§ 86.161-00 Air conditioning environmental test facility ambient requirements.

The goal of an air conditioning test facility is to simulate the impact of an ambient heat load on the power requirements of the vehicle's air conditioning compressor while operating on a specific driving cycle. The environmental facility control elements that are discussed are ambient air temperature and humidity, minimum test cell size, solar heating, and vehicle frontal air flow.

(a) Ambient air temperature. (1) Ambient air temperature is controlled, within the test cell, during all phases of the air conditioning test sequence to 95 ±2 °F on average and 95 ±5 °F as an instantaneous measurement.

(2) Air temperature is recorded continuously at a minimum of 30 second intervals. Records of cell air temperatures and values of average test temperatures are maintained by the manufacturer for all certification related programs.

(b) Ambient humidity. (1) Ambient humidity is controlled, within the test cell, during all phases of the air conditioning test sequence to an average of 100 ±5 grains of water/pound of dry air.

(2) Humidity is recorded continuously at a minimum of 30 second intervals. Records of cell humidity and values of average test humidity are maintained by the manufacturer for all certification related programs.