Development and validation of an Active Grille Shutter testing platform

Abstract

In this thesis, a testbench is developed for testing the functionality of Active Grille Shutters (AGS) and radiators in wind tunnels. Additionally, a generic pressure plate is designed to mimic commercial radiators, and a testing procedure is developed for AGS testing. Together, they provide a comprehensive and consistent platform for AGS testing with or without the radiator in a wind tunnel. The platform has been validated using an actual test vehicle in a full-scale wind tunnel. The results show that the testbench produces data consistent with those obtained from the actual test vehicle for validation. Furthermore, leakage characteristics of the testbench were quantified and can be used to replicate the engine bay conditions of any production vehicle.