Engine Testing

The Design, Building, Modification and Use of Powertrain Test Facilities

A. J. Martyr, M.A. PLINT, A. J. MARTYR

• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9780080969503
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Tecnologia e ingegneria
• Subtopic: Trasporti e ingegneria automobilistica

Engine Testing is a unique, well-organized and comprehensive collection of the different aspects of engine and vehicle testing equipment and infrastructure for anyone involved in facility design and management, physical testing and the maintenance, upgrading and trouble shooting of testing equipment. Designed so that its chapters can all stand alone to be read in sequence or out of order as needed, Engine Testing is also an ideal resource for automotive engineers required to perform testing functions whose jobs do not involve engine testing on a regular basis. This recognized standard reference for the subject is now enhanced with new chapters on hybrid testing, OBD (on-board diagnostics) and sensor signals from modern engines.- One of few books dedicated to engine testing and a true, recognized market-leader on the subject- Covers all key aspects of this large topic, including test-cell design and setup, data management, and dynamometer selection and use, with new chapters on hybrid testing, OBD (on-board diagnostics) and sensor signals from modern engines- Brings together otherwise scattered information on the theory and practice of engine testing into one up-to-date reference for automotive engineers who must refer to such knowledge on a daily basis

Chapter 1

Test Facility Specification, System Integration, and Project Organization

Chapter Outline

Introduction: The Role of the Test Facility

Part 1. The Specification of Test Powertrain Facilities

Levels of Test Facility Specification

Note Concerning Quality Management Certification

Creation of an Operational Specification

Feasibility Studies and Outline Planning Permission

Benchmarking

Regulations, Planning Permits, and Safety Discussions Covering Test Cells

Specification of Control and Data Acquisition Systems

Use of Supplier’s Specifications

Functional Specifications: Some Common Difficulties

Interpretation of Specifications by Third-Party Stakeholders

Part 2. Multidisciplinary Project Organization and Roles

Project Roles and Management

Project Management Tools: Communications and Responsibility Matrix

Web-Based Control and Communications

Use of “Master Drawing” in Project Control

Project Timing Chart

A Note on Documentation

Summary

References

Introduction: The Role of the Test Facility

If a “catch-all” task description of automotive test facilities was required it might be “to gain automotive type approval for the products under test, in order for them to enter the international marketplace”.

The European Union’s Framework Directive 2007/46/EC covers over 50 topics (see Figure 2.3) for whole vehicle approval in the categories M (passenger cars), N (light goods) and O (trucks), and there are similar directives covering motorcycles and many types of off-road vehicles. Each EU member state has to police the type approval certification process and have their own government organization so to do. In the UK, the government agency is the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) [1].

The VCA, like its European counterparts, appoints technical services organizations to carry out testing of separate approval topics and each of these organizations requires ISO 17025 accreditation for the specific topic in order to demonstrate competency.

Part 1. The Specification of Test Powertrain Facilities

An engine or powertrain test facility is a complex of machinery, instrumentation, and support services, housed in a building adapted or built for its purpose. For such a facility to function correctly and cost-effectively, its many parts must be matched to each other while meeting the operational requirements of the user and being compliant with relevant regulations.

Engine, powertrain, and vehicle developers now need to measure improvements in performance that are frequently so small as to be in the noise band of their instrumentation. This level of measurement requires that every device in the measurement chain is integrated with each other and within the total facility, such that their performance and the data they produce is not compromised by the environment in which they operate, or services to which they are connected.

Powertrain test facilities vary considerably in layout, in power rating, performance, and the markets they serve. While most engine test cells built in the last 20 years have many common features, all of which are covered in the following chapters, there are types of cells designed for very specific and limited functions that have their own sections in this book.

The common product of all these cells is data, which will be used to identify, modify, homologate, or develop performance criteria of all or part of the unit under test (UUT).

All post-test work will rely on the relevance and veracity of the test data; the quality audit trail starts in the test cell.

To build, or substantially modify, a modern powertrain test facility requires the coordination of a wide range of specialized engineering skills; many technical managers have found it to be an unexpectedly wide-ranging complex project.

The task of putting together test cell systems from their many component parts has given rise, particularly in the USA, to a specialized industrial role known as “system integration”. In this industrial model a company, more rarely a consultant, having relevant experience of one or more of the core technologies required, takes contractual responsibility for the integration of all the test facility components from various sources. Commonly the integrator role has been carried out by the supplier of test cell control systems and the contractual responsibility may, ill-advisedly, be restricted to the integration of the dynamometer and control room instrumentation.

In Europe the model was somewhat different because the long-term development of the dynamometry industry has led to a very few large test plant contracting companies. Now in 2012, new technologies are being used, such as those using isotopic tracers in tribology and wireless communication in transducers; this has meant that the number of individual suppliers of test instrumentation has increased, making the task of system integration ever more difficult. Thus, for every facility build or modification project it is important to nominate the role of systems integrator, so that one person or company takes the contractual responsibility for the final functionality of the total test facility.

