Content area
Full Text
ABSTRACT
AHRI Standard 550-590, Standard for Performance Rating of Water-Chilling and Heat Pump Water-Heating Packages Using the Vapor Compression Cycle, has recently undergone updates. The new version of this standard includes heat pump water heaters, expands the testing options for air-cooled chillers by including a barometric pressure adjustment and witness test lab requirements and provides an expanded discussion of the purpose and use of IPLV.
INTRODUCTION
The concept of standardization was created as part of efforts to establish a common purpose and to strive towards consistency. For years each country, or region, worked to create its own standards for all types of products, based on that area's specific needs and the products that they produced or used. Standards development organizations worked independently and occasionally overlapped each other's work. As this became an issue, national standards bodies were formed to ensure that the standards development organizations worked together, or at least understood each other's realms of influence to avoid both duplication of effort and the costs of complying with competing and overlapping standards. The national standards bodies also worked together on some projects through organizations such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
BACKGROUND
The Air conditioning Heating and Refrigeration Institute's (AHRI) predecessor organization, the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) was approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1983 as an accredited Standards Development Organization (SDO). This approval allowed ARI to develop performance standards that would apply to heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) equipment. For many years ARI, now AHRI worked with manufacturing members to write and publish these standards in North America.
AHRI engages in standardization activities across the globe to facilitate trade, build new markets, and boost economic growth for the HVACR industry. This standardization works to remove trade barriers through the promotion of one set of standards and the harmonization of technical standards across national and regional boundaries.
In partnership with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), AHRI holds leadership positions in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) technical committees responsible for standards development for air-conditioning and refrigeration products.
Soon after being approved as an accredited SDO, ARI began publishing standards in inch-pound (IP) units with soft conversions to metric units being placed...