Sand from Dubai for an experiment in Pinghu

Liebherr-Transportation Systems (China) Co., Ltd. in Pinghu has performed thorough testing on HVAC (heating-, ventilation and air conditioning) units regarding sand filtration and cooling capacity under extreme conditions for a passenger train project in the Middle East. The engineers in China were supported by the Liebherr-Aerospace and Transportation Systems team of Liebherr Middle East FZE in Dubai (U.A.E.): The team collected sand near the metropole and shipped it to Pinghu for advanced tests of the HVAC units.

“Summer temperatures on the Saudi Arabian Peninsula can be extreme with the highest temperature close to 50°C. Wind and dust contribute as well to this typical desert climate. To guarantee the system’s functionality – even under extreme temperatures - and to prevent sand and dust to enter the passenger compartments, are therefore the two core challenges we are facing regarding the design and production as well as the reliability of our HVAC systems”, explains Senior System Engineer Lightman Lu at Liebherr-Transportation Systems (China), “We had to take into account that every sand consists of different particles. In order to achieve accurate and effective test data from our HVAC system, our colleagues in Dubai kindly sampled sand for us from an area close to the potential train operating site. We were thus able to simulate the actual conditions in our testing department in Pinghu.”

During the test, two different types of inlet and outlet air modes of the HVAC units were examined regarding their sand removal capacity and operation reliability under extreme environmental conditions. Furthermore, the engineers took into account the HVAC systems’ service life as well as the energy consumption of other components.

The test results helped the engineering team of Liebherr-Transportation Systems in China to optimize the design of the HVAC units for the benefit of potential customers in the Middle East.