IEC 62552-1:2015 specifies the essential characteristics of household refrigerating appliances, cooled by internal natural convection or forced air circulation, and establishes test methods for checking the characteristics. For the purposes of declaration, the tests defined in this part of IEC 62552 are considered to be type tests to assess the fundamental design and operation of a refrigerating appliance. This part of IEC 62552 does not define requirements for production sampling or conformity assessment or certification. This part of IEC 62552 does not define a regime for verification testing as this varies by region and country. When verification of the performance of a refrigerating appliance of a given type in relation to this standard is necessary, it is preferable, wherever practicable, that all the tests specified be applied to a single unit. The tests can also be made individually for the study of a particular characteristic. IEC 62552-1, -2 and -3 cancel and replace the first edition of IEC 62552 published in 2007. IEC 62552-1, -2 and -3 constitute a technical revision and includes the following significant technical changes with respect to IEC 62552:2007:
a) All parts of the standard have been largely rewritten and updated to cope with new testing requirements, new product configurations, the advent of electronic product controls and computer based test-room data collection and processing equipment.
b) In Part 1 (this part) there are some changes to test room equipment specifications and the setup for testing to provide additional flexibility especially when testing multiple appliances in a single test room.