Webasto Roof Systems Invest in the Future

16 May 2009

In spite of the current economic crisis Webasto Roof Systems based in Minworth are looking to the future and expanding their research and development capabilities with the addition of a second Design Environmental large floor standing environmental test chamber and a drive in climatic test room with vibration.

Design Environmental are providing a full turnkey solution for the project by working with vibration system suppliers CentraTEQ and CVMSL to integrate the vibration generator and control systems into the drive in room.

The climatic room and vibration test system will be used for testing Webasto’s next generation of sun roof systems, which will find there way onto new Jaguars, Land Rovers, Bentley’s and maybe many other makes of vehicle which will hit showrooms in the future.

To make sure that Webasto’s products remain at the top for reliability and longevity the climatic room allows control of both temperature and humidity so that environmental conditions found anywhere in the populated World can be simulated. In addition the vibration system inside the room is fitted with a large, custom designed, guided table in the vertical axis so it has the capability of testing roof sections from small or large passenger vehicles. The control systems of the climatic room and the vibration system are fully integrated with the vibration controller able to faithfully reproduce and analyse vibration from road or track recorded data.

One of the challenges of the facilities design is that occasionally Webasto will need to test a full size vehicle in the climatic room without vibration. To accommodate this requirement the vibration generator is housed in an insulated enclosure, which can be readily dismantled and stored away. Lift up sectional floor panels then allow the vibration generator to be moved to another location for stand alone use, leaving a clear space in the room for a family saloon or large SUV.

Design and manufacture of the facility will take place through the summer months with completion planned for September 2009.

New Multi purpose Test Room for University of Worcester

3 May 2009

Following initial discussions with Professor Jean Emblem of NPARU (National Pollen & Aerobiological Research Unit) in January 2005, Design Environmental is very pleased to be completing the installation and commissioning of the large environmental test room at the heart of the universities impressive new building. Design Environmental not only provided technical expertise for the room but also advised architects BDP to make sure the building design could accommodate all the necessary plant and services.

The environmental room has been designed to accurately control temperature from -20°C to +50°C with humidity control from 5%RH to 95%RH and in addition it can simulate altitude. To provide the altitude simulation or hypoxic environment the plant includes the latest high flow technology hypoxic module supplied by The Altitude Centre.

High air flow rates of up to 1,500 litres per minute flush the environmental chamber with pre filtered air, which is enough to ensure Carbon dioxide build up from exercising subjects is flushed out of the chamber along with odours and other pollutants. The oxygen content delivered to the chamber is controlled anywhere between normal conditions of 20.9%, down as low as 11%, simulating an altitude of 5000 meters.

The equipment consists of an air compressor that delivers high pressure air to the hypoxic module. Inside the hypoxic module the high pressure air gets passed through a membrane constructed of special hollow fibres. The smaller Oxygen molecules are forced through the fibres leaving a higher concentration of Nitrogen or Hypoxic air, this air is then passed into the chamber where it is monitored by a special Oxygen sensor. Hypoxic air is delivered to the chamber rather that almost pure Nitrogen, this ensures safety is maintained and also provides greater mixing within the chamber with minimal fluctuations in Oxygen percentage.

All these parameter must be controlled accurately while the University staff conduct their trials on everything from feather dusters, to human beings, to full size vehicles. Because of the diverse testing requirements the air circulation within the room has to have controllable velocity and to be selectable from a turbulent air current to a laminar air current across the room.

In recent years DEL’s reputation has grown amongst the Universities and many sports science or environmentally controlled rooms have been installed both in the UK and overseas. This experience and reputation made DEL an obvious choice as the supplier to the NPARU and prime contractors Leadbitter Construction.

Website Upgrade

1 December 2008

As you will have seen our improved web site, including all the recent product changes is now up and running and we hope you like it. Changes and improvements will continue over the next few months and if you have any comments to make about the content of the site then please complete one of the online enquiry forms and let us know.

Job Vacancy

17 November 2008

We currently have a vacancy for an additional field based service engineer to cover the North of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Applicants must have previous experience in environmental test chamber maintenance and be fully conversant with both single stage and cascade refrigeration plants.

If you believe you can demonstrate the necessary experience and would like to apply for this challenging and rewarding position then please contact either Steve Jones s.jones@designenvironmental.co.uk or Alison Morris a.morris@designenvironmental.co.uk.

Product Changes

8 April 2008

With our company policy of continuous improvement we have recently been updating a lot of our standard product ranges, including a new range of bench top climatic chambers and also a range of small bench top and floor standing temperature chambers.

At the same time we have the new Alpha range of floor standing climatic chambers and also improvements to the Sigma Halt Hass chambers.

With so much going on at the same time our web site and literature has become out of date and we are working as fast as possible to bring everything into line so we apologise if some things are misleading. Please contact us for any information you require.