In case you’re wondering, an automotive wind tunnel is a high-tech facility that mimics the airflow in the real world when a vehicle is traveling at high speeds and for that reason, Honda has recently opened up a new wind tunnel facility in Ohio that took five years to building, costing over USD124 million.
The Honda Automotive Laboratories of Ohio (HALO) marks the fourth full-scale wind tunnel and the first and only one in North America owned by Honda. According to MotorTrend, the decision was made to reduce the testing time as previously Honda had to ship test vehicles abroad or rent wind tunnels for testing.
The HALO was built to developing fuel-efficient and fun-to-drive vehicles. The wind tunnel is capable of generating wind speeds of more than 310 km/h to provide testing functions of aerodynamics, aeroacoustics, and racing, all in one location. As such it can offer aerodynamic testing for both production and race cars.
The HALO facility features a five-belt rolling road system to develop mass production cars while a single wide-belt system is for testing both high performance cars and purpose-built race cars.
The facility is also home to an acoustic test system that utilises microphones and cameras to assist Honda with vehicle designs especially for the development of electric cars.
With electric cars, noise reduction is an important element in vehicle design as wind noise becomes more obvious in the absence of engine and exhaust sounds. With the acoustic test system, engineers will be able to locate areas where noise is being generated more effectively; both from the outside and within the cabin.
Additionally, the wind tunnel’s aerodynamic test capabilities will help contribute to the increase in electric driving range and performance of Honda’s future EV models.
