Advancements in Test Rigs: Revolutionizing Rotating Component Analysis

Test rigs play a crucial role in product development across industries dealing with rotational equipment and components. As products become more complex and operate under extreme conditions, test rigs must keep pace to provide accurate insights. Recent years have seen significant advancements in test rig capabilities, instrumentation, controls and the actionable data they provide.

What Are Test Rigs and Why Are They Important?

A test rig refers to custom engineered equipment used to evaluate the performance and integrity of rotating components like turbines, gears, impellers and driveshafts. By using spin pits, drive systems and instrumentation, test rigs simulate real-world operating loads, speeds, pressures and run times to validate strength, identify faults, analyze vibration, measure efficiency and more.  

Some key reasons test rigs are vital include:

• Accurate life cycle testing: Simulating actual operating environments through test rigs provides critical data to confirm product durability and set maintenance schedules. This reduces field failures.
  
  
• Faster product development: Rather than waiting months for real-world testing feedback, test rigs give immediate performance data to iterate prototypes faster.
  
  
• Safer than field testing: Testing components to failure on a rig is far safer and controlled versus waiting for failure events to occur in the field.
  
  
• Reduces expenses: Rig testing products before deployment is cheaper than redesigns after field implementation. It also provides longer equipment lifetimes.
  
  

Advancements Expanding Test Rig Capabilities

With the expanding complexity of rotational equipment, test rigs have incorporated more sophisticated capabilities thanks to technology improvements including:

Instrumentation Innovations – Smaller, more accurate sensors, wireless transmission of sensor data, and better data visualization tools allow rig operators to capture far more environmental and performance measurements during testing.

• Control Upgrades – Improved automation and control platforms allow rigs to replicate a wider array of real-world sequences in a repeatable fashion for better test consistency.
  
  
• Bigger, More Powerful Test Rigs – Larger spin pits, faster drives and higher torque capacities enable evaluation of considerably larger components like jet engine fans and mammoth wind turbine gearboxes.
  
  
• Demanding Test Profiles – With upgraded instrumentation and controls, test engineers can program precise simulations of actual field conditions, including transient events. This taxes components in ways similar to real-world demands. 
  
  
• Faster Inspection and Analysis – Photogrammetry, laser scanning, infrared imaging and other methods have reduced test article inspection times from days to hours while capturing far more anomaly data.
  
  

Notable Examples of Test Rig Innovation

These technology advancements have paved the way for innovations like: 

• Multi-axis gear test rigs capable of evaluating complex aerospace transmission dynamics difficult to replicate in the past.
  
  
• 400-ton vertical spin pits for fully assembled wind turbine geared drivetrains too heavy for older horizontals test beds.
  
  
• Hydraulic replication of towing loads experienced by driveline prototypes for off-highway vehicles like mining trucks and tractors. 
  
  
• Climatic engine test cells that simulate icing conditions by controlling humidity as well as temperature during turbine evaluations.
  
  
• Vehicle environmental chambers with cobblestone floors that replicate rugged proving ground courses to test automotive components like electric power steering units. 
  
  

Test Rigs Proving Their Value Across Industries

While initially designed for aviation components, test rig innovations now provide value across sectors with rotational equipment:

• Aerospace – Comprehensive jet engine component testing has always depended on test rigs. Now rigs offer multivariate sensor data for predicting repair intervals. Shock test rigs also help aircraft manufacturers improve black box recorders to capture key flight dynamics data after crashes.
  
  
• Wind Energy – To handle ever-growing turbines, upgraded test beds validate various aspects like reliability, power curves, noise, mechanical performance and even simulated seismic events. Offshore wind turbine builders find rig testing critical for product integrity assurances.
  
  
• Oil and Gas – Test rigs help quantify system efficiencies and life cycles of key equipment like gas turbines, gensets and centrifugal pumps essential for production. Rigs also assist in qualifying drives for new environments like offshore platforms and Arctic regions with unusual vibration profiles.
  
  
• Automotive – Powertrain test rigs speed prototype development by evaluating systems like transmissions, AWD transfer cases and electric drives pre-vehicle integration while battery test rigs validate newest lithium formulations.
  
  

The Future of Test Rig Technology

Industry expectations point toward even more advances in test rig capabilities, including:

• Integrated hybrid test rigs combining multiple test beds to evaluate complex systems like aircraft auxiliary power units.
  
  
• More robust automation to minimize human error. Rig robots may handle tasks like test article loading, sensor placement and routine maintenance.
  
  
• Expanded use of digital twins, advanced simulation and machine learning to conduct "virtual" testing on supercomputers, verifying designs before physical prototypes.
  
  
• Mainstream adoption of AR/VR to support interactive, remote collaboration during test sequences, saving time and travel expenses. 
  
  
• Containerized, portable test rigs that sites like wind farms can utilize for component qualifications rather than shipping to central labs.
  
  

Test Rigs Essential Role

As industries push mechanical designs to the limits, test rigs will continue advancing too. Already simulating some of the most punishing operating environments faced by rotating machinery, tomorrow’s test rigs will offer even more capabilities to replicate ultra-demanding conditions products must survive. Thanks to accelerating technological improvements, test rigs look to play an essential role in validating innovative equipment designs well into the future.

Barbour Stockwell Inc. specializes in engineering drive systems and test rigs for testing rotating components. They offer services such as spin testing, drive systems, and various test facilities. Their expertise spans industries like aerospace, automotive, power generation, oil and gas, as well as abrasives, dealing with complex and high-speed machinery testing.