Inside Millbrook's new emissions test facility

One area of engineering in which intensive physical testing of products continues to be an essential element of their development process is automobiles. Digital procedures, for instance, simply cannot measure actual exhaust emissions. But at the same time taking cars to different locations to test them in varying environmental conditions is time-consuming and expensive. The obvious solution, therefore, is testing of real vehicles in automated cells that can simulate outdoor conditions.

In the UK a prime location for such work is Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire. Besides having around 70km test-tracks the site also houses several indoor test facilities of which the latest was commissioned in the last few weeks of 2016. This is a new climatic emissions 4WD dynamometer - in other words a temperature-controlled chamber which can accommodate whole vehicles while their engines are run and their emissions monitored. In themselves such installations are not unusual but according to Millbrook Group president Alex Burns this one represents the current state-of-the-art for automotive dynamometers in ways that make it “an important strategic facility for UK plc”.