SwRI expands capabilities in large-scale heat exchanger testing

Large-Scale Heat Exchanger Test Facility can test thermal performance of heat exchangers and cooling equipment at heat loads up to five megawatts

2025-11-17

(Press-News.org) SAN ANTONIO — November 17, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has significantly expanded its heat exchanger performance evaluation capabilities with a new facility designed to industry standards, the Large-Scale Heat Exchanger Test Facility (LS-HXTF) that supports testing up to five megawatts of heat loads as well as a wider range of thermal performance testing.

Heat exchangers efficiently transfer heat between two or more fluids without mixing for a wide variety of heating and cooling applications. The market is growing rapidly and is expected to reach more than $30 billion in the next 10 years, largely driven by the data center cooling industry. As artificial intelligence applications become more widely used, data centers become more vital, as does the technology needed to cool them efficiently.

“SwRI offers customized heat exchanger testing to clients, with a wide range of unique and complex testing requirements with applications spanning several industries such as data center cooling, energy and defense to name a few,” said SwRI Research Engineer Dr. Ashok Thyagarajan. “We’ve now increased our testing capacity at the new facility tenfold to five megawatts with a vision to upgrade capabilities further in the immediate future. Additionally, we have expanded the scope of testing beyond just heat exchangers.”

SwRI now also performs testing and validation of coolant distribution units (CDUs), crucial components that distribute cooling fluid to information technology equipment, as well as other critical components, such as secondary side pumps, which pump the cooling fluid to the racks. Additionally, the LS-HXTF can now replicate real-world conditions, including loss of utility cooling with advanced control systems.

The new facility can be reconfigured and customized to accommodate equipment testing energy storage systems, power plants, or defense-related systems. This adaptability makes the LS-HXTF a critical asset not only for data centers but for broader thermal engineering research as well.

“Testing at this scale is challenging because it requires specific expertise to simulate and measure thermal behavior accurately at megawatt scales. Few laboratories can configure and adapt equipment to test both individual components and system-level solutions,” said SwRI Research Engineer Dr. Eugene Hoffman.

The LS-HXTF one of only a handful of facilities worldwide that can combine infrastructure, expertise and cutting-edge technology to provide unique insights for thermal performance testing for the data center cooling and related industries.”

For more information, visit https://www.swri.org/markets/energy-environment/fluids-engineering/data-center-cooling-testing-research.

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