Levels of Test Facility Specification

Without a clear and unambiguous specification no complex project should be allowed to proceed.¹

This book suggests the use of three levels of specification:

1. Operational specification, describing “what is it for”, created and agreed within the user group, prior to a request for quotation (RFQ) being issued. This may sound obvious and straightforward, but experience shows that different groups and individuals, within an industrial or academic organization, can have quite different and often mutually incompatible views as to the main purpose of a major capital expenditure.

2. Functional specification, describing “what it consists of and where it goes”, created by a user group, when having or employing the necessary skills. It might also be created as part of a feasibility study by a third party, or by a nominated main contractor as part of a design study contract.

3. Detailed functional specification, describing “how it all works”, created by the project design authority within the supply contract.

Note Concerning Quality Management Certification

Most medium and large test facilities will be part of organizations certified to a Quality Management System equivalent to ISO 9001 and an Environmental Management System equivalent to ISO 14000 series. Some of the management implications of this are covered in Chapter 2 but it should be understood that such certification has considerable bearing on the methods of compilation and the final content of the Operational and Functional specifications.

Creation of an Operational Specification

This chapter will tend to concentrate on the operational specification, which is a user-generated document, leaving some aspects of the more detailed levels of functional specification to subsequent chapters covering the design process.

The operational specification should contain within its first page a clear description of the task for which the facility is being created; too many “forget to describe the wood and concentrate on the trees”.

Its creation will be an iterative task and in its first draft it need not specify in detail the instruments required, nor does it have to be based on a particular site layout. Its first role will normally be to support the application for budgetary support and outline planning; subsequently it remains the core document on which all other detailed specifications and any requests for quotations (RFQ) are based.

It is sensible to consider inclusion of a brief description of envisaged facility acceptance tests within the operational specification document. When considering what form any acceptance tests should take it is vital they be based on one or more test objects that will be available on the project program. It is also sensible for initial “shake-down” tests to use a test piece whose performance is well known and that, together with its rigging kit, is readily available.

During the early stages of developing a specification it is always sound policy to find out what instrumentation and service modules are available on the market and to reconsider carefully any part of the operational specification that makes demands that may unnecessarily exceed the operational range that exists.

A general cost consciousness at this stage can have a permanent effect on capital and subsequent running costs.

Because of the range of skills required in the design and building of a “greenfield” test laboratory, it is remarkably difficult to produce a succinct specification that is entirely satisfactory to all stakeholders, or even one that is mutually comprehensible to all specialist participants.

Producing a preliminary cost estimate is made more difficult by the need for some of the building design details, such as floor loadings and electrical power demand, to be determined before the detailed design of the internal plant has been finalized.

The specification must include pre-existing site conditions or imposed restrictions that may impact on the facility layout or construction. In the UK this requirement is specifically covered by law, since all but the smallest contracts involving construction or modification of test facilities will fall under the control of a section of health and safety legislation known as Construction Design and Management Regulations 1994 (CDM) [2]. Not to list site conditions that might affect subsequent work, such as the presence of contaminated ground or flood risk, can jeopardize any building project and risk legal disputes.

The specification should list any prescribed or existing equipment that has to be integrated within the new facility, the level of staffing intended, and any special industrial standards the facility is required to meet. It is also appropriate that the operational specification document contains statements concerning the general “look and feel”.

Note that the certification or accreditation of any test laboratory by an external authority such as the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) or the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has to be the responsibility of the operator, since it is based on approved management procedures as much as the equipment. External accreditation cannot realistica...

Table of contents

• Cover Image
• Content
• Title
• Copyright
• Foreword to the Fourth Edition
• About the Authors
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Test Facility Specification, System Integration, and Project Organization
• Chapter 2. Quality and H&S Legislation and Management, Type Approval, Test Correlation, and Reporting of Results
• Chapter 3. The Test Cell as a Thermodynamic System
• Chapter 4. Powertrain Test Facility Design and Construction
• Chapter 5. Electrical Design Requirements of Test Facilities
• Chapter 6. Ventilation and Air-Conditioning in Powertrain Test Facilities
• Chapter 7. Test Cell Cooling Water and Exhaust Gas Systems
• Chapter 8. Fuel and Oil Storage, Supply and Treatment
• Chapter 9. Vibration and Noise
• Chapter 10. Dynamometers
• Chapter 11. Rigging the Engine and Shaft Selection
• Chapter 12. Test Cell Safety, Control, and Data Acquisition
• Chapter 13. Data Handling, the Use of Modeling, and Post-Test Processing
• Chapter 14. Measurement of Fuel, Combustion Air, and Oil Consumption
• Chapter 15. The Combustion Process and Combustion Analysis
• Chapter 16. Engine Exhaust Emissions
• Chapter 17. Chassis or Rolling-Road Dynamometers
• Chapter 18. Anechoic Test Cells
• Chapter 19. The Pursuit and Definition of Accuracy
• Chapter 20. Tribology, Fuel, and Lubrication Testing
• Chapter 21. Thermal Efficiency, Measurement of Heat, and Mechanical Losses
• APPENDIX 1. Martyr’s Laws of Engineering Project Management
• Index