SGS’s IBR Laboratories

Accurate, rapid turnaround testing for filtration in air, water, and oil.

A world leader in state-of-the-art filter testing and particle counting, SGS IBR Laboratories has more than 35 years industry experience. We provide independent, confidential services that meet industry standards and/or a program customized to your application.

Filtration Services

Founded in 1984, SGS IBR Laboratories increase SGS’s capacity and capability to offer the following key services:

Filtration testing for consumer products, automotive, fluid power, HVAC, drinking, medical and industrial processes
Product and component particulate cleanliness testing of automotive, fluid power, and medical components
Performance testing of vacuum cleaners, room purifiers, and other filtration based consumer products

Products Tested

Working with clients developing highly specialized quantitative filtration testing in air, water, oil and fuels across a broad spectrum of products and markets, we offer testing for:

Retail products for air and water
Building & HVAC systems
Automotive & ground vehicles
Drinking & pool/spa waters
Fluid & hydraulic power systems
Industrial processes
Compressed and low pressure industrial air
Medical filters and assemblies

Retail products for Air and Water

Vacuum cleaners, room air cleaners, drinking water for home and camping – consumer goods that rely on any type of filtration fall within this category. For example, we test the dust pick up performance (hard and soft surfaces) of vacuum cleaners, and the particulate removal capability of air cleaners.

Buildings & HVAC Systems

Filtration system testing for homes and commercial building, and HVAC systems including:

Particulate removal efficiency – from 0.01 to 50 micron
HEPA and ULPA filtration
Particle efficiency and capacity
ASHRAE and ISO methods for Furnace filter efficiency and capacity

We are the alternate test facility for the performance of initial qualification testing for the AHAM Air Cleaner Certification Program. In the UK, we are offer accredited testing services for the declaration and verification of claims for the EcoDesign and Energy Label regulations, (EU) 666/2013 and (EU) 665/2013, respectively.

Automotive & Ground Vehicles

Testing oil, air and fuel systems for ground vehicles, we test engine intakes, cabin air filtration systems, engine oil filters and fuel filtration systems for attributes including:

Filter life and efficiency in air, fuel, and water
Ability to remove particulates, odors, oil aerosols, water, dust, soot, etc.
Resistance to pressure and temperature cycling
Assembly resistance to contamination

Drinking & Pool/Spa Waters

Our test stands cover a wide range of flow and size – from sports bottles and tap filters, to while building filtration systems. Ensuring the safety of water differs depending on the end use. We test drinking water and verify particle removal claims in accordance with:

NSF 42, 53 and 58
AFNOR standards
ISO standards

For pool and spa water, we test filter efficiency and cleanability to the NSF 50 standard.

Fluid & Hydraulic Power Systems

The cleanliness of fluid power systems, including valves, transmissions, turbines and compressors is critical to the prevention of hydraulic failure and abrasive wear. We provide technically advanced testing of filter efficiency, component resistance to wear, and system cleanliness.

As participants in SAE and ISO technical committees for the development of hydraulic system specific test methods we are at the forefront of this sector. Our services include:

Filter performance – efficiency and resistance
Particulate cleanliness – to ISO 4406 codes, as well as by microscopy
Pressure and flow pulsing simulations
Custom test circuits – to include client valves, pumps and piping
Fluid variation – in your fluids, at your flows and pressures

Industrial processes

Testing liquid process filtration for nuclear power, fluid power, process water, and coolants. We also check compressed air filter efficiency to ISO 125000, as well as correlation to ISO 8573 cleanliness codes.

Accreditations

Assuring the quality of our laboratory services, we benefit from the following accreditations to ISO/IEC 17025:

A2LA – Grass Lake, MI, USA lab
A2LA and CNAS – Suzhou, China lab

Why choose SGS IBR Laboratories?

Based in the USA and China we are technically driven and fast reacting. We offer prompt and full resolution of your testing difficulties including root cause identification and analysis, as well as a pro-active corrective and preventive action system.

Our experts support you with high accuracy testing, as well as participation in industry events and technical committees – to ensure we are always at the forefront of filtration testing knowledge, technology and expertise.