INNOVATION July-August 2014

2O13 2O14 PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Automotive Engine Control Unit Tula Technology has developed the most cost-effective, easily integrated fuel-reduction technology to help automotive manufacturers meet increasingly stringent fuel-efficiency and CO 2 reduction mandates. Tula’s breakthrough technology makes dynamic firing decisions on an individual cylinder basis so that the engine functions at its most fuel-efficient operating mode. In ensuring that the digital signal processor and control algorithms operate within normal parametres, a Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) test bench that controls a Tula-enabled engine needed to be designed. A new HIL bench was constructed from the best tools available in the industry to build a fully automated HIL bench based on the Open HIL API system architecture. The HIL bench implementation was presented at the 2013 ASAM International Conference as an example of a successful automotive deployment. For Tula, the successful development of this capability allows the company to ensure that all the controls and DSP algorithms are thoroughly tested.

Roberts Bank Rail Corridor Program

The Roberts Bank Rail Corridor (RBRC) Program is a comprehensive package of eight overpass projects, one railway siding project and one Intelligent Transportation Systems project funded by an unprecedented collaboration of 12 partners: Transport Canada, under the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative (APGCI), BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MoTI), TransLink, Port Metro Vancouver, four municipalities and four railway companies. The program will improve the safety and efficiency of the road and rail networks along the RBRC, an important 70-km corridor connecting Canada’s largest container facility and a major coal terminal at Roberts Bank with the North American Rail Network. Collings Johnston is providing program management and representation of the interests of the funding partners. ARIEL Electron Source The Advanced Rare Isotope Laboratory (ARIEL) is TRIUMF’s flagship facility that will expand Canada’s capabilities to produce and study isotopes for science and medicine. Utilizing next-generation technology, ARIEL will showcase a made-in-Canada, high-power superconducting electron accelerator, or “e-linac.” ARIEL is engaging the efforts of physicists, engineers, designers, machinists and technicians from across the whole lab. The e-linac starts with the electron source that produces an electron beam of up to 10 mA at 300 keV. The electron beam is then “chopped” by applying a radiofrequency wave of 650 MHz. The radiofrequency is transported to the high-voltage terminal of the source by a ceramic waveguide––a novel development. The beam exits into the Low Energy Beam Transport where the ARIEL team can diagnose the beam’s properties, then continues along the e-linac. The design, construction and testing of the electron source were completed at TRIUMF.

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