This engineering lab has a 30,000ft2 test lab area and 12,000ft2 for an operations center and office space. The facility houses more than 30 complex mechanical, electrical and propulsion related custom built test rigs.
The objective of the facility is to characterize the performance, understand the failures, predict the service life of components, and validate design improvements.
Eric Gebhardt, Wabtec’s executive vice president, said, “The Wabtec India Technology Center and this new global engineering lab are vital to our strategy to develop sustainable solutions for our customers worldwide.”
Wabtec is planning to relocate and add test rigs to the new facility over the next three months. Some of the test equipment, such as the Resonance Type 1500 KN Fatigue rig, are unique and one of its kind in India. Engineers across the globe will leverage these labs for establishing dynamic characterization, comparing physical and virtual test results, component validations and development work.
“The Global Engineering Lab allows us to conduct ‘smart validation’ of products in the most efficient way – this approach enables us to do component-level testing versus system level testing,” said Gopal Madabhushi, corporate vice president, Wabtec Corporation “The lab’s innovative rigs allow us to design for various operating conditions, gain insights on performance in shortest possible time, which supports successful product launches.”