The Rotronics 4WD rolling road, fitted with 2 eddy current brakes, is capable of handling 800kW in transient acceleration mode and 500kW in steady state for 2 minutes. More power can be handled in steady state for shorter periods of time.
The revolutionary 4WD design uses a belt drive to link front & rear axles, allowing the non-driven wheels in FWD or RWD cars to turn at the same speed as the driven wheels. This simulates the correct drivetrain loads and losses, preventing any error messages on cars with complex ECU’s. The wheelbase can be adjusted from 1.95 to 2.85m, allowing a wide range of vehicles to be tested on the dyno.
To further simulate real world conditions, the dyno uses a single large 60cm knurled roller for each wheel, which increases the tyre contact patch and reduces sidewall stress (compared to a small twin roller). The large width of the rollers allows cars with a range of tyre span widths to be tested on the dyno.
The single roller design allows cars with minimal ground clearance to be tested as the wheels sit-on-top of the roller, rather than “dropping-in” with a small twin roller design. This makes the rolling road suitable for ultra low Supercars & Single Seaters, as well as general road, rally cars and SUV’s.
Rotronics Autoscan software is used to control the dyno and to analyse the collected data, giving wheel & engine figures, as well as data collected via OBD. As part of analysis process the software uses an in-cell weather station to measure temperature, pressure & humidity to apply barometric corrections to gathered figures.
The software is also used for controlling the dyno during steady state work. It can maintain a set engine RPM whilst variable throttle is applied, allowing precise mapping work to be carried out.
The dyno cell is equipped with cooling fans and an air extraction system capable of keeping vehicles cool during power runs & mapping work. The ventilation consists of 2 global 25 000 m3/h in/out fans, a 45 000 m3/h main radiator cooling fan & a 5000 m3/h twin-bank exhaust gas extraction fan. Additional smaller fans are used to keep rear-engined cars cool.
