Design Of Test Rig Research Articles

Test rig for submerged transmissions in wave energy converters as a development tool for dynamic sealing systems

A submerged transmission, fitted with a dynamic sealing system, in a wave energy converter (WEC) serves the purpose of transmitting the force, absorbed by a wave activated body, to an encapsulated power take-off (PTO) system, while preventing seawater from entering the capsule. Dry generator operation is generally a prerequisite for attaining long technical service life. Little attention seems to be devoted in publications to the study of dynamic sealing systems in WECs, and to test rigs for experimental verification and/or evaluation of the ability/performance of existing dynamic sealing systems in a controlled laboratory environment. This paper begins by presenting some of our earlier research within the focus area of dynamic sealing systems, incl. design considerations and typical operating conditions. This part also presents the 1st laboratory test rig, used for verifying the sealing ability of the piston rod mechanical lead-through design in the 1st and 2nd full-scale experimental WEC prototype from Uppsala University. In 2021 project DynSSWE (Dynamic Sealing Systems for Wave Energy) was initiated. Drawing from experience, the project includes development of a new test rig, representing a tool for further development of dynamic sealing systems. This paper introduces steps in the design and development process of that new test rig, enabling accelerated long-term test runs with a setup of multiple piston rod specimens. The test specimens’ will be surface treated differently with the aim of improving the prospects of a long maintenance free service life. Since the new test rig is in the design stage, seal testing results are not yet reported. The presented work is funded by the Swedish energy agency with the aim of improving subsystem performance in wave energy devices.

Design and Development of Experimental Test Rig for Fault Diagnosis of Ball Bearing Using Fuzzy Logic Concept

Rolling element bearings are frequently employed in industry. Many machine-related issues are linked to bearing failures. To minimize downtime and preserve product quality in a highly automated production, an online detection system is required. Condition-based monitoring for deep groove ball bearings is becoming more common. All rotating machinery uses these bearings extensively to accommodate both static and dynamic loads. Techniques for condition-based monitoring can be utilized to diagnose bearing defects to prevent this failure. So, it is important to study these faults present in the machines. The techniques for fault detection will be described in this paper. We are discussing Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique. In FFT, we obtain frequency-relationship graphs, and based on peak frequencies, we predict faults. A detailed analysis using the FFT Methodology is done to find out the possible faults, and finally validate with MATLAB software. For the aim of bearing diagnostics, the system performs vibration analysis. More advanced diagnostic systems use fuzzy logic and classification methods to identify the state of the machinery. These techniques enable the creation of more automatic and trustworthy diagnostic systems.

Novel tribological test rig prototype and primary results of experiments for additively manufactured test samples

This paper presents a new design of tribological test rig - (TTR), reciprocating type, with a ramp characteristic typical of computer numerical control drives. The guide temperature is measured by a series of sensors, calibrated using the triple point of water and gallium melting point methods. The uncertainty of wear measurements is provided. Experiments showed that TTR gives repeatable results of measurements with respect to wear and temperature. Each experiment was performed under different conditions: dry sliding, dry sliding with intermissions, dry sliding with a temporarily increased payload, and sliding with lubrication and with silicon oil residue. Wear rate was determined to predict the wear and compare it with established methods. Normal force and payload were predicted for a set distance and assumed wear. A set of micro-photographs helped to determine the contact surface position.

Design and Development of Indigenous EV Motor Test Rig for Small Capacity Motor Testing

Electric Vehicle is increasing at a faster pace. There is a need for them to meet a variety of reliability requirements. The reliability of the product in the automotive domain is very important as if the product fails it can cause catastrophe. The paper describes the design and development of the Motor Test Rig. The main application of the Electric motor test bench is certification and evaluation testing of motors used in Electric and Hybrid-Electric Vehicles We have designed and developed an indigenous Motor Test Rig for OEM based on the experience we gained in EV motor testing.
 Keywords: Failure Rate, MTBF, Automotive, Simulation, Reliability, Indigenous, EV Motor Test Rig, Motor Testing

Advanced Lubrication Simulations of an Entire Test Rig: Optimization of the Nozzle Orientation to Maximize the Lubrication Capability

