Behr To Build Wind Tunnel in Troy

From the sweltering Sahara to the South Pole, there's nary a temperature or weather condition heating and cooling systems supplier Behr GmbH & Co. cannot simulate with its state-of-the-art wind tunnel at its Stuttgart, Germany, headquarters.

Now, on the heels of opening its new, $34 million North American headquarters and technical center in Troy, MI, just north of Detroit, Behr, Europe's biggest supplier of heating and cooling systems, announces it will build another wind tunnel in the U.S. for the North American market.

Currently, only a small portion of Behr's worldwide heating and cooling system business is generated in North America, mostly in the heavy-duty truck sector, where it's the market leader. The company is targeting a bigger bite of the light-vehicle market, says CEO Horst Geidel.

The $15 million tunnel will be state-of-the-art and a benchmark for the industry when it opens in early 2004, says Josef Kern, senior vice president of engineering for Behr America Inc.

“The wind tunnel will allow us to precisely test and measure the performance of Behr components under all conditions that affect the vehicle,” says Kern. “Instead of standard road tests, we can have excellent control of factors such as air temperature, humidity, air flow, solar radiation, solar loads and vehicle speeds.”

Behr's main competitive advantage with its tunnels, especially in Troy, will be the variety of weather conditions that can be simulated, says Kern.

With ceiling-mounted light panels, Behr can direct rays to simulate various angles of the sun to see how it will affect a vehicle's HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) system and, in North America, engine cooling system, says Kern.

Wind speeds of up to 125 mph (200 km/h) for passenger vehicles and 75 mph (120 km/h) for large trucks will be simulated in the Troy tunnel, greater speeds than Behr's Stuttgart tunnel can achieve. Humidity levels from 5% to 95% relative humidity and a temperature range from 120°F (50°C) to -22°F (-30°C) can also be created inside the Troy tunnel, as can uphill and downhill driving conditions.

The variety of vehicle sizes the North American tunnel can accommodate also is unique, says Kern, from small cars to SUVs to heavy-duty trucks. The North American tunnel also will have the ability to test engine-cooling systems, an advantage over Behr's Stuttgart tunnel, he says.

“The Stuttgart wind tunnel is mainly for the air conditioning systems simulation and testing,” says Kern. “Our wind tunnel here has the same qualities and performance for climate systems on one side. On the other side, our target is to have engine-cooling tests, too, especially for the American market. We have a higher share of the heavy-duty truck market here,” Kern says, adding that for that reason Behr will provide higher performance of the dynamometer at the Troy facility, running it up to around 800 hp.

For the most part, though, the tunnel in Troy and the one in Stuttgart, which opened in February 2001, are quite similar, allowing Behr to use the same measurements and calculation tools.

“Our target is to have a very close-link connection between our simulation calculation and our testing, because it's our validation process,” says Kern. “On the one side we will have simulation calculation in the tunnel and later on we will test it. To approve all these simulation calculations, we have this validation process. We have combined both in one process,” he says.

Behr has a long history designing and developing wind tunnels, dating back to 1937 with the Behr Group's German blower tunnel test of the legendary Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrow race car.

Many of Behr's competitors, including Visteon Corp., already have wind tunnels, giving them an advantage in North America.

“Our target is to, on the one side, first to be competitive, that's clear,” says Kern. “On the other side, our target is to be a technology leader. To be a technology leader you have to provide your customers at least state-of-the-art test equipment,” he says of Behr's reason for wanting a tunnel in North America.

Kern says Behr already has hired three people to work on the North American tunnel in preparation for its opening. Two of the hires are new to the supplier and the third is from Stuttgart. Six people in total will work specifically at the Troy tunnel when it opens, with additional workers staffed for the preparation area, he says.

Behr America has 1,000 employees at production sites in Texas, South Carolina, South Dakota and Michigan, with sales of $230 million in fiscal 2001, a little more than 10% of Behr Group's 2001 sales of about $2 billion.

In February, Behr acquired Dayton Thermal Products of Dayton, OH, from DaimlerChrysler AG, which brought its total U.S. workforce to 3,000 and added projected annual sales of $850 million.