Sheerline has installed a new 3m × 3m weather testing rig, manufactured by K Schulten Fenstertechnik, at its Derbyshire manufacturing facility, strengthening its in-house product development and testing capabilities.
The rig is designed to generate pressures significantly beyond typical UK weather conditions and enables Sheerline to assess air tightness, water tightness and pressure deflection. The equipment can be used to test a broad range of products, including windows, doors and commercial systems for different applications and installation conditions.
Sheerline’s R&D team has received full training and is already using the rig to evaluate current products and investigate potential improvements. The company can also test variables such as different hardware configurations across its product range without initially sending products to external test facilities.
According to Sheerline, bringing this capability in-house will help reduce development times, testing costs and delays associated with third-party facilities. While the results will be considered indicative during development, formal approval testing can still be carried out externally where required. 
Source: Sheerline with additional information added by Glass Balkan
