Verplas Self-Seal Coupling, System 220 Ducting to Fitting ......A set of air leakage tests were undertaken on the Duct to Fitting couplings following the guidance set out in HVCA ,

Verplas Self-Seal Coupling, System 220 Ducting to Fitting and Duct to Duct Test Prepared for : Verplas Limited 20th August 2014

Test report number 298279

Page 1 of 17

Verplas Self-Seal Coupling, System 220, Test

Test report number 298279 Commercial in confidence

© Building Research Establishment Ltd 2014 Page 2 of 17

Prepared by Name M Swainson

Position Principal Engineer

Date 20th August 2014

Signature Approved on behalf of BRE Name D Butler

Position Manager, HVAC Engineering

Date 20th August 2014

Signature

BRE Watford WD25 9XX T + 44 (0) 1923 664000 F + 44 (0) 1923 664010 E [email protected] www.bre.co.uk

This report may only be distributed in its entirety and in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract. Test results relate only to the items tested. BRE has no responsibility for the design, materials, workmanship or performance of the product or items tested. This report does not constitute an approval, certification or endorsement of the product tested. This report is made on behalf of BRE. By receiving the report and action on it, the client – or any third party relying on it – accepts that no individual is personally liable in contract, tort or breach of statutory duty (including negligence).

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.bre.co.uk




Contents 1 Introduction 4

2 Details of Tests carried out 5 2.1 Leakage test 5 2.2 Pressure loss test 7

3 Test Results 9 3.1 Leakage test 9 3.2 Pressure loss test 12

4 Conclusions 14




1 Introduction

Verplas Limited approached BRE to undertake testing of an innovative plastic duct coupling for air leakage.

The performance specification for plastic duct used in ventilation applications is covered by the HVAC, DW/154, Specification for Plastic Ductwork, First Edition 2000.

DW/154 refers to HVCA , DW/143, A Practical Guide to - Ductwork Leak Testing, Fifth Edition, 2000, which provides guidance on how testing of leakage should be undertaken. A proposal was prepared, submitted and accepted by Verplas Limited for testing to DW/154.

The couplings submitted for testing were:

Verplas Self-Seal Coupling, System 220 Ducting to Fitting and Ducting to Ducting for 220 x 90 mm rectangular duct. Manufacturer’s code VSSC220DF and VSSC220DD.

The couplings were delivered to BRE and were to be tested for air leakage to Class A, low pressure ducts as defined in DW/143.




2 Details of Tests carried out

2.1 Leakage test

A set of air leakage tests were undertaken on the Duct to Fitting couplings following the guidance set out in HVCA , DW/143, A Practical Guide to - Ductwork Leak Testing, Fifth Edition 2000. The test was undertaken to assess the leakage for Class A duct, low pressure.

The duct layout used was taken from Test method for - Central mechanical supply and exhaust ventilation system packages with heat recovery used in a single dwelling. Version Date; 22/08/2008. V2.0. This test method defines duct layouts used for testing mechanical ventilation products used in dwellings in the UK. To test a sample of couplings, a representative duct layout for a typical UK dwelling was identified as a long branch duct with four terminals. The location of the couplings and duct seals is shown in Figure 1.

1.5m

1.0m

0.5m

1.5m 1.5m 1.5m

0.5m

Verplas Self-Seal Couplings

Duct ends sealed

Figure 1: Long branch duct with four terminals used for testing coupling air tightness.

Verplas provided 15 samples of the Verplas Self-Seal Coupling, System 220 Ducting to Fitting and these were used to make up the test configuration shown in Figure 1.

The Verplas Self-Seal Couplings supplied for this test were designed to fit between straight lengths of 220 x 90 mm rectangular duct and fittings with female connections. The couplings can be seen with a straight duct connector in Figure 2.




Figure 2 : Verplas Self-Seal Couplings fitted between straight duct connector.

Test instruments used during measurement of the air leakage rate.

Variable Instrument used for measurement

Calibration Date of calibration

Air flow rate Brookes 5853E

Chell Display CCD100

Chell (UKAS) 09th August 2013

Duct pressures Furness Controls FCO332

Furness Controls (UKAS) 20th February 2014

The test layout of the duct prior to testing can be seen in Figure 3. No additional fixing or restraint was used on the ductwork as a check of the ability of the seals to prevent separation under pressure conditions.




Figure 3 : Test layout of duct with Verplas Self-Seal Couplings fitted between straight duct, 90° bends and Tee-Pieces.

2.2 Pressure loss test

To determine the pressure loss across the Verplas Self-Seal Coupling, System 220 Duct to Fitting and Duct to Duct couplings used to join two straight lengths of duct, a test section was set up with pressure tappings before and after a straight duct connector with Verplas Self-Seal Couplings fitted as shown in Figure 4.

The pressure difference across the coupling was measured at a range of air flow rates from 0 to 180 l/s.




Figure 4 : Pressure loss test layout of straight connector with Verplas Self-Seal Couplings Duct to Fitting and Duct to Duct

Test instruments used during measurement of the pressure loss.

