SPX Profiles

Research and Development Center

Research goes Underground — SPX Cooling Technologies Research and Development Center is unique in location and scope of program.

From its inception, Marley, now SPX Cooling Technologies, Inc., has been committed to a strong research and development program. In 1957, this effort was centralized in the current Research and Development Center constructed on the site of what was once a limestone mine located in Kansas City.

Within three underground acres, controlled experimentation proceeds under laboratory conditions. Outside, eight acres provide ample space in which to conduct prototype testing under ambient conditions.

Through a perpetual program of expansion and improvement, the SPX Research and Development Center has evolved into the world’s finest and most extensive process cooling test facility — unique in the industry. The technological advances which continue to emerge from the complex, establish ultimate standards for process cooling and individual components, worldwide.

SPX’s Research and Development Center is results-oriented, and the developments proceeding from the center consistently advance the process cooling state of the art. SPX Cooling Technologies annually invests a considerable sum of money and engineering time into research and development.

Having been granted more than 145 US patents, SPX Cooling Technologies and its subsidiaries currently hold 46 US patents, and numerous international patents and copyrights on cooling tower designs and components. The commitment to design excellence, technical superiority and product quality continues.

Contained within a limestone mine, 70 feet below the surface, the SPX Cooling Technologies Research and Development Center possesses unique year-round testing and research capabilities.

With projects ranging from government-funded research to customer material strength testing, the Research and Development center has been providing best-in-class services for over 50 years.

General Capabilities

• Thermal performance research and testing
• Fill and eliminator development
• Full-scale mechanical equipment and fan testing
• Physical and structural evaluation and testing
• Materials evaluation and application testing
• Computational Fluid Mechanics
• Eliminator drift testing
• Wind tunnel testing
• Hydraulic modeling and testing
• Fan performance testing