Environmental simulation plays a central role in automotive product development and quality assurance. Be they drive systems, power electronics, battery systems or sensor technology – virtually every vehicle component must be tested under defined environmental conditions. Increasing system complexity, shortened development cycles and new regulatory requirements are fundamentally changing how climatic testing is designed in the automotive environment .
“The requirements for climate testing have becomes significantly stricter in the last five years, especially in the automotive industry,” explains Michael Leinweber, expert for climatic testing at Weiss Technik. “New vehicle concepts and electrification are leading to completely new testing tasks, often without developed standards.”
Electrification is fundamentally changing automotive testing
A key driver is the shift from the classic combustion engine to electrified and software-driven vehicle architectures. While many test profiles have been established over decades in conventional automotive testing , new test strategies have to be developed for the increasingly electrified systems.
These days, testing includes the following, for example:
- High-voltage batteries and battery modules
- Power electronics and control units
- E-drives and charging infrastructure
- Sensor technology for driver assistance and automated driving
Fully harmonized automotive standards do not exist yet for many of these components. This necessitates close coordination between OEMs, suppliers, test laboratories and system manufacturers in order to define standard-complaint and at the same time practical tests.
A focus on cost-effectiveness and through-put in automotive test laboratories
Parallel to technological changes, the automotive sector is under high pressure regarding costs and efficiency. Testing laboratories are increasingly developing from pure cost centers to transparent, performance-oriented organizational units. Decisive key figures here are system availability, test through-put times and energy consumption.
“When a standardized automotive test cycle is run through several hundred times, every optimization of the test time has direct economic impact,” says Michael Leinweber.
At the same time, it must be ensured that the test results remain reliable and meaningful. False positive results can jeopardize product safety and lead to high follow-up costs
Automotive standards in transition: focus on the test specimen
This is why test standards are also evolving. For example, parts of IEC 60068-2-x, an important standard for the automotive industry, have already been updated. The revised standards contain, among other things, new test scenarios that are intended to improve the informative value of the test with regard to behavior in practice. The focus of these revisions is increasingly on ensuring that the test specimen is exposed to the required conditions rather than on the processes in the test chamber.
So, for example, the revision of IEC 60068-2-14 Na has introduced a new procedure for thermal shock testing. This method allows for increased test intensity for short periods of time, followed by a return to normal test temperatures. This reduces the adaptation time required by the test specimens to reach the target temperatures. Test times are thus reduced, while maintaining the standard-compliant load on the test specimen.
CO₂ cooling technology: Customized performance for automotive climatic testing
One of the most important technological advancements in environmental simulation is the introduction of transcritical CO₂ cooling systems.
Most automotive climatic tests are carried out in the range of −33 °C or −40 °C. Previously, test laboratories often had to use systems designed to go down to -70 °C for this purpose, even though these extreme temperatures were not required in the test process itself. The reason was solely the necessary performance reserve to ensure stable conditions at −40 °C.
This roundabout method is no longer necessary with the new CO₂ systems from Weiss Technik. The devices offer sufficient power for most applications at -40°C.
The technology offers further advantages in the daily operation of automotive test laboratories: In addition to compliance with the EU F-Gas Regulation of 2024, the technology ensures significantly lower background noise in the lab and a noticeable reduction in the energy consumption. Especially in the case of continuous running or several systems operating in parallel, the energy savings quickly add up to a relevant amount and reduce operating costs.
Outlook: Automotive testing between stability and change
In the coming years, an increase in testing activities in the defense industry and its suppliers is expected. At the same time, the market for electric vehicles continues to grow, increasing the requirements for the climatic testing of batteries, power electronics and vehicle systems. Sensor tests for autonomous driving and the testing of components with wireless interfaces are also becoming increasingly important.
At the same time, established testing programs remain relevant and new standards and technologies must be adapted. Weiss Technik supports automotive manufacturers, suppliers, and test laboratories in reliably classifying and implementing new test requirements.