Cummins and AVL have come a long way together. The
cooperation began decades ago, back then under AVL founder
Hans List. The success of this cooperation is shown by the fact
that the two companies are still working together on projects
today.
A Look Back
8Le first Toints oJ contact Fetween tLe two gloFal
corTorations were at a time wLen tLe toTics tLat define
the industry today, such as e-mobility and sustainable drive
systems, were not yet in the picture. At that time, driver
assistance systems and autonomous driving were more of
a Hollywood vision. The industry was focused on optimizing
tLe comFYstion engine, so it is not sYrTrising tLat tLe first
joint project dealt with test systems for the classic internal
combustions engine. What no one could have guessed at the
time was that this starting point would form the cornerstone
for a successful collaboration that was to last for decades.
The Step Into a New Development in Simulation
8Le Noint steT towards virtYali^ation in tLe field oJ e\LaYst gas
aftertreatment took place 20 years ago. At that time, AVL’s
software AVL BOOST™ was successful due to its functionality
in aftertreatment modeling, user-friendliness, and support
by the software engineers of AVL Advanced Simulation
Technologies. Nowadays Cummins uses tokens, allowing
them to access the entire simulation solution portfolio.
Moving to e-mobility, a lighthouse project is worth mentioning:
the transformation of Cummins East Asia R&D Center in
Wuhan in 2022/2023. In the spirit of sustainability, 27 AVL test
cells and numerous pieces of test equipment were cleared,
upgraded and installed at the new location in just 135 days.
In the process, the site was expanded with a brand-new
hydrogen power test building. Peter Schwab, Director Global
Business Team at AVL, comments, "This project demonstrates
the strong partnership we have with Cummins, and I strongly
believe that as a global supplier, AVL can provide Cummins
with world-class equipment and expertise to strengthen and
expand the company's capacity and capabilities toward a
carbon zero future."
Together Into the Future
In the next success story, just recently written in early 2024,
in conjunction with our colleagues in US and Accelera by
Cummins in West Sacramento, AVL provided a 400-kW fuel
cell system testbed (picture above). This testbed advances
Accelera's plans to build and prototype fuel cell modules and
propulsion systems. It also enables collaboration with OEM and
ƽeet cYstomers to gain Jast, early marOet JeedFacO. 9ltimately,
tLis Tositions %ccelera to Fe among tLe first on tLe road.
“The Hardware in
Loop (HiL) capability
of the testbed lets us
run scenarios with a
varying combination of
physical and simulated
components in a system.”
VIC SELVARAJU
Lab Manager, Accelera
A Joint
Evolution
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HYDROGEN AND FUEL CELL
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