In the framework of the H2020 project IDERPLANE, aimed at providing innovative, effective, and validated criteria for the design and assessment of more reliable planet bearings for aerospace application analyzing the problem from a damage tolerance perspective, the present paper presents the numerical study and optimization of a test rig specifically designed for the experiments on the full-test article. Specifically, for the first time ever, an entire system including shafts, gears and bearings with all the rolling elements have been studied with a Finite Volume Computational Fluid Dynamics approach. This ambitious challenge was addressed with the implementation of a new mesh handling technique, namely the Global Remeshing Approach with Mesh Clustering (GRAMC). The aim was to optimize the lubrication of the test article to avoid unexpected failures during the experimental campaign. Three different oil jet directions have been studied and the most effective one, namely the axial one, was selected for the final test rig design.

Design, construction and modeling of a small-scale high temperature field rotor test rig

In-field validation of radiation thermometer performance is time consuming and expensive, especially when prototype experiments are performed. This study focuses on the development of a novel small-scale high temperature field simulation test rig for measuring turbine blade surface temperatures under changing environmental conditions. When developing and testing a radiation thermometer, the testing is typically performed directly on a test rig that can simultaneously provide a standardized environment and compare temperature data. This apparatus allows for static and dynamic temperature testing in a hostile environment by combining temperature, particle, and atmospheric effects. In the present study, a test rig will be utilized to analyze and validate the radiation thermometer, which will be subjected to harsh combined environmental variables with a temperature range of up to 2000K. Notably, the rotating head structure of the two materials allows for the application of a vast range of temperature measurements (700–2000 K), which is a distinctive characteristic of the design. The requirements of the test rig are defined based on the specimens to be tested. The necessity for the combined complete test setup, as well as its design and functionality, are discussed in this paper. Finally, validation experiments are conducted to demonstrate the test rig's accuracy in measuring turbine blade surface temperature, which is 0.25%.

A single wheel test rig for ocean world rovers

Ocean Worlds such as Europa and Enceladus are known to harbor subsurface liquid water oceans under their icy crust and are high-priority targets for in situ exploration. Compared to the Moon and Mars, Ocean Worlds likely present a significantly more challenging environment for surface mobility systems due to the extremely cold temperature, high radiation dosage, and poorly constrained material properties under these conditions. Small-diameter wheels such as those used by Mars rovers are prone to slip-sinkage in loose soil and damage from sharp rock and ice formations. A 4-wheel rover with a simple drive system and large deployable compliant tires is proposed as a solution for extreme terrain mobility on Ocean World surfaces. The present work describes the design and construction of a single wheel test rig and a prototype large-diameter deployable wheel for Ocean World rovers and initial test results. The test rig allows independent control of the vertical load, slip ratio, slip angle, and camber angle, and accommodates large-diameter deployable wheels. The test rig features a modular test bed that can simulate varied surface features such as fine-grained ice, smooth hard ice, sharp ice formations, and large ice boulder fields.

Design and Analysis of Suspension Test Rig

Design and Analysis of Suspension Test Rig

Test Rig Design Considerations to Detect Volatile Organic Compounds in Aircraft Cabins

A numerical investigation for simulating the aircraft cabin as an environmental chamber is set to assist a test rig design assimilating passenger comfort, considering their exposure to high concentrations of Volatile Organic Compounds. Computational Fluid Dynamics is used to evaluate the flow inside the cabin for 800 sec of actual flow time, where the mixing and transport of chemical species are also evaluated. Measurements close to the passengers’ noses are used to create a Boruta feature selection-based dataset that trains four machine learning classifiers, namely, Support Vector Machine, Random Forest, Naive Bayes, and Logistic Regression, and compares their performance. Furthermore, the evaluation of molecular weight impact on residence time is explored, with an additional simulation including cabin filters. The model is proven to be insensitive to inlet air mass flow variation, indicating that the air-conditioning system mass flow has a minor impact on chemical species mass measurements. The Naive Bayes classifier shows the greatest performance with 96 % accuracy and is being selected to create a digital nose model. Moreover, when comparing simulation results between the models with and without cabin filters, results indicate that the residence time is independent of each compound’s molecular weight, with all showing equivalent residence time reduction. Finally, the observed cabin flow irregularities indicate that passengers may share different comfort experiences during the flight. This dictates the need to manufacture a full-scale test rig to quantify the impact of the flow asymmetry on the comfort of frequent travelers and aviation professionals.

