Two major trends can be identified for powertrain control in the
next decade. The legislation will more and more focus on in-use
emissions. Together with the global trend to reduce the CO₂
emissions, this will lead to an integral drive train approach. To
develop and validate this integral drive train approach, the need
for a new chapter in powertrain testing arises.
The climatic-altitude chamber, suited for heavy vehicles, serves
a wide variety of testing needs. Ambient temperature can be
controlled between -45°C and +55°C and ambient pressure can be
reduced up to a level found at an altitude to 4000 meters. The
chamber's dynamometers enable transient testing of heavy-duty
engines and vehicles and the chamber is equipped with a
comprehensive array of emission measurement capabilities, working
under extreme conditions.
With the final design of the chamber, three types of powertrain
test set-ups are possible: - Engine tests, - Engine in vehicle
tests (engine speed versus torque cycles, e.g., WHTC simulation), -
Vehicle tests for road and non-road applications (real-world
emission and performance).
By testing the complete vehicle under varying ambient
conditions, the interactions between subsystems can be studied and
the robustness of products can be enhanced. With this tool,
development, pre-calibration and performance evaluation of
powertrain control systems is performed in a reliable and efficient
test environment. To deal with the increasing complexity of
powertrains and optimize overall performance, model-based control
will become the standard in the coming decade. In that case,
advanced models that accurately predict the powertrain performance
under real-life conditions can be developed and validated using
this facility. The availability of accurate models opens the route
to model-based calibration and advanced diagnostics and optimal
control based on models embedded in the controller.