Leak Testing Systems for HVAC, Heat Pump and Data Centre Cooling Manufacturers
Built Around Your Production Line

VES designs and builds helium leak testing systems for manufacturers of automotive HVAC, residential HVAC, heat pump, refrigeration and data centre cooling components. Verify every part before it ships, protect your throughput, and take control of helium costs.

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Data Centre Cooling Solutions

30+

years of leak detection engineering

1,600+

machines installed worldwide

20

countries with VES systems in production

ISO 9001

certified quality foundation (UK)

Is Your Leak Testing Process Ready for the Next Stage of HVAC Manufacturing?

New refrigerants, heat pump growth and the rise of liquid-cooled data centres are raising the bar for leak integrity. Three pressures every HVAC manufacturer now faces:

Quality Escapes Cost More Than Rework

A leaking coil, coupling or heat exchanger that reaches final inspection creates delays, added handling and risk to customer confidence. Every VES machine is designed to a CPK of 1.67, so passes are passes and fails are fails.

Helium Waste Is a Cost You Can Control

Helium prices have risen 30 to 40% in recent years. Losing tracer gas during testing drives unnecessary operating expense. Recovery, re-purification and gas mixing bring consumption back under control.

New Refrigerants and Applications Demand Greater Precision

A2L refrigerants, CO2 systems above 200 bar and liquid cooling circuits inside data centres all demand leak testing that is more accurate, repeatable and production-ready, without compromising throughput.

HVAC Components and Applications VES Can Test

VES designs each system around your component, required leak rate, production volume, cycle time and test method. Our helium leak testing guide explains how each method works, and the leak rate calculator converts between units so you can check a method actually resolves the rate you have specified.

Automotive HVAC

  • Evaporators and condensers.
  • Radiators and heat exchangers.
  • Air conditioning hoses.
  • Thermal management assemblies.

Residential HVAC & Heat Pumps

  • Condensers and evaporators.
  • Heat pump components.
  • Radiators and heat exchangers.
  • AC hoses and assemblies.

Refrigeration & Thermal Management

  • Refrigeration coils and circuits.
  • Pressure-tested components.
  • Cooling systems.
  • Bespoke HVAC assemblies.

Growth Sector

Data Centre Liquid Cooling

  • Quick connect / disconnect couplings (QDCs).
  • Liquid cooling connectors and fittings.
  • Valves, manifolds and cold plates.
  • Coolant distribution components.

Data Centre Cooling: A Branch of HVAC

Helium Leak Testing for Data Centre Liquid Cooling Components

AI-driven data centres are moving to direct liquid cooling, and every coupling, connector and valve in the coolant loop must be verified before installation. A single leaking component can put critical IT infrastructure at risk. For the wider picture, see why ultra-sensitive helium leak testing is no longer optional for AI data centre cooling and our guide to leak testing the key components of data centre cooling. VES builds twin-chamber helium leak testing systems that give coupling and connector manufacturers complete test coverage at production speed.

Discuss Your Coupling Application
VES twin-chamber helium leak testing system for data centre cooling components

45 sec

One completed part every 45 seconds, including loading and unloading. Up to 80 parts/hour theoretical capacity.*

≥95% uptime

Validated in production runs, protecting line output and delivery commitments.

3.3×10-5 mbar·L/s

High-sensitivity helium leak detection, far beyond what pressure decay or bubble testing can find.

One step ahead

A proven twin-chamber concept and pre-engineered tooling solutions reduce engineering effort, risk and time to production.

  • Proven coupling platform. Multiple QDC coupling leak test systems engineered, manufactured and commissioned, with equipment already operating in serial production.
  • One-operator process. The operator loads the component and starts the cycle; automated tooling removes manual repositioning and gives clear pass/fail for every test condition.
  • Tooling ready to adapt. Existing tooling designs and poka-yoke concepts for multiple configurations can be adapted to your application, cutting engineering effort and changeover risk.
  • Automated multi-condition testing. Gross-leak and fine helium testing at different pressures in one system, with automated open/close actuation inside the chamber.
  • Cleanroom-compatible design. Dry vacuum pumps in place of oil-sealed pumps support operation in ISO Class 6 cleanroom environments.
  • One partner through production launch. Design review, manufacture, FAT, installation, commissioning, SAT and training, with helium charging and recovery integrated where required.

*Theoretical throughput based on similar part and process assumptions versus a validated 70–75 second single-chamber process. Final performance depends on confirmed product and test requirements.

VES HVAC Systems

VES offer a complete range of HVAC leak testing systems for manufacturers of automotive HVAC, residential HVAC, air conditioning, heat exchanger, refrigeration and data centre cooling components.

Flagship

HardVac

The VES range of HardVac helium leak detection systems is the ultimate solution and the last word in helium leak detection. Fully bespoke and tailored to your exact requirements: the best in design, highest quality, long-lasting components and complete peace of mind at full production optimisation. Used worldwide for decades with unparalleled success, HardVac is our flagship product.