In Vitro Hemolytic Performance of the Realheart® V11C TAH Prototype with Porcine Blood.

Hemolysis testing of new devices to treat heart failure is a regulatory requirement. The ASTM F1841-97 standard for hemolysis testing was developed for continuous flow pumps and does not specify test rig design. When research groups use different methodologies, results are difficult to compare. Pulsatile flow pump rigs require compliance chambers, thus the Aachen rig (Gräf et al) was developed for the pulsatile Reinheart TAH. The study objective was to use this rig to test the early Realheart TAH prototype V11C hemolysis performance compared to literature. The experimental control was the continuous flow pump BPX-80 (Medtronic) and pooled heparinized porcine blood was used. The mgNIH of BPX-80 and V11C was 5.42 ± 1.47 and 25.20 ± 5.46 mg/100 L, respectively. The NIH ratio of V11C over BPX-80 was 5.5. The absolute and the relative hemolysis of the V11C are lower compared to both the large and small Reinheart TAH devices published values. Pulsatile pumps create more hemolysis in the Aachen rig, and it is not known if this is because how the rig handles pulsatile flow or due to the devices. Future studies will therefore use a pulsatile pump such as the SynCardia as clinical comparator and human blood to test the performance of future Realheart TAH prototypes.

Test Rig for the In Situ Measurement of the Elastic Tooth Deflection of Plastic Gears

A new steel-plastic gear set testing methodology has been developed at the Institute of Polymer Technology (LKT). The in situ gear test rig analyses the timing differences between the index pulses of rotary encoders on the input and output shaft. This measurement principle enables the continuous measurement of the elastic tooth deflection on the one hand and permanent deformations and wear on the other hand by switching between a high loading torque and a low measuring torque. However, the elastic tooth deflection measurement using this principle has not yet been validated. Therefore, in situ gear tests using polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) gears were performed to evaluate the elastic tooth deflection of the plastic gear during operation. The results were compared to the results of pulsator tests. The comparison shows a very good correlation between the results of the newly developed in situ gear test rig and the well-established pulsator test rig. However, it has been shown that the test rig design creates a measuring offset due to angular displacements of the shafts due to torsion of test rig components.

Numerical-experimental analysis of highly crowned spherical gear couplings working at high misalignment angles

Spherical gear couplings are characterized by their high capacity to transfer power between rotating shafts in highly misaligned conditions. They are usually small because of space restrictions and require a high amount of longitudinal crowning, which sometimes leads to undercutting profiles. These issues have been solved recently with analytical models for the generation of tooth surfaces that consider the hob thread surface, however, they are not experimentally validated. Likewise, it has been numerically concluded that the number of teeth in contact in high misalignment conditions decreases, and thus may fail by tooth root breakage. Nevertheless, published experimental tests for such high misalignment angles are scarce. This paper presents test techniques to study highly crowned spherical gear couplings, together with a test rig design adapted to high misalignment angles. The tooth surface geometry, maximum misalignment, stiffness, and contact pattern are compared. The results demonstrate that the analytical and numerical models employed accurately represent the mechanical behavior of spherical gear couplings working at high misalignment applications.

A test rig for the experimental characterization of the mechanical energy dissipation due to the propagation of elastic waves during the impact of cylinders

The proposed work describes the design and construction of an experimental test rig used to quantify the mechanical energy dissipation due to the propagation of elastic waves during the impact of cylinders and validate the background theoretical models. Firstly, the impact of perfectly elastic cylinders is studied using finite element and lumped parameter models. The main result obtained is the coefficient of dissipation, which allows quantifying the total mechanical energy dissipation of the system. Then, the final layout of the test rig designed to reproduce the test conditions of the theoretical models is shown. Two kinds of tests are performed to obtain the energy dissipation of the system with and without impacts. The position of one cylinder during its motion is acquired with an industrial camera. Finally, the experimental results are compared with an analytical model of a nonlinear pendulum and used to quantify the coefficient of dissipation.

