The Challenge: Simulating an Engine on a Test Bench
A Tier 1 automotive supplier in the Rochester, NY area needed a test system that could do something deceptively difficult: take a cam phaser — a precision component that controls valve timing inside an engine — and subject it to the same extreme conditions it would experience in real-world driving, all without an actual engine. That meant precise hydraulic pressure control, coordinated motion profiles, thermal cycling, and high-speed data acquisition, all running with microsecond-level timing fidelity.
The control and timing requirements were complex. The system had to coordinate a PLC-controlled hydraulic system, a motion control axis, external thermal conditioning equipment (chillers and heaters), and high-speed FPGA-based data acquisition — all in lockstep. A timing slip of even a few microseconds during the driving condition simulation could invalidate the test data. This wasn't a simple pass/fail station; it was essentially an engine simulator that let engineers push cam phasers to their limits under precisely controlled, repeatable conditions.
A Collaborative Build: Software Meets Machine
This project was a true partnership. A local Rochester-area machine integration company designed and built the physical test fixture — all the hydraulic plumbing, mechanical fixturing, and safety enclosures. A PLC handled valve sequencing and safety interlocks, ensuring the hydraulic system couldn't operate in unsafe states. And Korpra built the brain: the LabVIEW application running on an NI CompactRIO that tied everything together.
The cRIO sat at the heart of the entire system. It communicated with the PLC to coordinate valve states and safety conditions. It controlled the motion control system to position and drive the phaser. It managed external instrumentation — enabling a chiller to bring the system down to temperature, or a heater to push it to extremes. And on the FPGA, it generated and played back driving condition datasets at microsecond resolution, simulating the precise timing profiles that a cam phaser would experience inside a running engine.
Recipe-Driven Testing: Walk Away and Let It Run
One of the most powerful features was the recipe editor. Rather than hard-coding test sequences, we built a system where engineers could essentially script their own tests. The recipe editor provided a library of test functions — drive at this speed, hold at this pressure, cycle to this temperature, acquire data for this duration — that the user could piece together into complete test sequences. Different recipes simulated different driving conditions: highway cruising, aggressive acceleration, cold starts, extreme heat.
The application could run headless on the cRIO — no PC required once a recipe was loaded. But a PC-based user interface gave operators full control: load a recipe, configure parameters, kick off the test, and walk away. The system ran the entire sequence autonomously, collecting data at every step. When the operator came back, the results were waiting. For long-duration tests simulating thousands of miles of driving conditions, this walk-away capability was essential.
The Trickiest Part: Orchestrating Everything in Real Time
If you've ever tried to coordinate a motion control system, a PLC, external thermal equipment, and an FPGA running microsecond timing — all in a single application — you know this is where projects live or die. The sequencing had to be airtight. You can't start a driving simulation before the hydraulic pressure is stable. You can't acquire valid data while the chiller is still bringing the system to temperature. And you absolutely can't let a timing glitch on the FPGA corrupt a dataset that took hours to generate.
The NI CompactRIO made this manageable because everything could be coordinated through a single platform. The FPGA handled the time-critical playback and acquisition. The real-time processor managed the sequencing logic and PLC communication. The host PC provided the operator interface and recipe management. Each layer did what it was best at, and the LabVIEW architecture kept the handoffs clean and deterministic.
The Result: An Engine Without the Engine
The finished system gave this Rochester automotive supplier something they didn't have before: the ability to test cam phasers under extreme, precisely repeatable driving conditions — without mounting them in an engine. Engineers could simulate cold starts in Minnesota, aggressive highway driving in July, high-altitude operation, and everything in between. They could push a component to its design limits and beyond, collecting high-fidelity data at every microsecond.
That's what we find most compelling about this kind of work. It's not just a test station — it's a tool that gives engineers deeper insight into how their products actually behave under the conditions that matter most. And it was built right here in Rochester, by a team that understands the precision manufacturing culture that's defined this region for over a century.
Need a Complex Test System in Rochester or Western NY?
If your test requirements involve multi-axis coordination, FPGA timing, PLC integration, or environmental simulation — that's our sweet spot. Korpra has been delivering these kinds of systems to Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Western New York manufacturers since 2001. We work alongside your machine builders and controls teams to deliver the software and data acquisition that ties everything together. Call us at 585-678-1649 or request a quote.
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