High horsepower dyno. Click to enlarge.

The facility’s centerpiece is a Froude Hofmann model F63RE dynamometer rated to 6,700 kilowatts (9,000 hp) and a maximum speed of 2,500 rpm. The test cell’s support equipment (conditioned combustion air, cooling system, fuel mass flow measurement and exhaust system) was designed to comfortably support 7,000-hp engines.

The first cell was completed in September and the second cell will be available in early 2015. In addition to the two test cells, there is an engine preparation and staging area within the same building.

All cells accommodate engines that use a variety of fuels, including natural gas, diesel and biodiesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), dimethyl ether (DME) or Fischer-Tropsch gas-to-liquid fuels. In all, SwRI operates more than 200 engine dynamometer test cells.

SwRI engineers perform large-engine services including alternative fuel evaluations, emissions research, control system development, engine performance improvement, engine and component design services, fuel injection system development, standardized testing, modeling and noise evaluation.

This new facility, with two 7,000-hp test cells, makes SwRI one of very few independent laboratories with 10 test cells capable of absorbing 4,000 hp or more.

—Thomas Boberg, program manager in SwRI’s Engine, Emissions and Vehicle Research Division

High-horsepower engines provide power for ships and locomotives, pipeline gas compressors, stationary and portable power generation facilities, offshore drilling rigs and oil and gas recovery systems.

SwRI established a separate locomotive engine facility in 1990 in a San Antonio railyard to facilitate work on engines installed in locomotives. SwRI has performed research, development and evaluations of locomotive exhaust emissions, alternative fuels, dual-fuels, injection timing and aftercooling, as well as work in support of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board (CARB).