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The $124 million wind tunnel at Honda Automotive Laboratories of Ohio (HALO) lets the brand test aerodynamics and aeroacoustics.
It's called HALO (Honda Advanced Laboratories of Ohio), and it's located in East Liberty, Ohio, among the automaker's existing R&D and manufacturing facilities.
The site will be used by the company to develop future production vehicles and race cars, as well as by third parties who want to test their own products.
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Depending on the company's development, the HALO wind tunnel features a modular rolling road system which offers two rolling paths. A five-belt road for upper body aerodynamic work, which is used to test higher-riding vehicles like crossovers. A single, wide-belt rolling road best for downforce work on high-performance and race cars. These cars are carried on belts that are only 0.8 millimeters thick.
The transition between the five-belt and wide-belt systems takes roughly four hours. A huge crane lifts the 40-ton assemblies into position.
The wind tunnel's heart is a fan that measures 8 meters in diameter. There are 12 hollow carbon-fiber blades with a 4-millimeter clearance from the exterior surround.
The maximum speed of the fan is 250 revolutions per minute. This may not appear to be much, but it is sufficient to move air at speeds of up to 310 kilometers per hour. It's powered by a 6,705 horsepower electric motor.
Many of the equipment and technology systems provided by wind tunnel facilities to assist in the testing of cars include the following:
- Sensors on the floor are capable of measuring changes as small as half a pound.
- Diagnostic arm with stopping precision accuracy as precise as 0.5 millimeters, (engineers can use it to evaluate things like wake vortices coming off the rear of a vehicle).
- The wind tunnel is also capable of doing aeroacoustic testing for tweaking the wind noise in vehicles
- 180-Degree Turntable (serves multiple functions, it allows for evaluating aerodynamics or aeroacoustics not just from a variety of angles, this setup also allows for quick loading and unloading of models from the wind tunnel and push them out).
This location won't exclusively be related to Honda car development. For customers renting time in the wind tunnel, there are four secure garages with a lift, workspace, bathroom, and small kitchenette. There's also a car wash, a machine shop, a suspension alignment rack, and a laser scanner for measuring a vehicle's frontal area.
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