Engine Testing Powers GM Test Centers around the World

[xcel]

Reclaimed energy from dyno testing.

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - July 2, 2012

Test Cell in Torino, Italy where dyno testing partially powers the lab.

Engines on the dynamometers at GMs Powertrain Engineering Center in Torino, Italy and Pontiac, Michigan are powering the grid.

According to GM, in just one year the Torino center has reclaimed over 300 MWh of energy from engine and vehicle test benches. Since its opening in 2008, the Pontiac center has regenerated more than 26.7 thousand MWh of energy.

The energy generated from engine testing powers AC and lighting in the lab areas, computers and lowers the overall energy needed to power the facility. So much so that GM was able downsize the transformers and network architecture in the buildings design.

The Pontiac facility also cleans the engine exhaust before it is released into the atmosphere. A common ductwork system collects engine exhaust and helps it travel through thermal oxidizers outside the plant before being released into the air.

Dave Gunnels, GM Engineering Manager for the Pontiac test facilities:

“We don’t want to consume more energy than we need to.”

[Mendel Leisk]

This is very interesting; no doubt there is a lot of similar untapped energy sources.

The self-winding watch comes to mind: using your wrist motions to keep a spring coiled. I guess anytime anyone or anything is exerting energy there is a potential to at least "tax" it, recover a portion of it.

It depends on ingenuity, practicality and the amount of effort to set it up, I guess. I mean, something like a subway corridor: maybe small pistons in the sub-floor could act as generators?