India’s Apollo Tyres has opened what it says is an “advanced” tyre testing facility at its Global R&D Centre outside Chennai. According to the company says, the new centre will enable R&D on tyres for passenger vehicles and two-wheelers.
At the inauguration, Daniele Lorenzetti, CTO, Apollo Tyres said, “We strongly focus on continuous improvement in efficiency and effectiveness of product development and this new facility will further augment our testing capabilities for future vehicle models. We will be able to fine-tune the performance of our products by simulating closely the real-world conditions using this facility.”
The company said that the new facility houses a new custom-designed Flat-Trac machine as well as an Anechoic chamber. The Flat-Trac machine will allow the company to test the dynamic behaviour in a simulated environment with the machine testing and recording various parameters of the performance of the tyre. The company says that the new machine is capable of replicating manoeuvres such as high slip angles seen during emergency manoeuvres, high torque ramp-up and even varying degrees of lean (a measure of testing two-wheeler tyres).
The Anechoic chamber, meanwhile, will be used to test the NVH properties of the company’s tyre ranges over varying simulated terrains allowing for its fine-tuning.
Apollo Tyres says that the main beneficiaries of the new technology will be models developed for high-end passenger vehicles, electric vehicles and premium motorcycles.
The company also said that the inauguration of the new testing centre was in line with the brand’s mid-term goals of deploying greater use of technology in the R&D process. The company has also set targets to improve sustainability in the use of raw materials in its tyre development and manufacturing processes.