Tenneco's European R&D center counts on the LMS SCADAS durability solution for exhaust system testing

Flexible and efficient solution guarantees more than 25 successful campaigns annually.

Tenneco, a global supplier of emission control solutions, recently acquired two LMS SCADAS Durability Recorders for the Road Load Data Acquisition (RLDA) team located in Edenkoben, Germany. This team performs more than 25 exhaust system durability campaigns annually to guarantee a product lifetime of more than 10 years and simultaneously meet tighter-and-tighter emission regulations.

“After a thorough benchmark, we selected the LMS SCADAS Durability Recorder. The LMS solution really offers the best price-quality ratio of all the solutions we examined. We particularly valued the compact size and the robustness of the system, the flexibility to connect a broad range of sensors and the software’s ease-of-use for test preparation and validation,” explained Mr. Klaus Rieger, RLDA engineer at Tenneco.

A typical durability test starts with the customer’s vehicle prototype being instrumented inside Tenneco’s facilities. Part of this process is mounting the LMS SCADAS Durability Recorder. In parallel, the team prepares the test itself. Thanks to the easy-to-use LMS Test.Xpress software, they experienced a concrete time gain during the test set-up. With the previous software, it took 4 hours. With the LMS solution, it is less than 45 minutes.

The next step takes place on the proving ground where data acquisition reliability really matters. All the essential data is acquired with 144 channels split between the two LMS SCADAS units. During this stage, an important feature for Tenneco is the GPS functionality. The GPS signal helps retrace information in case a marker is missing and lets the engineer know where a specific event took place.

“I am certain of my measurements since I know that the test run has been marked with GPS data,” clarified Mr. Rieger. “We have only a very short time to measure our data. We need to validate the data on the spot. With real-time signal calibration and quality checks, like the one-button LMS SCADAS Smart Control, I can concentrate on the measurement and not bother about anything else. It makes testing quite a lot of fun.”

“With such a flexible and efficient solution, our RLDA team can guarantee quality test results for every single one of our more than 25 campaigns annually. When we opted for LMS, we clearly did not only purchase a data acquisition system, we acquired the right tool for our job. This is why partnering with LMS is the correct choice for us,” concluded Dr. Wang, RLDA Group leader at Tenneco.