Mustang Advanced Engineering (MAE), an American manufacturer of testing equipment, dynamometers and related products, says it has delivered the first of three functional test stands for a major original equipment manufacturer of battery-electric vehicles (BEV).
The manufacturer contracted MAE to design and build three pieces of testing equipment: an end-of-line chassis dynamometer capable of testing EVs, an electric motor test stand for pre-production development activities and an end-of-line electric motor test stand to be integrated into the automated production line.
The system MAE delivered consists of an MAE-AC-4000 series chassis dynamometer equipped with the company’s PowerDyne software package tailored to meet the customer’s needs. The AC-4000 utilizes four independent AC motors, one coupled to each set of rollers, to control the load to each wheel independently. A moveable wheelbase system allows the system to accommodate 2WD and AWD vehicles with wheelbases ranging from 90-140in (2,286-3,556mm). The addition of an automatic vehicle restraint and safety system greatly reduces the test cycle time and ensures that vehicles remain safely in position on the tester.
MAE notes that its AC-4000 series chassis dynamometer offers a flexible solution for test control, data acquisition and operator interface, taking test operators through each step of an automated EoL test sequence in a user-friendly format while collecting, analyzing and reporting on vehicle systems status and performance data. The test stand communicates with the vehicle via CAN communication to determine pass/fail results and to establish certain vehicle system statuses as required during the test procedure. The flexibility of MAE’s system allows easy configuration changes to meet unlimited test and simulation requirements.