Climatic Engineering
Facilities at Canada's National Research Council for research into the effects of climate on engineering equipment are described. The Low Temperature Laboratory currently operates a large climatic test chamber, two smaller cold chambers, a cold chest for extremely cold temperatures, an icing tunnel, a helicopter icing facility, and a heat pump calorimeter. The capabilities and limitations of the test chambers are illustrated through descriptions of a variety of tests. Growth of ice on objects and the development and calibration of icing detectors in the icing tunnel are described to illustrate the capabilities of the tunnel. A description is presented of the inflight evaluation of helicopter performance in a supercooled vapor cloud produced by the helicopter icing facility.