Cylinder head test bench
The cylinder head test bench permits you to make accelerated simulations of cyclic thermal loading of cylinder heads. Resistance to thermo-mechanical fatigue is proven without having to ignite the engine.
At the heart of the test bench is a burner unit running on a propane-oxygen mixture with 6 separately adjustable burners on which cylinder heads of various dimensions can be tested continuously at a powerfully high level.
The test item can be mounted on a dummy crankcase. With the help of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) the test item is configured and optimised with regard to fluid flow so that the same flow characteristics can be set in the cooling channels of the cylinder head as in an ignited engine.
The test items can be heated to operating temperature in a very short time and cooled in cycles that you can freely define and select with cooling mixtures of glycol and water. There are two separate cooling water circuits with different inlet temperatures so that the cooling curves can be adapted to the required conditions. All the facility components are designed for unmanned continuous operation.
The open structure permits inspection during the continuous test with interruptions of just minutes. A digital camera is also employed to detect fractures. The test bench can be controlled fully automatically via a user interface. Adjoined to the test chamber are a control room, separate assembly zone and storage room.
The cylinder heads can be tested at a very early stage of development without need for the complete engine. The test times and the costs for staff and working materials and fuel are but a fraction of the costs for continuous operation tests on engine test benches.
Another advantage is the early detection of fractures and tracing of fracture propagation. This permits rapid determination of precise test results, execution of different tests and the statistical back-up of the test results thanks to a high number of tests. This opens up new options in particular for comparing mathematical methods.
This allows you to minimise the number of time-consuming and expensive instances of continuous operation tests on complete engines. We thus accommodate the ever shorter development cycles in the automotive industry.
