World News

Industry news and insights from Europe and around the World

UK News

Latest news and developments in the United Kingdom

Products

Keep up-to-date with the latest new products and technology

Features

General articles, applications and industry analysis

Trane opens new chiller test facility

Trane-test-labFRANCE: Chiller testing has begun at a new state-of-the-art testing facility in Trane’s main European plant in Epinal, France.

In addition to its large capacity chillers and multi-pipe units, the facility enables Trane to verify the performance of its comprehensive equipment portfolio.

The 5,000m³ climate chamber can simulate a range of ambient temperature and humidity operating conditions. Specifically, airside conditions are controllable from -25ºC to 60ºC, 10 to 90%RH and -12ºC to +65ºC on the waterside.

Multiple operating modes are possible to cover the diversity of Trane products including air-cooled and water-cooled chillers and multi-pipe systems from 200 to 1700kW, heat pumps from 200 to 1000kW.

“Our customers demand more configurations, tiers and options than ever before and this facility will help us meet their needs through innovation and development of products with proven performance at the top of the industry,” commented Louis Rompre, portfolio manager for Trane in Europe.

Tests conducted at the Trane facility in Epinal will provide customers with confirmation that the chiller’s actual performance in customer-specified conditions matches the modelling predictions established during the selection. The facility also allows customers to witness tests their equipment.

Sustainability and energy efficiency of the Epinal testing facility have not been overlooked: 70% of the motors are equipped with variable speed drives and 100% of the tested unit’s rejected energy is recovered to air-condition the test chamber itself.

Latest News

3rd April 2026

Swegon acquires Dutch distributor

SWEDEN/NETHERLANDS: Swedish HVAC manufacturer Swegon has acquired its Dutch HVAC distributor Western Airconditioning.
3rd April 2026

Compact CO2 refrigeration

ITALY: Prisma is a new range of transcritical CO₂ refrigeration units from Italian manufacturer Arneg offering high performance in a compact footprint. 
3rd April 2026

Hoshizaki to begin shipments from Vietnam

JAPAN/VIETNAM: Hoshizaki, the Japanese manufacturer of commercial food and beverage refrigeration equipment, is to begin shipments from its manufacturing facility in Vietnam.
2nd April 2026

Midea debuts R32 VRF system

ITALY: Midea used last week’s MCE show in Milan to launch its new V9 VRF system running on R32 refrigerant. 
2nd April 2026

Ben Hancock joins TF Solutions

UK: Ben Hancock, former southern divisional manager at Kooltech, has been appointed sales director at TF Solutions, the refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump wholesalers. Hancock joined the sector in…
1st April 2026

US manufacturers face price-fixing lawsuit

USA: Leading US residential and commercial air conditioning manufacturers have been accused of price fixing and overcharging in a civil antitrust action.