Vehicle Testing Station

 Side slip test

 Steering lock to lock
 Head lamp test
 Maximum Brake Tester
 Emission Test

Side slip test:

The side slip system is used to measure the amount of
displacement the vehicle exerts in the cross-car plane as it drives a straight
course. The displacement is a result of the wheel alignment settings, tire
conicity and other wheel run-out conditions.

The equipment consists of a flat plate mounted on a slide rail, and linear
transducer that will measure the displacement as the wheel passes over the flat
plate.

Steering lock to lock:

The steering wheel lock to lock can be described as
the number of turns it takes for a driver to get a fully turned wheel on one side
turned fully to the other side

It demonstrates the sensitivity of a steering wheel at low to very low speed.

They lesser the number of turns it takes, the more sensitive the steering wheel
is. Sensitive steering wheels provide better responsiveness to steering
inputs even at high speeds and driving becomes almost instinctive.

Head lamp test:

 A headlamp beam tester is a means to check both the
orientation and intensity of a vehicle headlamp to ensure that it meets a
minimum standard for the country of use of the vehicle.

A headlight tester comprises a fully adjustable single optical

collimated light lens assembly which is rail mounted and designed to prevent
any distortion of the optical lens supporting structure during general use, such
as when aligning the lens to the vehicle or manoeuvring the assembly along the
rails.

Maximum brake tester:

A roller brake tester is a method of allowing the
dynamic assessment of the braking system of a motor vehicle, whilst the vehicle
itself is in a static condition. This type of brake tester is normally used in UK
garages when used as part of an inspection lane for the MOT test.

Roller brake testers consist of a mechanical floor unit which contains electrical
motors, two independent sets of three measuring rollers, brake force transducers
and additional safety sensors.

The driving rollers operate at a low (known) speed using a gearbox and motor
arrangement and during a test measurements of the maximum braking force are
taken by applying the vehicle brakes which induces a reaction force on the
electric motor itself. An electric transducer with strain gauges then measures the
individual induced forces which are acting during the deceleration phase in
order to calculate the individual braking forces for each wheel.

In order to minimise any inaccuracy and variation in the measurement, the roller
diameter is sufficiently large to reduce the effects of the mechanical relaxation,
or flexing, of the tyre itself. A special coating on the rollers is designed to be
very wear resistant and provide good friction values, both in wet and dry
conditions.

A third smaller roller, on each side between the driving rollers, has two
functions: The first is to detect if a vehicle is present in the roller bed (a built in
safety device to prevent the motor from starting up unless a vehicle is in the
brake tester), the second function is to detect when and if tyre slippage occurs in
order to make the measurement before a maximum, predefined value of time
passes.

During the test, the computer measures the brake force values and the system
will calculate the imbalance between the left and right brake forces of an axle,
as well as the brake efficiency of the service brake and the parking brake
provided that a vehicle weight is either inputted manually or by using an
integrated weighing system.

Emission test:
An emission test cycle is a protocol contained in an emission
standard to allow repeatable and comparable measurement of exhaust emissions
for different engines or vehicles. Test cycles specify the specific conditions
under which the engine or vehicle is operated during the emission test. There
are many different test cycles issued by various national and international
governments and working groups. Specified parameters in a test cycle include a
range of operating temperature, speed, and load. Ideally these are specified so as
to accurately and realistically represent the range of conditions under which the
vehicle or engine will be operated in actual use. Because it is impractical to test
an engine or vehicle under every possible combination of speed, load, and
temperature, this may not actually be the case. Vehicle and engine
manufacturers may exploit the limited number of test conditions in the cycle by
programming their engine management systems to control emissions to
regulated levels at the specific test points contained in the cycle, but create a
great deal more pollution under conditions experienced in real operation but not
represented in the test cycle. This results in real emissions higher than the
standards are supposed to allow, undermining the standards and public health.