Environmental Testing of Automotive Generator

Often manufacturers are required to check quality and to qualify parameters which is often called a Performance acceptance test (PAT). This is usually under extreme conditions. In this case it was car under bonnet conditions which can range from typically -30 C (after a cold night in Sweden) to +120 C (sat in traffic on a hot day).

Incotech led the complete project and installed a suite of 3 identical test machines.

An environmental chamber was modified for our purposes.

A fixture was placed into each machine, made from stainless steel so as to not rust with the harsh atmosphere.

A drive motor was placed outside the environmental chamber and tested the unit under test (UUT).

A chiller unit was required to keep the UUT at a safe temperature like it would in real life.

The machine control was by Labview, which controlled the UUT, motor, and CANbus as well as other systems on the machine. Not an easy task!