SPIN designed and manufactured a complete turnkey engine test cell facility for production testing of AJ133 Petrol V8 Engines.  The design incorporated systems for fuel, coolant, pneumatic rigging, exhaust, ventilation and fire detection.  The test stand was designed to suit a trolley system for delivery of the engine to test stand which eliminated the need of expensive crane delivery systems.  Exhaust, fuel, water and engine loom rigging supplied with proximity sensors and leak check functionality.

Test Cell Included the Following:

• Acoustic test cell with lighting and power distribution
• Air handling system
• Sprinkler system inside engine test cell
• Fire and Gas monitoring system
• Test cell ventilation system
• Engine exhaust system with pneumatically operated clamps
• Gasoline fuel system
• Engine coolant system with closed loop cooler control
• Engine starter system
• Engine PCM control interface
• Engine test stand with quick release fluid connections
• Engine trolley system for quick rig and test
• BMS facility PLC control system
• Spin Test control and data system
• Barcode scanning and engine file data storage

Engine Test Trolley

Engines are fitted to purpose designed and manufactured engine test trolleys. Engines are loaded outside the test cell and prepared for test.  Starter motors are clamped into position.  Proximity sensors ensure the starter motor is correctly connected.  Guards are closed and interlocked for safe usage.  The trolley is then pushed into the test cell ready for final connections and engine testing.  The engine is checked for leaks before fluids are allowed on board.  During engine test, circuits are carefully monitored for pressure and temperature control.

Control System

A choice of 2 ECU systems are available which are selected by engine variant barcode.  SpinTest control and data system implemented with Siemens S7 PLC and PC with Win CC SCADA HMI.  Complete engine hot test is carried out with engine running at predefined speeds and intervals.  The HMI guides the operator through the engine test sequence and displays real time information about the engine being tested.  Test data recorded and viewed on the HMI includes:

• Engine speed
• Fuel and water pressure
• Water inlet & outlet temperature
• Time into test
• Accept/reject and date and time stamped.