Optimise, perfect and troubleshoot
Test benches have become more and more relevant since manufacturing processes in the automotive industry, and elsewhere, have frequently been pushing at the very limits of what is doable: reducing weight, materials and costs and working with increasingly shorter development times. This affects consumer and capital goods equally. Every test bench is a prototype.
The reality
A feel for what is possible
Test systems require engineers to be able to imagine a clear model in their heads. What faults could occur? Where are the weak spots? Has everything been thought of? Are the assumptions that have been made correct? What special conditions exist? It needs both imagination and precision to fine-tune the product attributes via conscientious test procedures and to gear these based on time and intensity to future load profiles. Product tests have to be performed on a real and tangible basis.
Objectives of test bench construction
- Weight reduction
- Reduction in materials used
- Cost reduction
- Necessity of test routines due to increasingly shorter development cycles
- Safeguarding competitiveness through a quality offensive
- Limiting warranty risks
- Liability risks: Real product tests required rather than simulation