Introduction to the Environmental Testing Chamber
An Environmental Testing Chamber (ETTC) was recently showcased at the Vaccine Symposium, which took place from November 17 to 19 in Kigali. This event brought together over 200 professionals from various fields, including scientists, engineers, researchers, health policymakers, industry experts, and private-sector innovators from Rwanda and the UK. The symposium focused on human and animal health, as well as environmental issues. The Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES), based in Kigali, Rwanda, serves as the first regional hub under the Clean Cooling Network. This hub aims to become a central player in developing Africa’s cold-chain and cooling sector, while also creating solutions that can be referenced, replicated, and adapted globally.
What is an Environmental Test Chamber?
According to Basile Seburikoko, Technical Director at ACES, an Environmental Test Chamber is a controlled testing unit designed to simulate real-world environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. It is used to evaluate how refrigeration equipment performs under different climates and ensures consistent, repeatable, and accurate testing environments. The chamber supports compliance with international standards for cooling equipment by measuring performance, energy consumption, reliability, and durability of refrigeration systems.
Importance of the ETC for the Refrigeration Sector
The Environmental Testing Chamber ensures that refrigeration equipment performs reliably under controlled temperature and humidity conditions. It enables accurate evaluation of cooling capacity, energy efficiency, and durability, helping manufacturers and technicians improve product quality and reduce failure rates. Additionally, it facilitates innovation in low-energy, climate-resilient, and solar-powered refrigeration technologies. This enhances cold-chain reliability for food, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and industrial cooling.
Technical Testing Standards
The +25°C ETC Class 3 is a commonly used international testing standard for refrigeration equipment. Standard ETC Class 3 testing involves evaluating equipment at conditions of +25°C and 60% relative humidity. Many countries use this standard to check whether fridges, freezers, or cooling devices can perform well under moderate ambient conditions. The Environmental Test Chamber is capable of creating the specific temperature and humidity conditions required by international organizations and regulatory bodies to evaluate refrigeration equipment.
WHO Requirements and Extreme Conditions
The World Health Organization (WHO) requires more extreme conditions of +43°C and 65% relative humidity to ensure reliable performance in hot climates. With +43°C WHO conditions, the WHO requires more demanding conditions for equipment used in vaccine storage and medical cold chains. This ensures that refrigeration equipment can maintain correct temperatures even in very hot climates, which is essential for safe vaccine storage.
Benefits to Rwanda and the Region
The Environmental Testing Chamber reduces the need to send equipment abroad for testing and enhances local manufacturing and innovation. It supports regional cold-chain reliability for food and pharmaceuticals and promotes adoption of energy-efficient and low-emission cooling technologies.
Health Sector Impact
Seburikoko explained that the Environmental Testing Chamber ensures reliable vaccine storage at precise temperatures, prevents spoilage of medicines and blood products, and supports hospitals, clinics, and mobile health units. The testing chamber improves public health outcomes through safe cold-chain management.
Applications of the Testing Chamber
The testing chamber supports a wide range of applications, including the evaluation of vaccine refrigerators and transport refrigeration systems to ensure they meet strict cold-chain requirements. It is also used to assess commercial and industrial cold-storage units, as well as solar direct-drive refrigeration technologies designed for off-grid or energy-limited environments. In addition, the chamber enables testing for energy efficiency and AI-driven optimization, helping improve performance, reduce energy consumption, and enhance overall reliability across different refrigeration technologies.
Environmentally Friendly Features
This particular testing chamber uses R290, a hydrocarbon refrigerant. R290 is valued for its excellent thermodynamic performance, making equipment more energy efficient compared to many traditional refrigerants such as R22 or R134a. R290 has an extremely low global warming potential and zero ozone depletion potential, making it one of the most environmentally friendly refrigerants available today.
Energy Efficiency and Performance
If refrigeration technologies are not manufactured in a sustainable way, they can be very disappointing. “They use refrigerants, they use energy, and one of the major challenges is their energy consumption. It is disappointing when these technologies are not energy efficient. So we know if the imported equipment are truly efficient by using the testing chamber.” Minimum Energy Performance Standards set by regulators aim to bring more energy-efficient equipment into the country. The same applies to refrigerants.
How Testing is Carried Out
“We place a small fridge inside the chamber with a data logger to collect information on system performance. The room looks like a cold room, but it is not a cold room. We operate the fridge and collect various performance metrics. For instance, we can open the fridge and observe how quickly it recovers to the set temperature. All of this helps us understand how the system performs.”
For example, a fridge designed for use in Europe may be tested at 20°C ambient temperature. That fridge may be labeled as Class A or A+. But when brought to Rwanda, where ambient temperature is 28°C, it will not achieve the same energy efficiency. “This is why the ability to simulate higher temperatures, even up to 50°C, is crucial.”
