Dynamic test benches – bringing the road to the rig.

Driving cycle simulation

In order to meet stringent emission limits, it is no longer sufficient to develop engines and their aftertreatment systems by simply using steady state speed/load-points on the test bench. Instead, it is essential that one also takes account of dynamic driving factors that can significantly affect engine behavior – especially in acceleration, deceleration and gear shifting phases. We have dynamic test benches that can translate the on-road driving profile of the vehicle into a dynamic driving profile for the engine. Any unusual behavior is picked up and rectified were necessary. Depending on customer requirements, we can simulate a wide range of driving cycles, e.g. inner city, highway, inter-urban or race track.

Recreating the vehicle environment

It is vital to simulate the vehicle environment in order to reproduce dynamic driving conditions. We use dedicated programs to create a physical model that can reproduce every aspect of the behavior of the virtual vehicle (resistances, inertias, efficiencies, etc.). Reflecting different speeds, we are able to vary the flow of cool air around the engine in order to simulate the cooling effect under the hood. This is the only way to achieve realistic catalyst tests with the best possible correlation to real driving conditions. “Rest bus simulation” is another important aspect of testing. The engine ECU needs to communicate with the vehicle’s other ECUs (e.g. gear box and ABS). Without this communication, the engine ECU cannot operate correctly. On our test benches, these communication signals are simulated by the test bench automation system and are sent to the engine ECU via CAN Bus.

Our stationary and dynamic test benches are highly efficient engine development tools and can be adapted to meet your individual requirements.

 

 

New 4WD-Drivetrain Test Bench: One for All

Test benches for the automotive industry are forced to fulfill steadily growing performance demands. Test runs are becoming more and more complex. And real on road situations must be exactly simulated in a precise and reproducible manner.

For measuring values for emissions, fuel economy and electric power consumption as close as possible to the real vehicle behavior the European union has developed the WLTC-procedure (worldwide light duty vehicle transient cycle) which was installed as the legislative testing procedure for type approval in Sept. 2018. This procedure replaced the old well known NEDC (new European driving cycle).

Due to the more and more stringent emission legislation and due to the fact that meanwhile on road measurements (RDE) have been established, the need for a more precise tool for drivetrain testing, which is also able to simulate the real on road conditions came up. Hence, Elring Klinger Motortechnik decided to install a new high sophisticated drivetrain test bench with high power potential and especially with high flexibility for all sorts of drivetrains and needed test runs.

Because of the rising innovation pressure the time windows for developing new drive trains to series production are becoming drasticly shorter. The components are complex and the drivetrain management and interaction of various ECU´s for engine, gearbox, hybrid system and intelligent driver assist system require a validation of the overall system as early as possible on a test bench – with or without prototype vehicle.

Multi Configuration Test Bench for a Wide Spread of Investigations

On the new 4WD-drivetrain test bench all kind of drivetrains can be tested with high precision, high dynamic and with the best possible flexibility. It can cover ICE driven as well as variously configurated hybrid driven drivetrains. The testing of pure electric drives is also possible.

Furthermore single components of ICE´s, gearboxes and electric motors including their control strategies and their simulated power supply can be tested on only one test bench. The wide range of services includes:

  • Drivetrain investigations and optimizations
  • Gear box investigations and optimization of the hybrid operating strategy
  • Vehicle measurement under steady state conditions as well as in transient test cycles such as WLTC and RDE-tests.
  • Simulation of the dynamic driving behavior including breaking and recuperation events
  • Cold simulation down to -10°C (ambient air, coolant, oil conditioning)

Modern Technical Equipment

The technical equipment of the new test bench is state of the art and was defined according to the demand of the automotive OEM and supplying industry.

  • 4 asynchronous machines directly coupled with the wheel flanges of the drivetrain respectively of the vehicle
  • Each asynchronous machine has 433 KW/ 3400 Nm/ 1200 rpm
  • The inertia value is 3,57 kgm2, the maximum current is 709 Amp, the overload factor is 1,2
  • The test bench is equipped with one of the quickest and most flexible and efficient automation system: Morphee with data transfer by ethercat. The automation software is offering all features which are necessary for drive train testing programs – starting at simple manual testing up to fully automated dynamic test procedures
  • For the controlling of the test bench and the drivetrain, an FEV-controller with a real time calculation capability of 4 KHz was chosen
  • Additionally, various additive functions can be implemented by using Matlab/Simulink, AMEsim(3), GT-Suite(3), Dymola(3) and C/C++
  • The open integration- and testing-platform IPG-carmaker is able to deliver intelligent driver modules, detailed vehicle models as well as highly flexible models for on-road traffic to be combined to a realistic testing scenario. By this, driving investigations can be perfectly transferred from the road to the test bench to the simulation calculation.
  • A wind simulation fan up to 140 km/hour is installed
  • The test bench is equipped with a cooling device of 100 KW
  • Furthermore, a battery simulator 48 – 1000 Volt has been installed to supply all kind of electric and hybrid drives

ElringKlinger Motortechnik GmbH is well prepared to accelerate its customers in the field of drivetrain development. We want to be a trustable partner you can rely on with every modern testing job.