西部制冷挑战赛是一场多赢家竞赛，邀请制造商开发适合美国西部干燥气候的下一代屋顶空调并将其商业化。认证中心是在两种不同的测试条件下，代表西方气候的合理能效要求。最低能源和用水效率的标准是根据市场上现有的常规屋顶机组改造解决方案的估计性能制定的；因此，全面的理由是- up系统设计应轻松达到性能要求。本文概述并讨论了针对挑战的测试协议和性能标准的开发。讨论了实验室试验条件的选择。介绍了性能指标（包括标称制冷量和额定制冷量）的原理和计算方法。此外，还总结了最低合理能源效率要求的基本假设，并解释了该项目的关键非性能标准。引文:内华达州拉斯维加斯ASHRAE会议论文

The Western Cooling Challenge is a multiple-winner competition that invites manufacturers to develop and commercialize the next generation of rooftop packaged air conditioners appropriate for dry western United States climates. Certification centers on requirements for sensible energy efficiency at two separate test conditions that are representative of western climates. Criteria for minimum energy and water use efficiency were developed based on the estimated performance of market-available retrofit solutions for conventional rooftop package units; thus it is expected that comprehensive ground-up system designs should easily achieve the performance requirements. This paper outlines and discusses the development of the test protocol and performance criteria for the Challenge. The choice of laboratory test conditions is discussed. The rationale for and calculation of performance metrics including nominal cooling capacity and credited cooling capacity are presented. Additionally, the assumptions underlying requirements for minimum sensible energy efficiency are summarized, and key nonperformance- based criteria for the program are explained.