The most common type of engine dynamometer today used by engine builders the world over, must be the eddy current machine. But few will ever forget, of those who ever used them, the DPX water brake. Made by Froude in Worcester, England since shortly after the turn of the (20th) century, and once to be found gracing some out-of-the-way engine test facility at University, to many this would be their introduction to the subtle art of engine testing. Classed as a fluid friction device, resistance to the torque of the engine is offered by a combination of shaft bearing friction, Read more…

Believe it or not measuring the precise output from a reciprocating engine has always been a controversial and sometimes, difficult task. Even in the confines of the engine test cell, day-to day repeatability can often be onerous not to say expensive and so it is easy to understand why many competitors may prefer to test their engine while it remains in the vehicle - on a chassis dynamometer.

Engine dynamometers are generally the province of serious tuners and the OE engine business. Attaching the Read more…

With the ban on in-season testing, one of the greatest increase in uses of any other testing equipment is that of the power train transient dynamometer. Costing millions of pounds to buy and even more to run, these are used to simulate precisely the events experienced by the engine and transmission as if it were installed in a vehicle circulating around the track. Controlling not only the engine speed and load but just about every other parameter you can think of – air temperature and humidity, oil temperature, fuel temperature, not to mention the shock loading directly as a result of changing gears, the dynamometer system also tries to simulate Read more…

Today is the first of many strikes, or so we are told. The continuing dispute between management and unions in the Post Office has resulted in this, the first of a number of planned one-day stoppages across the UK on which the mere thought of reaching for an envelope and putting pen to paper is but the last thing on my mind. As engineers however, ‘addressing the envelope’ has an altogether different meaning. Other than a flat paper container with a sealable flap, to engineers an envelope is a containing structure or a boundary beyond which we stray only at our peril. Read more…

The author well remembers the first time he was given sole charge of overseeing the running in of an engine on the dynamometer of an un-named race engine manufacturer.

The engine in question was the first ever example of a Le Mans Prototype V8 and the author’s role was to do nothing other than warm the engine up on a base map which would be followed by a check over before the real mapping work commenced. Read more…

Here’s a word of warning for you which highlights the importance of getting the basics right. The author recently visited a company who run a small water brake dynamometer for training purposes.

The company recently came into possession of a brand new 4-cylinder Honda road car engine, donated to them by Honda as the car it had come from could not be sold and therefore needed to be disposed of. Read more…

Leading race engine manufacturer Engine Developments, of Rugby, Warwickshire, commissioned a new dynamometer data acquisition system earlier this year.

The system incorporates the latest hardware and software technology in order to improve the dynamometer data acquisition capability to the benefit of the company internally and to its customers.

The company, which manufactures Judd racing engines, has three dynamometer cells, all of which contain Read more…

In general terms, a dynamometer is simply a device that can be used to measure Force or Power.
Power and Force are related physically. Power is defined as the rate at which we do ‘work’, whilst ‘work’, in a linear sense is the result of moving a Force through a given distance, such as lifting a weight. So, Work = Force x Distance. Since Power is defined as the Work Done per Unit Time, we can also write Power = Force x Velocity, as Velocity is the distance moved in Unit time. < /p >

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RET was recently invited to Jaguar Land Rover’s PCC – Product Compliance Centre – at its Solihull plant to witness the CO2 emissions testing of the 2009 BTCC race cars. In last month’s Monitor we examined the chassis dynamometer and vehicle restraint system; this month we will focus on the gas analyzing equipment.

The PCC consists of two rolling road dynamometers, Cell 1 and Cell 2. Hatton Systems Ltd is responsible for the dynamometer equipment and control systems and HORIBA for the gas analyzing technology.

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RET was recently invited to Jaguar Land Rover’s PCC – Product Compliance Centre – at their Solihull plant to witness the CO2 emissions testing of the 2009 BTCC race cars. Whilst there we had the opportunity to see what goes into a truly world-class vehicle testing facility.

The PCC consists of two, four-wheel drive rolling road dynamometers, Cell 1 and Cell 2. Hatton Systems Ltd are responsible for the dynamometer equipment and control systems and Horiba for the gas analyzing technology. Read more…