Automotive Engineering - January/February 2021 - 26

ALLISON BUILDS
A TESTING
POWERHOUSE
Engineering veterans Brad Stamper and Jeanne Rues in the
VET's cold-test chamber.

The VET's official launch in summer 2020 came with
news for the industry: Allison is expanding into testing
for external customers. It is devoting half the new facility's resources to this enterprise, the other half for
internal programs. " The dividing line was put in place
within our business case for capitalizing this facility, "
Stamper noted. " We know there is Allison internal demand to book 50 percent of the facility. And we need
our partners to be able to execute as quickly as we'll
be able to execute. Our leadership quickly moved to
make that capability available. That drove having two
test cells here. "
Robust measures are in place to keep the two parties
separate. All customers to the VET, internal and external, are considered proprietary with the same security
safeguards. " Our customers' IP is paramount, " said
David Proctor, facilities general manager. " The data we
collect goes directly to the cloud; only the customer has
access to that data storage. After 21 days, that data,
which we provide in raw-state form, is erased. "

Swallowing a city bus
Allison Transmission partnered with AVL for the majority of the VET's equipment, including dual-channel
emissions-test systems and two of the largest chassis
dynos the Austrian company has ever built. The dynos are calibrated to regenerate electric power back
into the grid, and their rollers can be moved 330 in.
26 January/February 2021

(838 cm) longitudinally in their subfloor saddles to accommodate
long vehicle wheelbases.
" We're also working to automate systems so that the whole building will 'tell us' what's wrong. It'll notify us in the future if we have an
issue, through our mobile phones. Currently, we get the info on an
HMI screen pinpointing where the problem is. "
Following strict health and safety guidelines during SAE's visit in
December 2020, Proctor and the author walked from the building's
control- and meeting-rooms area into the voluminous high-ceilinged
ambient-soak area, where two customer step vans were the objects
of engineers' attention. The entire space is maintained at 72 deg. F
(22 deg. C) year-round. Vehicles that arrive for emissions testing in
the dead of winter are parked here until their engine-sump temperatures come up to the 72-F ambient before they're submitted for testing. It's also an area where fabrication is done, such as adding thermocouples, transducers and sensors.
Prototype and pre-production vehicles not yet approved for the
public's eyes enter directly from their transport trailers through secure doors. Some get covered or dedicated partitions, according to
the owner's instructions.
The hot and cold soak chambers are enormous - each is large
enough to accommodate two articulated city buses, or up to nine
smaller vehicles. " We were able to test multiple vehicles at -40 F and
reduce overall test time by one third of the time compared to past
practice by rapidly returning the sump temperature to -40 F after a
test, thus allowing for a second test to be performed within an
8-hour shift, " Proctor said. Attention to thermal control enables temperatures in the huge chambers to hold within +/- 2.5 deg. Humidity
in the hot-soak chamber can be varied from 5% up to 95% if required.
Throughout our tour, Allison Transmissions' speed-and-efficiency
mantra was evident in workplace organization. All hand tools and
equipment needed for vehicle and subsystems hook-ups are stationed on carts for mobility and easy access. The concept is similar to
that used for quick tooling changes in plants.
" We want to be as efficient as we can in all aspects of this facility,
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING

FROM LEFT: LINDSAY BROOKE; ALLISON TRANSMISSION

Allison's VET is a new centerpiece on the company's Indy HQ campus.

Automotive Engineering - January/February 2021

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