The testing of pneumatic tyres for the interpretation of tyre behaviour for road/rail vehicles when operating on rails

This paper describes a programme of tyre tests using a purpose built tyre test rig designed specifically to investigate the behaviour of tyres that are used with Road-Rail Vehicles (RRVs). These vehicles are used extensively by the rail industry to support the maintenance of existing rail lines and new construction works. In many cases, using a vehicle that can only operate on the road, or a rail engine that can only operate on tracks will not provide a suitable or effective solution for the task in hand. RRVs are able to operate on both roads and rail, and as such provide a very flexible solution to the rail industry. When operating on the road, RRVs use pneumatic tyres to control their motion and act to all intent and purpose as a normal road vehicle. When operating on rail lines RRVs use a combination of the pneumatic tyres and standard steel rail wheels to control their motion. The rail wheels maintain the directional stability on the track and the pneumatic tyres provide the tractive force to drive and brake the vehicle. Unlike standard road or rail vehicles, there is to date no predictive engineering practice that allows the use of computer simulation to design and optimise the performance of RRVs when they are operating on rails. Computer tools, such as multi-body systems (MBS) analysis are used extensively to design both road and rail vehicles. For road vehicles a tyre model is needed to represent the behaviour in the contact patch between the tyre and the road. For rail vehicles a model is needed to represent the contact force between the train wheel and the track. In both these applications the behaviour is well understood and over the last half century mathematical models have been developed that allow accurate and useful simulation to support the design of new vehicles and trains. In contrast, RRVs have evolved essentially as modifications to standard road vehicles. While the base vehicle may be very well designed to perform on the road, the performance on rail is based on experience and some testing. There is no up-front science involved in designing a RRV to perform effectively during this very important phase of its operation. In order to develop an accurate model to predict RRV performance on rails it is clear that a model of the behaviour of the tyre when in contact with the rail is needed. To date, no such model exists and additionally the testing needed to generate data that could be used to develop a model has never been carried out. The work described here addresses this with the design and build of a unique test rig that can be used to test tyres on rails for a range of operating conditions, and produce a set of initial results that provide a framework for a future tyre/rail model. The paper concludes with a review of the behaviour measured and provides new insights into how well tyres perform on rails and also where the behaviour differs from the well understood behaviour of tyres operating on roads. The important behaviours that would provide the main parameters for a new empirical tyre model are also identified and discussed.

Design and Fabrication of Electro-Mechanical Active Suspension System Test Rig

This abstract discusses the design and fabrication of an active suspension system. The goal is to enhance ride comfort, stability, and vehicle dynamics. The research focuses on analyzing the quarter car model dynamics and employing advanced control algorithms and actuators for adaptive suspension adjustment. Integration of sensors, control units, and actuators is crucial for real-time monitoring and control of the suspension. With the help of this rig, we are analyzing the linear acceleration in passivesuspension and active suspension. By doing so we can determine the load acting on the chassis.The active suspension system test rig is a valuable tool for automotive engineers and designers. It allows them to evaluate the performance of different suspension systems in a controlled environment, under various operating conditions

Design and Fabrication of Electro-Mechanical Active Suspension System Test Rig

This abstract discusses the design and fabrication of an active suspension system. The goal is to enhance ride comfort, stability, and vehicle dynamics. The research focuses on analyzing the quarter car model dynamics and employing advanced control algorithms and actuators for adaptive suspension adjustment. Integration of sensors, control units, and actuators is crucial for real-time monitoring and control of the suspension. With the help of this rig, we are analyzing the linear acceleration in passivesuspension and active suspension. By doing so we can determine the load acting on the chassis.The active suspension system test rig is a valuable tool for automotive engineers and designers. It allows them to evaluate the performance of different suspension systems in a controlled environment, under various operating conditions.

A test rig for the full characterization of the dynamics of shrouded turbine blades

