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First established in 1939, the Energy Systems Laboratory (ESL) is the official testing laboratory for the Home Ventilating Institute. For more than 50 years, this independent, certified laboratory at the Texas A&M University Riverside Campus has served air conditioning and fan manufacturers across the nation and abroad. Its well-earned reputation -- for tests conducted to industry standards, for equipment traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology and for quick response to clients' needs has made the ESL a preferred research facility among industry leaders.
- The ESL rigorously practices a program of constant equipment maintenance and upgrading. Current upgrades in equipment allow computer monitoring of tests.
- The ESL ranks among the best testing and research labs in the nation and continuously seeks to improve its capabilities. The lab prides itself on its unique ability to customize test setups for customers’ specific needs.
- The ESL also offers customized testing of louvers and other ventilation equipment. The ability to conduct all testing under one roof is rare, and clients consider this one of the ESL’s most attractive features.
- The ESL focuses its research on studies of energy conservation, as well as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning.
- The ESL also specializes in providing bio-aerosol sampling and transport systems testing.
The Energy Systems Lab continues to improve its capabilities for fan air flow research and its testing certification program for axial and centrifugal fans, blowers, evaporative coolers, cooling tower fans and similar air flow equipment. Originally called the Fan Test Laboratory, the lab was renamed in 1985 to better represent its expanding environmental research capabilities, which now include research on air conditioners and heat pumps, buildings, flow meters, noise and fires.
Facilities Available on the Riverside Campus Site:
Other Facilities Available Off-Site:
Air Flow Test Chambers
 Fan testing is conducted at the ESL Air Flow Test Chambers include five units that measure air flow for experimental and test equipment to an accuracy of +/-1% and can handle air flow rates as high as 50,000 CFM. The chambers can be used to test fans to 8 feet in diameter. These chambers are fully instrumented to provide temperature, pressure and air flow data that are digitally processed and analyzed. The test chambers are built to ANSI/AMCA Standard 210-85 and to American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 51-85, HVI 915.
Air Flow Research
The ESL is performing large-scale research to gain a detailed understanding of air flow and the relationship of ductwork to fan orientation. The lab's physical size (more than 17,000 square feet) allows clients to use ductwork as large as 34 inches in diameter with flow rates as high as 50,000 CFM and still accurately measure the effects of inlet and exit conditions on fan performance.
Psychrometric Test Facility
 The Psychrometric Test Facility provides a controlled environment for testing unitary air conditioning and heat pump systems. This facility is fully instrumented and computerized to monitor and record dry bulb, wet bulb and dew point temperatures from +10~F to +120~F, and to measure relative humidity from 5% to 95%. Here, the differential and absolute pressures of air and cooling fluids, electrical units (watts, amperes, volts) and air and cooling fluid flow rates can be tested. The Psychrometric Test Facility can accommodate equipment up to 10-ton capacity, and can measure air flow rates from 150 CFM to more than 5,000 CFM in an AMCA flow chamber. The Test Facility meets ASHRAE Standards 116-83 and ARI 210/240-89.
Air Conditioning Research
Current studies focus on alternate refrigerants in unitary air conditioning systems. In one project, the lab's psychrometric chambers offer study environments where researchers can develop accurate and quick methods of verifying refrigerant charge. In another project, methods to reduce transient response energy use in an air source heat pump during the reverse cycle defrost are studied. The ESL's industry clients also have used the chambers to evaluate various system components and subsequently improve performance of air conditioners.
Semi-Reverberant Sound Room
The Semi-Reverberant Sound Room provides sound analyses that verify noise levels of bathroom and kitchen range hoods for the national Home Ventilating Institute Fan Testing Certification Program. The fan industry has used data from such tests for analyzing fan noise and designing quieter fans for the residential market (HVI 916).
The sound room minimizes exterior sound noise and allows sound generated within the room by a test unit to be accurately measured and recorded over a frequency range of 50 to 10,000 Hertz in 24, 1/3 octave bands. The output is acquired, analyzed, displayed by NI 4472 frequency sound analyzer, and the test data is analyzed and interpreted by microcomputers. The room has a reverberation time of 4.5 seconds when tested in accordance with ANSI Standard S1.121.1972. The Sound Room also meets the Home Ventilating Institute (HVI) testing requirements.
Liquid Flow Loop
 The Liquid Flow Loop calibrates liquid velocity measurements with a dynamic weight flow loop. It consists of a receiving tank and a 10,000 gallon supply tank and uses a VFD controlled pump for flows up to 650 gpm. The Liquid Flow Loop features a return pump, assorted valves and a flow test section. Receiving tank mounts on four 25,000-pound load cells provide the dynamic weighing system for bulk fluid velocity measurements. The flow loop is further equipped with interchangeable 4-inch, 6-inch, 8-inch and 10-inch test sections used for calibration tests. A series of orifice plates is used as a secondary standard.
Test Standards and Procedures
The ESL ranks among the best testing and research labs in the nation and continuously seeks to improve its capabilities. The lab rigorously practices a program of constant equipment maintenance and upgrading. All test equipment is checked prior to each test against calibration standards traceable to NIST. Current upgrades in equipment allow computer monitoring of tests. The capability to conduct a combination of tests in air flow, liquid flow, aerosol, fire, air conditioning and heat pump research under one roof is rare, and clients consider this one of the ESL's most attractive features.
- Air Flow Test Standard Verification Procedure
- Sound Test Standard
- Air Movement and Control Association (AMCA) Standards
- 210-85, Laboratory Methods for Testing Fans for Ratings
- 301, Methods of Calculating Fan Sound Rating from Laboratory Test Data
- 500, Test Methods of Louvers, Dampers and Shutters
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Standard
- ASME-MFC-3M-1985, Measurement of Fluid Flow in Pipes Using Orifice, Nozzle and Venturi
- American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standards
- 25-90, Method of Testing: Forced Convection and Natural Convection Air Coolers for Refrigeration
- 33-78, Method of Testing: Forced Circulation Air Cooling and Air Heating Coils
- 41.1-86, Standard Measurement Guide: Section on Temperature Measurements
- 41.6-82, Standard Method for Measurement of Moist Air Properties
- 51-85, Laboratory Methods of Testing Fans for Ratings
- 116-83, Method of Testing: Seasonal Efficiency of Unitary Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps
- Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) Standards
- 210-1989, Standard for Unitary Air Conditioning Equipment
- 240-1989, Standard for Air-Source Unitary Heat Pump Equipment
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Riverside Lab 
