issue: April 2005 APPLIANCE Magazine Compressor Technology A Tested Solution	Share  Printable format  Email this Article  Search
By Lisa Bonnema, Editor When York Unitary Products Group (UPG) was designing its new Affinity™, Echelon™, and Acclimate™ air-conditioning product lines, it was looking for a low-cost compressor that also met its standards for efficiency and reliability.

The company found its solution in the Benchmark Scroll compressor from Bristol Compressors. “We ran all sorts of back-to-back tests on Benchmark and competing compressors,” says Jeff Tucker, senior project engineer at York UPG. “Benchmark outperformed the competition in every area—capacity, efficiency, sound, and price.”

To test the unit, York designed a high ambient test to simulate desert conditions in which temperatures reached 120°F (49°C) outdoors and 100°F (38°C) indoors. “We shut off the compressor, then turned it back on again, expecting the compressor to come back on within 5 minutes,” explains Mr. Tucker. “Benchmark started immediately every time.”

During all of its design projects, York always selects two brands of compressors—a primary and secondary model. In this case, Benchmark was the primary choice and ended up being the final solution. “We spent 18 months designing a new chassis, and Bristol was extremely responsive throughout the entire testing process,” Mr. Tucker says. “They bent over backwards to adapt, change, and update the scroll compressor to custom fit our needs.”