Cold Logic, an Australian industrial refrigeration manufacturer, has launched an ammonia (R717)-based extreme testing chamber at its Wingfield facility in South Australia to support the defense industry’s operational performance evaluation of high-tech equipment.
The chamber simulates temperature fluctuations from −33 to 50°C (−27.4 to 122°F).
The facility contains an in-house designed two-stage ammonia system that supplies 2,100kW (597TR) of cooling capacity to the fluid-cooled water chiller and 60kW (17TR) at −35°C (−31°F), Michael Riese, Business Development Manager for Defense and Research at Cold Logic, told NaturalRefrigerants.com.
“Nowhere else in the country can you test the operational running performance of critical defense equipment in the very harshest of conditions, from −33°C, which you might find in the Arctic, to the scorching heat associated with combat deserts,” said Eddie Lane, Managing Director at Cold Logic.
Defense testing: The equipment to be evaluated in the chamber includes battle management systems, naval-based warfare electronics, troop shelters and vehicles, according to an article in South Australia: the Defence State, a publication for the state’s defense stakeholders.
- According to Cold Logic, the testing conducted in the chamber will support the Royal Australian Navy’s diesel-electric Collins-class submarine and the new Hunter-class frigate, an anti-submarine warship.
Other military work: A year ago, BAE Systems Maritime Australia, an Australian military contractor, awarded Cold Logic a multi-million-dollar contract to construct and install refrigeration equipment and low- and medium-temperature storerooms for the first three Hunter-class frigates produced.
- Besides the refrigeration machinery and the refrigerated rooms, the contract included a refrigerated airlock and a dairy room.
Operational background: The opening of the defense testing facility coincided with the company’s 40th anniversary.
- Cold Logic designs and manufactures equipment for commercial HVAC applications, breweries, commercial retail, industrial processing and storage, and the pharmaceutical industry.
- The company said the defense sector is a “burgeoning” opportunity. “We’ve seen rapid growth the last two years, and we are in the midst of the largest recruitment drive in our history,” Lane noted.
Quotable: “We are proud to be able to support the nation’s sovereign capability through our new state-of-the-art defense testing facility,” Lane said. “We expect to see electronic equipment for land, naval and air applications that need to perform in places such as the Middle East, Antarctica or even in space being put through their paces here at Wingfield.”
