During the ContiTechnikForum 2012 – in the first days of November – Continental presented its ground-breaking facility, the AIBA (Automated Indoor Braking Analyzer) track. It is located at Contidrom, the company’s test center near Hanover. It is a 300 m long indoor track where tests will take place all year round, regardless of the external weather conditions. Dry, wet and icy road surfaces are simulated at AIBA and when fully operational, around 100,000 braking tests will be carried out annually. The cars are placed on a rail and move automatically without the presence of a driver. After the vehicle accelerates to speeds of up to 120 km/h, the robot selects the braking point. In this way, countless scenarios are realized and valuable data is extracted, as the whole process (from mounting the tires to stopping the vehicle) takes only 4 minutes.
Normal braking tests on dry roads are carried out at 100 km/h and on wet roads at 80 km/h. The ambient temperature on the “summer track” varies from 10 to 25 degrees Celsius, while on the “winter” from 5 to 12 degrees Celsius (the temperature of the icy road is from -1 to -10 degrees Celsius). The braking process is recorded by sensors, both on the wheels and inside the car.
“Thanks to the new track, we are able to perform even more precise tests,” said David O’Donnell, Continental’s head of R&D for passenger car and light truck tires. It is estimated that the improvement in the accuracy of the results reaches 70%. “Furthermore, the physical burden on our test drivers is reduced and we are able to test 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” added O’Donnell.
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