Vital New Engineering Link Opened

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 24, 10 November 1987, Page 4 (Supplement)

Vital New Engineering Link Opened

An advanced new vehicle test chamber at the Ford Research and Engineering Centre in Essex, England, has been opened. The test chamber will be used to develop a new range of low-emission, lean-burn engines for production in the 1990's. It will provide a vital new engineering link between conventional dynamometer testing and onroad climatic appraisal under extreme conditions around the world. Called the Driveability Test Chamber (DTC) because it allows complete vehicles to be driven under fully-controlled environmental conditions, the purpose-built cell is the first of its kind in Britain and the most compact test chamber of this type in Europe. It artificially recreates any kind of climatic condition in which Ford vehicles are expected to perform reliably and economically, from the freezing sub-zero tempefatures of the Arctic to the

steaming heat of tropical rain forests. Unlike previous hot and cold rooms, the DTC provides the additional advantage of a wind tunnel and rolling-road chassis dynamometer, so that every kind of driving condition can be reproduced at road speeds of up to 220km/ h. Dedicated computers contained within the test house control the conditions, collect data and manage the complex operation of all the integrated systems. Ford's engineering director, Mr Clive Ennos, said the company built the new chamber to test and develop their new range of vehicles for the 1990's. "So that we could be sure they will operate at our customers' satisfaction in all climates. It will also enable us to improve fuel economy within the constraints of new exhaust emission and noise legislation," he said. Building of the DTC started in April 1986 and has

provided employment for about 50 engineers, draftsmen, electricians, technicians and construction workers. The design of the DTC is based on a three-storey layout, with all the vehicle facilities at ground level. Below the floor is an electric chassis synamometer with 2metre diameter rollers capable of absorbing 200 PS (150kW) at speeds up to 220km/ h. Its characteristics are controlled by computer to simulate accurately the road load coefficients for any chosen vehicle, using "coastdown" data measured on the test track. A unique feature of this installation is a special sliding floor that allows the rollers to be repositioned for front or rear-wheel drive vehicles without lifting heavy steel plates. Flexible steel tracks each side run between underground spools linked to the dynamometer carriage. The optimum location in the chamber for each vehicle design can be pre-set from a library of wheelbase data stored in the computer's memory. Ambient conditions in the test chamber itself can be controlled between -40°C and =50°C and from 5 to

95% relative humidity, with solar heat load simulation up to 1.25 kW/m2. Four additional panels under the centre section of the floor heat the underside of the vehicle to simulate the effects of a hot road surface. Up to six vehicles can be pre-conditioned at the same temperature in an adjacent chamber. They are stored and manoeuvred on special low-friction sliding pallets that allow the maximum use of the controlled conditions. Air speed over the running vehicle is reproduced by a wind tunnel, linked to

provide an accurate simulation of the dynamometer speed up to 180 km/h. Each vehicle entering the chamber for test is equipped with a four-module data logger that can collect up to 70 chammels of information per second. Although the DEC Microvax II will initially operate as a stand-alone device feeding four on-site terminals, a laser printer and a pen plotter, it will eventually be integrated into the Ford worldwide computer network to provide a more widely available database accessible

from any authorised area of the company if required. "Our new engines for the 1990's will be developed and signed-off in this facility, which allows our engineers to optimise efficiency and driveability without having to wait for the weather," said Mr Ennoa. "We are already projecting that, when in service, one new engine range alone will achieve annual fuel savings of over 55 million litres and emit 46,500 tonnes less pollutant into the atmosphere," he said.