Explore HardVac Systems

VES - OptVol helium leak detection machine

Compact

OptVol

Our Optimised Volume range is the ultimate compact all-in-one solution, using the proven technology found in our flagship equipment. A single-size chamber loaded with a machined block profiled to your product ensures minimum cycle time and a futureproof design: test new products with a simple tooling change rather than a new machine.

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At Atmosphere

Accumulation

Our accumulation machines use mass spectrometry with helium or hydrogen tracer gas to measure total leak rate down to 1.0×10-3 mbar·L/s, without a vacuum pumping system or leak-tight chamber. Tests are conducted at atmosphere, reducing machine cost compared to traditional hard vacuum systems.

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HVAC leak testing machine service

Turn Helium From a Rising Cost Into a Controlled One

At production scale, helium cost and availability become major operating considerations. PURE helium recovery systems recover, re-purify and reuse helium from suitable HVAC leak testing processes, reducing waste, improving long-term operating costs and supporting a more sustainable test strategy. Recovery can be specified with a new leak testing system or integrated with your existing helium leak detection equipment.

Explore PURE Helium Recovery
Try the Helium Recovery ROI Calculator

30–40%

helium price increase in recent years

Recover

re-purification and gas mixing options

Reuse

helium returned to your test process

Lower TCO

a stronger ROI case for helium testing

Free eBook

Heat Pump Reliability: The Science Behind Leak Testing

A comprehensive guide by VES Chartered Engineer Andrea Whittle. Fundamentals of leak detection science, traditional versus advanced methods, real-world case studies and strategies to optimise heat pump performance through reliable leak testing.

Download the Free eBook
Leak detection systems for testing HVAC components

HVAC and Data Centre Cooling Leak Testing: Common Questions

The questions our applications engineers are asked most often.

There's no universal figure. It depends on the coolant, the operating pressure, the service life and what happens if the part fails in service. The more useful question is whether your test method can resolve the rate you've specified. A method working around 10-5 mbar·L/s can't verify a requirement several orders of magnitude tighter; it returns a pass it has no way of justifying.

Yes, and the constraint is what has to happen inside the cycle: evacuate, test, reclaim and vent. A twin-chamber architecture overlaps those stages so one chamber tests while the other is being loaded, which is how a helium vacuum test fits a takt time a single-chamber process can't meet.

Pressure decay is fast, cheap and genuinely useful for catching gross leaks, and it works around 10-5 mbar·L/s. Helium vacuum testing resolves several orders of magnitude tighter and returns a measured rate rather than a pass mark. If your specification is tighter than pressure decay can see, a decay pass isn't evidence of anything.

Coils, condensers, evaporators, heat exchangers and hose assemblies for HVAC and refrigeration, and cold plates, manifolds, coolant distribution units and quick disconnect couplings for data centre liquid cooling. The physics is the same across all of them. What changes is the leak rate you have to prove, the cycle time you have to hit, and how the test station sits inside your line.

No. Water has a comparatively large molecule and high surface tension, so it won't pass through a leak path that gas moves through easily. A component can be genuinely liquid tight and not gas tight, and in a sealed loop running for years that difference is what reaches the electronics.

Yes. Tooling is bespoke to the part, because the fixture has to seal against that geometry and hold it without distorting it, but a single platform can carry tooling for a family of variants. Poka-yoke fixturing stops an operator running the wrong programme on the wrong part, which is where changeover risk usually sits.

Usually background helium, temperature drift, a leaking fixture, or a method working at the edge of its resolution. Every VES system is designed and manufactured to a CPK of 1.67, so passes are passes, fails are fails, and the line runs at full optimisation.

Tightening F-Gas and equivalent regulations push allowable leak rates down and raise the traceability expected at audit. Recording a measured rate against every serial number means a question raised two years later can be answered with data rather than an argument.

At production scale, usually. Helium prices have risen 30 to 40 per cent in recent years. PURE helium recovery systems recover, re-purify and reuse helium from suitable leak testing processes, and can be specified with a new system or integrated with equipment you already run. Read more about PURE helium recovery systems.

Purchase price is only part of it. Cycle time, helium consumption, uptime, maintenance and the cost of a false fail all feed total cost of ownership. VES builds to proven component specifications and integrates helium recovery where it pays back, so running cost is engineered in rather than discovered later.

Speak to VES About Your HVAC or Data Centre Cooling Leak Testing

Tell us about your component, leak rate, cycle time and production requirements. Our applications engineers will advise on the most suitable test method, system and whether helium recovery could support your operation.

    Some of Our Trusted HVAC Customers

    Trusted HVAC customer logos including Carrier, Goodman, Honeywell, Daikin, Mitsubishi Electric, Panasonic and Copeland