Highly stressed forced vibrations experienced by Low Pressure Turbine (LPT) blades during their operation can result in high cycle fatigue (HCF) which can ultimately lead to failure. To avoid this occurrence, the vibration amplitudes must be anticipated and reduced. This is generally done by employing friction damping devices like under-platform dampers, shrouds and snubbers. In case of blades with shrouds at their tips, the adjacent shrouded blades are coupled to each other and three-dimensional periodic shroud contact forces acting on shrouds significantly influence the vibration amplitudes as energy is dissipated due to friction. Hence, for the experimental validation of the numerical contact models that are used for the prediction of nonlinear forced response of shrouded blades, it is equally necessary to measure the contact forces acting at the shrouds. Moreover, present-day requirement of more accurate and detailed models requires thorough and comprehensive experimental validation calling for the measurement of three-dimensional shroud contact forces from purposely designed test rigs.This study presents the design, development and operation of an experimental test rig that allows full characterization of the dynamics of shrouded turbine blade, i.e., simultaneous measurement of three-dimensional shroud contact forces and shrouded blade forced response. The starting point was the design of the test rig components based on the design requirements. This is followed by the description of the major components of the proposed test rig i.e., the three-dimensional contact force measurement system and the torque screw mechanism. In the subsequent section, the details of the experimental setup to measure the forced response and three-dimensional shroud contact forces simultaneously are highlighted as the test campaign is performed for different normal preloads and excitation force levels. Consequently, the effects of the variation in the normal preload and excitation force on the measured response and shroud contact forces are discussed. Finally, it is shown how the results establish the efficacy of the proposed test rig in providing a comprehensive depiction of the dynamic response of the shrouded blade and 3D shroud contact forces that will result in more accurate and reliable experimental validation of numerical tools.

Low-Cost, Low-W Low-Cost, Low-Weight T eight Test Rig Design for a Labor est Rig Design for a Laboratory-Scale y-Scale Twin Rotor Wind Turbine

Multi-Rotor Wind Turbine (MRWT) has been proven advantageous over Single-Rotor Wind Turbine (SRWT) in many aspects. In order to study the performance of MRWT over SRWT, this work presents a low-cost and low-weight design for a test rig for laboratory-scale wind turbine configurations. The configurations under study are a single-rotor, and a twin-rotor of the same size with a diameter of 30 cm. Aerodynamic loads have been calculated using the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) method, then the loads were used for stress analysis over the test rig proposed. The test rig is designed on Solidworks and the aerodynamic and inertial loads were applied for static structural analysis. The analysis showed that both configurations are safe against failure and the deflections were reasonable to ensure low vibrations which may affect the turbine performance. The single-rotor configuration test-rig is about 16 gm in mass, with a 1.67 factor of safety, while the twin-rotor configuration weighs 360 gm with a factor of safety of 3.7.

RETRACTED: Repeatability in measurements and control settings of a small francis turbine test rig

A reduced scaled-down hydraulic turbine test setup has been designed. The test setup is made to investigate the mitigation of pressure pulsations like the rotating vortex rope (RVR) and its formation and problems related to prototype operation. The setup arrangements and instrumentations follow mostly the international electro-technical commission (IEC) standards. This paper presents the runner hub modification, calibration procedure, repeatability and systematic uncertainty estimation, and measurement methods as per the guidelines given in IEC 60193 and IEC 60041. The calibration and regression curves of all devices are presented. A LABVIEW program for open-loop operation at a constant head and closed-loop operation at constant discharge is also presented. Finally, the systematic and random uncertainty of hydraulic efficiency is discussed. • Design and development of small turbine test rig. • Design modification of runner cone profile. • Working of control feedback system using Partial Integral Differential (PID) controller. • Calibration of different instruments used in the small turbine test rig. • Random and systematic uncertainty of the small turbine test rig.

Design and Development of Inspection Test Rig with Stamping

Stamping and inspection are tasks that have been done manually since the beginning of time. Doing these tasks manually is time consuming, there is a possibility of error in it and it gets hectic after a while so it cannot be performed continuously. Automation has been simplifying and reducing the possibility of error over the recent years. In this project we will be designing and developing a prototype for stamping and inspection of metal cans using pneumatics and programmable logic controller (PLC). The stamping is done using the mechanism of quick retrieval by pressurized air. We aim to inspect cans of different sizes and make the system compatible to a wider range of industries. Different sizes of cans will require different pressure while stamping which will be programmed and stamping will be done accordingly with the required pressure. We can further develop the system to automate the whole production including pouring of material in cans, lidding, packaging, stamping and sorting. This work will propose a 3D design on the electropneumatic system and all the components used will also be discussed. This article is unique due to the concept of using one conveyor belt for two different sizes of cans. With the help of this design we can design different systems which can be compatible for multiple products in different industries. This might turn out to be a great solution for small scale industries that want to automate their plants but have not been able to due to high initial cost.