IPETRONIK GmbH & Co.KG, one of the world's leading suppliers of mobile measurement technology in the automotive industry, announced that it has expanded its range of services in the area of environmental simulation and test bed engineering by founding the "IPETEC test bed engineering" business unit, with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. Kay Seidensticker is the general manager of the new unit, which launched in September. IPETEC test bed engineering develops and offers tailor-made test bed solutions for developing and validating components and systems used in R&D, testing, and production environment. The new business unit is backed by a team of experts with decades of global experience in designing, building, and commissioning customized test bed solutions, along with the complex systems engineering that accompany them.
IPETEC's solutions and products primarily focus on the area of thermal management. This developmental discipline has high priority around the world when it comes to energy optimization of conventional and electrically powered vehicles. The main emphasis here is on the efforts being made by automakers and by system and component suppliers to save money and continuously shorten development cycles by replacing expensive, time-consuming road tests with replicable simulations performed under highly realistic testing conditions in a lab facility.
"Despite the increased use of numeric simulation and the prototypes that they generate, the automobile industry's need for extensive testing programs for validating vehicles is on the rise. This kind of task is generally performed in road tests. Increasingly, however, it is also being accomplished on special test beds," says IPETRONIK CEO Andreas Wocke. "We have great expertise in the areas of test and measurement technology, software, and consulting/engineering services for installing equipment in vehicles and performing tests. That, combined with our experience with a well-established and successful portfolio of engineering services, has led us to add test bed equipment to our range of offerings."
The new IPETRONIK business unit offers the complete spectrum of test beds and media supply modules for applications in the area of vehicle cooling (for coolant, charge air, and oil coolers, as well as for batteries, electric motors, and exhaust gases). Complementary, IPETEC test bed engineering also develops and supplies test beds for vehicle air conditioning, such as system, component, and calorimeter test benches. This covers applications for refrigerant condensers, evaporators, compressors, and expansions valves. The test bed configurations consider the requirements for the R134a refrigerant being used today, as well as the future alternatives, 1234yf and CO2 (R744).
"Reliable technical solutions for testing and simulating all relevant climatic and road conditions are required for developing new cars and for testing vehicle efficiency, comfort, and quality," says Seidensticker. "IPETEC's test beds help to shorten development periods for new vehicles and to move expensive, time-consuming road tests off the road and into replicable test bed environments. From its central location in Germany, IPETEC delivers test bed technology to sites across Europe. In addition, we will increasingly be supplying high-tech testing systems to markets such as China and India, which have strong demands for installing state-of-the-art test bed facilities."
About IPETRONIK
Since its founding in 1983, IPETRONIK GmbH & Co.KG has had a profound impact on the technology that the automotive industry uses to perform mobile measurements. Today, IPETRONIK is one of the world's leading companies in this sector. Since 1999, IPETRONIK has been a subsidiary of INDUS Holding AG, with headquarters in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. The group includes a total of 41 mid-size companies, from different segments of the economy. This provides IPETRONIK with a sturdy foundation and with financial backing for strategic projects and for investments in both new and existing locations.
For years now, nearly all car manufacturers have been relying on the high dependability, precision, and availability of IPETRONIK's products and services. The company's comprehensive portfolio of measurement modules, data loggers, sensors, and software combines modular measurement equipment of the highest accuracy with expertise in analog measurement technology and automotive data busses for commonly used automotive networks, including the relevant communication protocols for control units.
By continuously expanding its consulting/engineering division, IPETRONIK has increasingly been able to serve as a technology partner with a broad range of services for the automotive industry. These activities focus on vehicle test equipment, including general testing and both on- and off-road test runs, with an emphasis on vehicle air-conditioning and thermal management, as well as the development and production of test beds for environmental simulation. At company headquarters in the southern German city of Baden-Baden, about 100 employees develop innovative solutions that are then produced in Germany. A team of eight specialists develops and supports the IPEmotion software at the company's office in Dusseldorf. To ensure that it fulfills its commitment to provide global sales, backed up by local customer care, IPETRONIK operates subsidiaries in France, Sweden, and the U.S. and works with a growing worldwide network of distributors.