Energy futuresGM opens new powertrain development center

General Motors has opened a brand-new, state-of-the-art global Powertrain Engineering Development Center to bring advanced, fuel-saving powertrains to market faster and at less cost by reducing ten weeks from its powertrain development process. Combined with other global powertrain development and testing efficiencies under way, including aggressive use of math modeling, GM will have saved more than $200 million cumulatively in development and testing costs by the end of this year. The company says the 450,000-square-foot facility is the largest and most technically advanced powertrain development center in the world. It is where GM will develop and test the Chevrolet Volt’s electric drive unit, motors, power electronics and engine; electric motors for fuel cell and hybrid powertrains; and other advanced gasoline, biofuel and clean diesel engines and transmissions. It is the model for eleven additional GM powertrain laboratories around the globe.

The Powertrain Engineering Development Center is adjacent to GM Powertrain’s Global Headquarters and brings together 1,200 employees from engineering centers currently located in Ypsilanti, Wixom, Romulus, and Warren. Combined, the Powertrain Engineering Development Center and GM Powertrain Global Headquarters will employ approximately 4,300. The facility features two test wings with 120 flexible dynamometer test cells and more than 100 powertrain component test stands. Advanced test automation, environmental control, and data analysis capabilities are expected to improve GM’s powertrain efficiency by 50 percent on many lab procedures. For example, computer-controlled dynamometer testing and math modeling — including 68 new laboratory calibration procedures — allow GM to reduce the number of expensive vehicle road tests required to validate a system. By shifting some road testing to the laboratory, along with using computer math simulation tools, engineers who previously developed calibrations with expensive vehicles can now perform this work with greater accuracy, repeatability and, ultimately, quality.

The efficiencies realized at the Powertrain Engineering Development Center build on GM Powertrain’s ongoing global Road-to-Lab-to-Math (RLM) initiative, which transitions testing that was historically conducted in a vehicle to advanced lab and computer-aided analysis. Engineers use computer-aided engineering software to run simulated and controlled laboratory tests of powertrains and components to optimize fuel economy, emissions, and performance. This reduces the amount of physical vehicle tests. Vehicle testing is used later in development to confirm that designs meet the powertrain program targets. A quick-change pallet system allows all components for a test to be pre-assembled on a pallet in a test prep area prior to installation in the test cell. The pallet is simply air-floated into the test cell, docked and connected for the test. With little effort, a single technician can move up to four tons of equipment via compressed air that forces the pallet off the floor, much like a hovercraft. In fact, changeover procedures that previously required up to 24 hours can now be accomplished in 20 minutes.