Automotive Engineer

HORIBA case study

In 2010 the official opening of the BMW Energy and Environmental Test Centre (ETC) in Munich was celebrated. The ETC not only sets new standards with regard to efficiency and sustainability but also allows more realism in the tests which can be carried out there. HORIBA know-how was required for the equipping of the altitude test chamber.

Turbocharging is now the standard system for diesel engines, and it is also becoming increasingly important for gasoline fuelled engines in order to solve the target conflict between driving dynamics, power output and fuel savings. With turbocharged engines it is particularly relevant to investigate engine behaviour at high altitudes as differing environmental air pressures require the turbocharger pressure to be adapted constantly. An altitude test chamber in the new test centre simulates changing pressures which occur in different heights. With an emission measurement system based on the MEXA-7000 series, HORIBA supplied the equipment necessary to allow BMW to carry out complex emission measurements too.

The only EVZ test chamber with stationary emission measurement technology
The extensive HORIBA technologies used in the altitude test chamber make it the one and only test cell in the ETC to include integrated measurement technology. The measurement technology intercepts consumption and emission data relevant for approval under the aspects of altitude and temperature and is suitable for measuring and minimizing vehicle emissions as early as the pre-series status. The CVS-7400S Constant Volume Sampler system developed and installed by HORIBA also detects low concentrations of emissions as prescribed by future legislation.