Variable Instrument used for measurement

Calibration Date of calibration

Air flow rate Hastings LFE LS-8S

Chell Display CCD100

Chell (UKAS) 09th August 2013

Duct pressures Furness Controls FCO332

Furness Controls (UKAS) 20th February 2014

Pressure difference across coupling

698A Differential Heated Baratron CDG

670B Signal Conditioner / Display

Chell (UKAS) 26th June 2014




3 Test Results

3.1 Leakage test

The measured air flow rates during the leakage testing are shown in Table 1.

Positive pressure Negative pressure

Pressure applied (Pa)

Air flow rate (l/s)

Pressure applied (Pa)

Air flow rate (l/s)

100 0.20 100 0.21

150 0.26 150 0.29

200 0.32 200 0.36

250 0.38 250 0.44

300 0.44 300 0.51

350 0.49 350 0.58

400 0.54 400 0.64

450 0.59 450 0.71

500 0.63 500 0.78

Table 1 Measured leakage rates

The duct surface area was calculated as:

6 off, 1.5 m x 220 mm x 90 mm ducts = 5.58 m2.




DW/143 expresses the results as a function of duct surface area, therefore for the defined duct layout; long branched duct with four terminals, the leakage per meter square of duct are as shown in Table 2.

Positive pressure Negative pressure DW/143 Maximum

leakage for Class A ductwork

Pressure applied

(Pa)

Leakage rate (l/s/m2)

Pressure applied

(Pa)



100 0.04 100 0.04 0.54

150 0.05 150 0.05 0.70

200 0.06 200 0.06 0.85

250 0.07 250 0.08 0.98

300 0.08 300 0.09 1.10

350 0.09 350 0.10 1.22

400 0.10 400 0.11 1.33

450 0.11 450 0.13 1.43

500 0.11 500 0.14 1.53

Table 2 Calculated leakage rate per unit area of duct.

Test report number298279

Com

mercial in confidence

© B

uilding Research E

stablishment Ltd 2014

Page 11 of 17

Verplas S

elf-Seal C

oupling Test

-0.2

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

-500 -450 -400 -350 -300 -250 -200 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Leakage (l/s/m2)

Static pressure (Pa)

Air flow rate - Verplas Connectors (l/s/m²)

DW143 Leakage Class A (l/s/m²)

Figure 5 : Leakage rate of Verplas Self-Seal Coupling, System 220 Ducting to Fitting compared to maximum leakage for Class A ductwork.

Verplas Self-Seal Coupling Test



3.2 Pressure loss test

Duct to Fitting Coupling

The measured pressure difference during the pressure loss testing are shown in Table 3

Air flow rate (l/s)

Pressure difference across connector and

couplings (Pa)

0 0.00

10 0.01

15 0.04

20 0.05

30 0.07

45 0.09

60 0.18

90 0.57

120 0.96

150 1.19

180 1.43

Table 3 Measured pressure differences across connector and couplings


Com


© B

uilding Research E


Page 13 of 17

Verplas S

elf-Seal C

oupling Test

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

Pres

sure

diff

eren

ce a

cros

s fitt

ing

(Pa)

Air flow rate (l/s)

Figure 6 : External static pressure loss across straight connector with Verplas Self-Seal Coupling, System 220 Ducting to Fitting.

Verplas Self-Seal Coupling Test



Duct to Duct Coupling

The measured pressure difference during the pressure loss testing are shown in Table 3

Air flow rate (l/s)

Pressure difference across connector and

couplings (Pa)

0 0.00

10 0.00

15 0.01

20 0.00

30 0.02

45 0.05

60 0.08

90 0.25

120 0.40

150 0.68

180 0.86

Table 4 Measured pressure differences across connector and couplings


Com


© B

uilding Research E


Page 15 of 17

Verplas S

elf-Seal C

oupling Test

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

Pres

sure

diff

eren

ce a

cros

s fitt

ing

(Pa)

Air flow rate (l/s)

Figure 7: External static pressure loss across straight connector with Verplas Self-Seal Coupling, System 220 Duct to Duct.

Verplas Self-Seal Coupling Leakage Test



Pressure loss - best fit data

Air flow rate Duct to Duct

coupling Duct to Fitting

Coupling VSSC220DD VSSC220DF

(l/s) (Pa) (Pa)

0 0.0 0.0 10 0.0 0.0 15 0.0 0.0 20 0.0 0.0 30 0.0 0.1 45 0.1 0.2 60 0.1 0.3 90 0.2 0.5

120 0.4 0.8 150 0.6 1.1 180 0.9 1.5

Verplas Self-Seal Coupling Leakage Test

==============REPORT ENDS============= Test report number 298279 Commercial in confidence


4 Conclusions

From the measured leakage rates presented in Table 2 and Figure 5, it is evident that the Verplas Self-Seal Coupling, System 220 Ducting to Fitting achieved a level of leakage substantially lower than the maximum allowed for Class A duct as defined in DW/143.

At all positive and negative pressures in the tests, there was no sign of the duct seals separating, indicating that they are able to withhold positive and negative pressures up to 500 Pa, without requiring additional restraint.

Documents

Verplas Self-Seal Coupling, System 220 Ducting to Fitting ......A set of air leakage tests were undertaken on the Duct to Fitting couplings following the guidance set out in HVCA ,