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Ford Otosan the New Powertrain Test Facility project was started as an extension of existing Engine Test Facility in order to cover extra capacity requirement for future Euro 6 emission development programs. Adjacent vehicle workshop was utilized to build new test cells due to space unavailability in neighboring area of the existing facility with four engine test cells. With first phase of the construction, six new multipurpose dynamometer test cells and infrastructure for a 4×2 Powertrain NVH test cell was completed. Lean facility operating concepts were applied in facility design process to improve testing flexibility and efficiency, while minimizing investment costs at the same time. The new test automation systems were equipped with Real-Time testing tools enabling utilization of in-house built engine models in calibration development process.

One of the commonly used torque transfer elements used on internal combustion engines is the chain, due to its high strength to wear ratio. Chain is an assembly of a number of sub-components that consists of pins, bushes, rollers and plates. There are two primary failure modes with a base engine chain drive system. The first is a progressive failure which results from an apparent elongation of the chain due to wear. Elongation of the chain results with engine timing deviation and performance loss at early stages. In particular cases, when design limit for chain elongation is exceeded, the chain begins to skip over sprocket teeth. The second, which is a hard failure, is a catastrophic failure of the chain due to tensile fatigue loading of the weakest components of the chain (mainly bush or plate) [1].