For more than a year, Link has conducted on-road vehicle testing throughout the Anhui Provence of China. This past October, Link officially set up shop and opened a new testing facility in Huangshan. Link’s area presence initially began with brake lining wear testing and progressed toward noise characterization evaluation and DTV testing.
Similar to services European manufacturers find at Mojacar in Spain, or North American OEM’s find at LACT in California, Asian OEM’s are offered a range of services at Link’s Huangshan facility. Services include full turn-key solutions, instrument rentals, skilled drivers, data processing, and vehicle builds to meet the regions vehicle testing requirements.
Huangshan, meaning Yellow Mountain, is thusly named for the yellow granite mountain chain protruding up through the landscape. It is known for its rustic beauty and craggy terrain. Around 15 million visitors tour the area every year and is one of China’s most popular tourist destinations.
Mild climates carry moderate to high levels of humidity. Approximately 200 days out of the year, mountain peaks are cocooned in billows of white mist. Sharp peaks pierce high above the cloud fabric, brushing the skyline to breathtaking heights. Three of its highest peaks stretch over 1,800 meters. Link selected Huangshang for these very reasons. Between rugged mountain topography and steady levels of precipitation, ideal driving routes are charted for thorough on-road vehicle testing.
Sharp up-and-down inclines tender samples of heating cycles followed by cooling cycles. While downtown Huangshan provides low-speed driving samples throughout the testing period. Vehicles are run on an outdoor course of 250 km per day until a total test mileage of 8,000 km – 10,000 km is reached. The route furnishes an in-depth sampling of data to assist manufacturers with design optimization.
According to Link Engineering’s Director of Marketing, Ronan Harkin, “Link is thrilled with the opening of the Yellow Mountain testing facility. The location gives us the ability to provide true comprehensive testing for the country’s automobile manufacturers.”
