Design of an Engine Test Cell Control System
Abstract
The work contained in this thesis offers an alternative to the commercial solutions available for automatic engine testing. Both the software and hardware needed for the operation of an engine test cell were designed. The hardware used, employs a distributed architecture to move the acquisition devices as close to the sensors as possible. A test sequencer was developed that allows the creation of complex engine tests. The tests are executed on a real time operating system. This operates in conjunction with a graphical user interface, which runs on Windows. A custom data viewer was created to perform test analysis quickly, as well as identify long term trending in test data. The automated system supports both simple and complex alarming for fault detection. The full solution was installed in three eddy current dynamometer test cells at Ford. It is successfully running twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.