Apollo Tyres opens new tyre testing facility in India

Apollo Tyres has opened a new tyre testing facility at its global R&D centre in Chennai, India.

The tyre maker says the new facility will help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its product development cycle for passenger vehicle and two-wheeler tyres, including electric vehicles-specific tyres.

The key features of the new facility are the custom-designed Flat-trac machine and Anechoic Chamber, which would characterise the performance of tyres’ dynamics and acoustics, leading to faster product development for both OE and Replacement markets.

The Flat-trac machine is used to characterise handling parameters and tyre models, measuring force and moment properties of tyres, as per vehicle’s improved dynamics.

This machine is custom designed to address tyre simulation needs of future vehicles, such as EVs and autonomous vehicles.

Unlike previous versions, this machine replicates real-life situations, including emergency manoeuvres of vehicles like high slip angles and high torque ramp-up.

For two-wheelers, it simulates the most severe inclinations, as prevalent amongst premium motorcycle riders.

Another component of this testing facility is the high-speed uniformity machine combined with Anechoic Chamber. This helps simulate the NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) properties of the tyres, which are critical for vehicles, especially EVs and premium vehicles.

This machine combines the study of both mechanical and acoustic comfort parameters, by building different road profiles for the tyres to be tested.