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Technical Centre

The Helical Technical Centre was built in 1991 as a European Research and Development Centre, providing engineering support to the exhaust industry. Helical has further invested in the facility, which is now used by automotive manufacturers, motorsport teams and component suppliers for vehicle, powertrain, and increasingly, emissions testing.

The Technical Centre’s new engine test building came online in May 2022. The new test facility is in operation, capable of testing engines up to 2MW fuelled by CNG and hydrogen. Complete with Horiba STARS test automation control system, Horiba Mexa exhaust gas analysis and onsite CNG storage and delivery.

Electric control NVH testing is also available and has been carried out in one of our high tech semi anechoic chambers.

Helical have developed a new high flow gas burner test rig to support the development and testing of Helical’s exhaust valve products, and 3rd party components and exhaust systems.

The Helical Technical Centre offers a wide range of testing facilities including:

12 engine test cells (3 with connection to semi-anechoic rooms for exhaust system noise testing)
1 x Vehicle Semi Anechoic room with 2WD chassis dyno
7 x Shaker / vibrator systems
7 x climatic chambers for component testing at elevated or minus temperatures.

We do not restrict ourselves to automotive based test work – if you have any component or system that requires NVH / climatic assessment, please get in touch.

We offer:

Durability testing
Validation programmes
Evaluation work
Emissions testing (Horiba MEXA raw direct sampling)
Facilities to support R&D programmes (including on site ‘hot-desk’ offices)
NVH data acquisition and development
Prototype development

For:

Any component or system – not necessarily automotive based
Powertrains with a range of fuels eg. gasoline, diesel, natural gas, hydrogen and dual-fuel (Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquid Natural Gas (LNG))
Exhaust systems
Hybrid and electric components (eMotors)
Gearboxes

Services

Acoustic acquisition & analysis (Siemens TestLab hardware & software)
Engine calibration monitoring tools (INCA, ATI & CANalyser hardware & software)
Structural diagnostics & evaluation
Heavy duty & passenger vehicle emissions measurements
Mechanical & thermal fatigue analysis & durability testing
Climatic & environmental testing

Customers include automotive OEMs such as:

Bentley
Jaguar Land Rover
McLaren
Ford
Cummins
Other global manufacturers

We also work in other non-automotive sectors such as:

Rail
Aerospace
Power Generation

Facilities

Engine test cells x 12
Semi-anechoic engine dyno test cells x 2
Semi-anechoic vehicle chassis dyno test cells x 1 (with integrated vehicle lift)
Vibration shakers x 7
Hydraulic actuators
Climatic chambers x 3
Vibration climatic chamber x 2 -50 °C to +190 °C rapid cooling
Natural gas burners x 5
Oven chambers x 4
Drive-by noise test track
Cold flow rig tester
Manufacture and modification (fixture build / fabrication / machining)
Vehicle workshops 1 x 3.5t 4 post ramp
Pre & post component inspection
Serviced offices and warehouse

In addition to offering excellent and cost-effective ‘one stop shop’ facilities supported by expert staff, we can provide a dedicated customer ‘hot desk office’.