STÄHLE AUTOPILOTS are employed throughout the world for testing of vehicles, vehicle components, fuels and lubricants, etc. on roll test beds.

Fields for application such as

• exhaust emission tests
• fuel economy tests
• running losses tests
• mileage accumulation & durability tests
• climatic tests
• transmission & power train tests
• acoustic tests
• EMC tests
• correlation measurements
• R & D studies

will be accomplished by robots with an extreme degree of reproducibility in temperatures ranging from –40°C to +80°C.

Optimization of consumption and exhaust gas parameters demands extremely high reproducibility of driving style. AUTOPILOTS will achieve deviations in the distance driven which are < ± 1m with a 17.86 km long emission cycle, as well as standard deviations of only 0.05% for consumption measurements.

Quick and easy installation of the driving mechanism in the vehicle, plus a learning cycle where, independent of any test and at one go, it will learn all the control parameters fully automatically, guarantee short setup and pre-run times, along with simple operation.

Versatile interfaces with roll test beds and host computer systems will enable complete integration into the entire test cell.

The modular design of the AUTOPILOTS makes it possible to offer various configurations, including stand-alone actuators, enabling for example the running of tests on transmission or engine test beds parallel to those on roll test beds using the identical actuators and regulators.

This allows correlating component tests with tests made on the vehicle.

An additional application for the AUTOPILOTS arises when they are supplemented by steering systems, so that they can be used for field driving tests on proving grounds or on flat belt test beds.

Quick installation

With universal attachment less than 10 minutes  

Single operator control

Component weight about 16kg.
Handy terminal user guidance and text in clear 

Universal
Actuator unit 

Installation on driver seat. No modifications to the vehicle.
The actuator unit is temperature proof from -40°C up to +80°C and designed for endurance tests.
Minimum self warm up. Aerodynamically neutral design for climatic measurements
All actuator components are mounted onto the motor cycle - this allows to move the bike with the installed robot. The installation can be done outside the test cell.

Mobile units
        

AUTOPILOT systems are assignable to several test stands.
Different actuator units can be operated on one test cell.        

Praxis oriented
Software

Teach-In of the gear positions with commands in dialog (check list)
Comfortable user interface with simple operation.
Drive cycles can be defined without programming experience.

Learn cycle

Once per vehicle type an self learn cycle has to be performed. This cycle is independent to the drive cycle to run.
During this automated learn cycle the AUTOPILOT learns all relevant parameters that are required to drive the vehicle and any drive cycle.

Continual learning of clutch behavior

Correct start point over the whole test period.
Compensation of wear & tear during the complete endurance test.
Automatically adaptation to the true bite point of the clutch.

Constant control algorithm during test drives

Ideal driver for correlation, research, development and quality control.

Highest level of safety

Safe non-energized basic positions. The clutch handle is disengaged and the accelerator hand is released.
Emergency-Off button on actuator unit.
24V technique on actuator unit.
Skid monitoring of the wheels (Wheel drum slip monitoring and compensation)
Gear shift forces may be programmed
Safety tolerance band monitoring (speed errors)
Permissible repetitions of a shift process may be preset
Speed and engine speed monitoring      
Optional sensor for neutral gear indication lamp     

Data Managers

Local data managers for vehicle data, drive cycles, shift tables
Networking capable.

Support of various transmission types

Automatic transmissions:
Standard
Manual transmissions:
Foot shifter (left)
Foot shifter (right)
Hand shifter

Integration

Digital interface to emission benches with digital outputs and inputs

Optionally different interfaces for host computer communication:
AK + SCPI (serial or TCP/IP)
Bit parallel + analog

Drive cycles

Directly accessible standard drive cycles.
Drive cycle files can also be created as ASCII files in different file formats
Instructions from host computer systems can be executed in different operational modes
Drive cycles can contain additional data as road gradient commands, sub cycles, control commands, etc.

Human driving style

Speed control algorithm with human driving style. Choice if different human driver models for emission tests.
Highly accurate and repeatable control.

Automated modes

Closed loop control modes for:
Vehicle speed
Engine speed
Throttle traces
Clutch traces
External units as Intake manifold pressure, force/torque, etc.
Reproduction of recorded tracks with max. 10Hz

Manual Modes

Different manual operation modes to drive and operate the vehicles via keyboard or handy terminal

Specifications

Actuator unit SMC2000:
Total weight: ca. 33 kg
Component weight max. 16 kg
Motor voltage: 24V
Operating temperature -40°C ... + 80°C
Actuators:
Accelerator hand
Brake foot
Clutch hand
Shift foot
Shift hand

Power controller
19" unit, 2x3 RU
power consumption 600Watt, 115/230VAC, voltage selector

Computer system
Industrial - PC system with plug in boards

System extensions (extract)

Shift force measurement
Shift force measurement
Host computer communication:
AK + SCPI (serial or TCP/IP)
Bit parallel + analog

Windows GUI
Vehicle data stack module
19" - cabinets
Opto coupler module for digital I/O´s
Vehicle engine speed measurement
5^th wheel sensor to measure roller surface velocity
Data acquisition and monitoring
Custom modifications

System configurations and complete packages

A wide range of options allows to configure the system exactly to the purpose of its application, as a non-supervised fully automated endurance testing with automated refueling.
Different system packages, including versions with reduced control features or reduced volume of functions are available for different applications and requirements.

Modifications reserved