Customer
The customer is one of the world's major providers of evaporative emission control systems for the automotive industry.
Nowadays the automotive industry is making significant efforts to reduce emissions, impact on the environment and human health. Vehicle exhaust emissions are emitted when the air-fuel mixture burns inside engines, releasing volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere. Harmful emissions are also generated by the evaporation of fuel in tanks and fuel lines when the vehicle stops or fueling.

The evaporative emission regulations for the automotive industry were stable for decades but started to change extensively in the late 2010s. The customer was faced with the need to harmonize vehicle emission test procedures with actual market requirements.

 

Challenge
Numerous OEMs, TIER1 suppliers, and governmental authorities have been successfully using customer evaporative emission test systems for many years. The critical requirement for the new solution was to provide the complete functionality of the existing system and convenient migration scenarios.
The project goal was to implement a new software automation platform intended for test cycle configuration, data handling, visualization, and analytics.
Applied Systems developers focused on the following objectives:

  • Support of new legislations;
  • Suitability for R&D, certification and SOP testing scenarios;
  • Adaptation to the new OS (Windows 10) and its potential changes in the future;
  • Support a new generation of HW instruments and be ready for future HW updates.

 

Solution
The previous versions of the automation software were coupled with many proprietary SW and HW components. If the market demands a quick reaction such architecture does not allow easy modernization.
In the first step, we defined a clear interface and fully isolate the automation system from hardware specifics, which makes it easy to support new devices.
In the second step, our specialists specified suitable modular architecture, separating execution and configuration levels, providing interfaces to higher-level systems (e.g. test order management).
In the third step, we provided a convenient framework and toolset for the implementation of every legislation procedure. In other words, the engineers get the possibility of using Python language for the definition of test sequences, which makes it easy to adapt to every new legislation requirement.
The diagram below shows the structure of the evaporative emission testing system. Tests can run in manual or automatic mode, all functions can be configured and visualized on the operator PC.

Key functions of the automated evaporative emission testing system:

  • Continuous monitoring of system performance;
  • Independent control of several test lines;
  • Notification settings about critical parameters;
  • Automatic canister purging and loading;
  • Emergency stop function;
  • Automatic leak detection;
  • Restore function in the event of a system failure;
  • Reports generation according to legislative requirements.

The graphical user interface of such complex systems should ensure operational comfort for personnel and minimize the time spent on navigation. The redesign of the interface made by our specialists allowed to increase usability by providing a convenient visualization of control elements and technological processes.

 

Result
Our platform ensures efficient control of the evaporative emission testing process. The new system has been smoothly integrated into customer software and hardware ecosystem.
The convenient development tool enables compliance with the following emission regulations:

  • UN GTR-19 (WLTP EVAP)
  • Euro 6d
  • EPA TIER 3
  • CARB LEV III
  • China 6

The flexible component implementation allows the customer to open up new business opportunities in related fields such as electrification (evaporation testing of batteries), the area of marine, aerospace, and SORE (chain saws, etc.).