol mix within. Once cooled, the fluid is ready to absorb heat from an associated process. 

Dry Coolers are designed to be installed outdoors and are suitable for buildings with high cooling capacities. They can be used to cool the water in the water condensers of chilled water production units, or for free cooling applications.

Definitions

While exploring our certified products you’ll come across a number of technical terms relating to certification. The below definitions help explain the search criteria in our certified product directory.

All certified product types in the HE programme have some of the following search criteria in common :

Brand
Brand name of the manufacturer.

Range 
Listing of models with some common features.

Model
Model name.

The following will be set at the speed and standard condition stated e.g. Pc @SC25 Medium speed. 

Pc 
Is the cooling capacity in kW. It is the total heat flow rejected by the liquid (for dry coolers, condensers and CO2 gas coolers) or by air (for air coolers) at standard temperature conditions.

SC 
Stands for standard condition. See notes on the different standard conditions below.

Pe
Shows fan power consumption in W. It is the electric power absorbed by the fan motor.

Qv
Is the air flow rate. It is the quantity of air blown by fans through the coil of the heat exchanger, to cool down the refrigerant. Air flow is measured with dry and clean air.

LP
Means A-weighted sound power level. It measures the sound power generated by the condenser, expressed in decibels and weighted in accordance with standardised procedures. It is measured at a 10-metre distance.

Lw
Measures A-weighted sound power level at a set speed, expressed in decibels. 

DPw
Is the liquid side pressure drop (only for liquids).

Energy ratio
The certified nominal capacity in kW, divided by the total certified power input of the fan motors in kW, at the standard rating condition. The higher the energy ratio, the more energy efficient the product.

Surface Area
Surface area of the heat exchanger is the total area through which the heat exchange takes place and is expressed in m2. In fin and tube heat exchangers this includes the surface area of both tubes and fins. For microchannel this includes the air side heat transfer surface, fin surface and flat tube air-side surface.

Energy Class
This is the Energy Class the product sits within. For Eurovent energy classification, E is the lowest energy class rating while A+ the highest. 

Refrigerant
Refers to the type of refrigerant the product uses.

No. of fans
Is the number of fans the product uses.

Fin spacing
Is the space between the heat exchanger fins in mm.

Fan diameter
Is the diameter of the fan in mm.
 

 

Standard conditions

Air Coolers HFC and Air Coolers CO2 are rated using different standard conditions. Each condition has its specification in terms of air inlet temperature and evaporating temperature according to EN 328:2014. Standard conditions for air coolers are :
 

Standard Conditions for Refrigerants

Air Inlet Temperature (°C)

Evaporating Temperature (°C)

SC1

10

0

SC2

0

-8

SC3

-18

-25

SC4*

-25

-31

*Only for Air Coolers CO2


For condensers, the standard condition is SC15, under EN 327:2014. Standard conditions for condensers are :
 

Testing Condition for Refrigerant

Air Inlet Temperature « TA1 » (°C)

Temperature difference (DT1) (K)

Subcooling Temperature (K)

SC15

25

15

≤ 3

SC10

25

10

≤ 3


For dry coolers, the testing condition is SC15, under EN 1048:2014. Testing conditions for Dry coolers are :
 

Testing Condition for liquid (Water)

Air Inlet Temperature (°C)

Refrigerant Inlet Temperature (°C)

Refrigerant Outlet Temperature (°C)

SC15

25

40

35


For Gas coolers, the standard conditions are SC20 (Transcritical mode) and SC25 (Subcritical mode) , under EN 327:2014. Standard Conditions for CO2 gas Coolers are :

  • Transcritical mode :
     

Standard condition

Air inlet temperature [± 1 K]

Gas cooler inlet pressure [± 1 bar]

Gas cooler inlet temperature [± 5 K]

Gas cooler outlet temperature [± 1 K]

SC20

30°C

90 bar

110°C

35°C

 
  • Subcritical mode :
     

Standard condition

Air inlet temperature

Condensing temperature

Refrigerant inlet temperature

Subcooling

SC25

5°C

15°C

60°C

<3 K


The certified capacity as the standard capacity tested through an independent lab.

Search for certified products in our Heat Exchanger programme via our certified product directory

Certified performances

Air Coolers

The following performances of air coolers are certified :

  • Standard capacity**
  • Fan power
  • Energy class
  • Air flow rate.

Air Cooled Condensers

The following performances of air cooled condensers are certified :

  • Standard capacity**
  • Fan power input
  • Energy class
  • Air flow rate
  • A-weighted sound power level.
  • A-weighted sound pressure level 

Dry Coolers

The following performances of dry coolers are certified :

  • Standard capacity
  • Fan power input
  • Energy class
  • Air flow rate
  • Liquid side pressure drop
  • A-weighted sound power level.
  • A-weighted sound pressure level 

CO2 Gas coolers

The following performance of  CO2 Gas coolers are certified :

  • Standard capacity 
  • Fan power input 
  • Air volume flow
  • A-weighted sound pressure level 
  • A-weighted sound power level 

** The standard capacity for HFCs (Air Coolers HFC and Condensers) is declared for the three (3) common fluids which are R448A, R449A and R450A.

Search for certified products in our Heat Exchanger programme via our certified product directory.

Find out how to apply for the Heat Exchangers programme.

💡 Good to know

When using the Advanced Search Criteria function, for all products in the HE programme (excluding gas coolers CO2), you can search via energy efficiency ratio, energy class and cooling capacity (Pc) at various speeds and conditions. 

In addition, Condensers and Dry coolers can search via sound pressure level at 10m at very high speed, high speed, medium speed and low speed. Dry coolers can also search via fluid side pressure drop at very high speed, high speed, medium speed and low speed. 

Gas coolers CO2 can search via cooling capacity in transcritical mode at high speed or medium speed, and sound pressure level at 10m at high speed, medium speed and low speed.

 

Search for certified products in our Heat Exchanger programme