In addition to the ever present need for quality and reliability, today‘s petrol and diesel engines require testing in order that they can be developed to be as economical and environmentally friendly as possible.

Engine test beds allow an engine to operate under different sets of conditions while measurements of several physical variables associated with engine operation take place.

These tests can take place at the research and development stage, in use at service centres or at the end of a production line at a factory.

Lubricant manufacturers also carry out their own testing when developing their products.

As a number of different engines will be tested on the same test bed, the exhaust system back pressure needs to be adjusted.

Too little back pressure and the exhaust will become noisy and too much back pressure will cause harmful effects to the engine including shortening exhaust valve and turbocharger life.

K Controls manufactures the Z Series butterfly valve to simulate and adjust the effective back pressure of the test bed exhaust system.

The units are frequently electrically or pneumatically actuated, receiving 4-20mA signals from the control system and generating 4-20mA signals for the data acquisition system.

A reference list of K Controls automotive test equipment clients is available on request.