NFPA Support of Fluid Power Research: Off-Highway Vehicle Chassis Dynamometer

Programs like the NFPA Research Supplements are made possible in part by the generous support of industry volunteers as well as NFPA Education and Technology Foundation and Pascal Society donors. Support these efforts by making a donation.

NFPA Research Supplements provide funds to principal investigators with existing research grants to facilitate their presentations as well as the participation of their graduate students in designated industry conferences and research summits.

One of the Research Supplements awarded this year went to Iowa State University (ISU) for their research on an Off-Highway Vehicle Chassis Dynamometer. Brian Steward, Professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at ISU, presented on this topic at the CCEFP Summit on September 22-23.

In his presentation, Steward talked about how ISU’s Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE) is installing a new state-of-the-art off-highway vehicle chassis dynamometer at the ISU Biocentury Research Farm.

The state-of-the-art dynamometer will enable controlled, dynamic testing of complete off-highway vehicles with advanced traction control systems.

The facility is designed to test vehicles up to 450 kW (600 Hp), with speeds of up to 80 km/h (50 mph), and offers independent monitoring and loading of each wheel. The chassis dynamometer will be one of the few facilities capable of testing large construction and farm machinery and will provide many benefits to industry through:

• Evaluating vehicle performance and energy efficiency of off-highway vehicles under controlled test conditions
• Testing interactions between vehicle components and control systems
• Measuring vehicle performance, under both dynamic and steady state loads
• Collecting accurate, precise, repeatable data for complete machines difficult to obtain in outdoor environments
• Training students in current vehicle testing methodologies

Iowa State University gratefully acknowledges NFPA member, Danfoss Power Solutions, for their donation to make this facility possible.

For more information, please email dyno@iastate.edu or telephone Ario Kordestani at (507) 841-8185, Stuart Birrell at (515) 294-2874 or Brian Steward at (515) 294-1452.