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Newsline German biathlon team tests sports rifles in Unterlüß Sporting order for environmental experts Oberhof/Unterlüß. It is minus 22 degrees Celsius and late September 1999 in Unterlüß. A shot is heard. The bullet goes straight through the paper disk, leaving a visible hole. This process is repeated five times. Having checked the results, Frank Ullrich, the coach of the German men’s biathlon team is satisfied since all five shots hit the same hole. September and freezing temperatures? Paper disks and biathlon? How does this add up? We are at the tem- Wolfgang Höfer perature test facility (TVA) of Rheinmetall W & M GmbH. The TVA is used to test products in two test chambers at temperatures between minus 46 degrees Celsius and plus 85 degrees Celsius at a humidity of between 10 and 95 percent. The team headed by TVA manager Gerhard Klocke, his deputy Adrian Müller and switching controller Harald Lembrecht has been given a sporting order on a cold winters day. The coach of the German biathletesistesting rifles to be used in competitions. Frank Ullrich, the German men’s coach and Gerhard Müssiggang, the coach of the women’s team, have brought some twenty different rifles with them. With Stephan Hoss and Sandro Brisling, responsible for skiing and marksmanship, they are testing their sports rifles at temperatures between minus 22 and 20 degrees Celsius before the winter sports season starts. Each rifle fires five shots at the target from a distance of 50 meters. The results are registered and recorded on video. Wolfgang Höfer, team leader and responsible for planning and coordination of the environmental testing facilities at W & M explains the background: “The biathletes carried out these tests to find the best possible rifle in combination with the most suitable ammunition at extremely cold temperatures”: Low temperatures change the properties of a rifle. Loads occurring in the rifle can deform the barrel of the weapon. In addition, sub-zero temperatures can have an effect on the ammunition and on the way in which this is loaded into the barrel. Ullrich explains: “To achieve ideal results in a competition, the rifles must be tailored to low temperatures. And then there are different types of ammunition, each of which has different properties affecting the accuracy of firing. The best possible result is obtained if five shots in succession hit the same hole. Sandro Brislinger (l), expert marksman, and Marian Riedel, skiing specialist, testing the rifles of the German men’s biathlon team at minus 22 degrees Celsius in a climatic test chamber at Unterlüß. The ammunition is also tested under these sub-zero conditions. The road towards success has not been easy. Before the coaches started testing their rifles at Rheinmetall W & M in Unterlüß, the weapons were tested in refrigeration chambers in Suhl. When this system was closed down, 21 Temperature check: Adrian Müller (l), deputy manager of the temperature test system, and switching controller Harald Lembrecht at the electronic control system for the two climatic test chambers. they had to find an alternative quickly as the world championship was not far away. Ullrich who works with the sports team of the German Army in Oberhof heard of Rheinmetall’s temperature testing facility. “We were incredibly lucky to have been given this opportunity since these low-temperature tests are extremely important to us. Besides, we were relieved that the experts in Unterlüß were willing to help us so quickly.” The team found ideal rooms and test conditions in Unterlüß. The sportsmen paid three two-day visits to the Rheinmetall site in Lower Saxony during the last three months to conduct a series of tests. Ullrich notes that “these tests were very useful and helped to improve the hit accuracyconsiderably. During the last biathlon world championship held in Kontiolathi (Finland) in 1998, Frank Luck won a gold medal for the sprint and Ricco Groß was equally successful. The low-temperature tests conducted at the TVA contributed towards this success.” Looking ahead, Ullrich points out that the next world championship in Oslo will take place in February 2000. Who knows, perhaps the low-temperature tests performed in Unterlüß will tip the scales in favor of the biathletes.
Pierburg AG, a member of the Kolbenschmidt Pierburg group, has been producing intake manifolds since the early nineties. With its innovative and advanced technical products, the Neuss-based automotive supplier has joined the ranks of the world’s most renowned suppliers. This is also underlined by some two dozen projects performed with car makers operating throughout the world. Here are some details on the technologies involved: the torque yield and performance of an engine also depend on the design of the intake manifold. Engines with short intake manifolds and large cross-sections only produce maximum power at high speeds. Long intake manifolds are, however, most efficient at low speed ranges. The particular advan- Newsline Magnesium intake manifold for Audi’s flagship Concepts as formula for success Neuss. “The intake manifold is the connection between the throttle body and cylinder. The throttle body opens at the engine as soon as the accelerator is stepped on. Air enters and then reaches the cylinder via the intake manifold. The greater the pressure on the accelerator, the greater the supply of air to the cylinder so that the car gains speed.” This is the somewhat brief but very apt description of the function of one of the company’s most important products – the intake manifold – by Karl Schmidt, manager of the air supply systems development department at Pierburg AG in Neuss. The success story of this young product – for which preparatory work started only ten years ago – is extensive. To give just some highlights: series production of the first aluminum variable intake manifold for the V6 engine of the Audi 100 was launched in 1991. This series was extremely beneficial as it allowed Pierburg’s specialists to gain experience in areas such as the production sector, which would then secure the future of the company in the longterm. Pierburg presented its first variable intake manifold made from magnesium in 1995; this went into series-production only one year later. More than twenty different intake manifold systems have been developed for com- A successful team presents its work (from l to r): project manager Hans-Jürgen Ritter, department head Hans-Ulrich Kühnel, design engineer Uwe Kontschack and production engineer/prototyping manager Lars Baumeister with the die-cast magnesium variable intake manifold with three-length design for the Audi V8 engine. panies like VW, Audi, Opel and DaimlerChrysler since production of the intake manifold first got under way. Pierburg recently won Audi’s quality prize for a magnesium die-cast variable intake manifold with three-length design. This is integrated in the V8 engine used in Audi A6 and Audi A8 cars. The die-casting process allows extremely thin wall thicknesses of only 1.5 tage of variable intake manifolds is that switching elements make it possible to switch over automatically between short and long manifold lengths, depending on the speed and load range. The torque behavior can therefore be influenced. At lower A supplier known worldwide speeds, a very high torque exists and a good performance is also achieved at high speeds. Compared to twolength designs, the three-length variant offers a greater speed range with optimum torque behavior. Intake manifolds with infinitely variable intake channel lengths will be the trend for the future. 22 mm for the V8 intake manifold so that, in conjunction with the magnesium used, the intake manifold weighs a mere 7.12 kg. Aluminum intake manifolds can be twice as heavy. Karl Schmidt explains that “magnesium is an extremely light metal weighing only 1.8 kg per liter. By contrast, aluminum still weighs 2.7 kg.” The three-length design of the intake manifold for the Audi V8 engine is an absolute novelty. Lars Baumeister, production engineer and prototyping manager as well as support engineer for assembly and metering systems, was involved in the development of the production concept for the intake manifold. He highlights the advantages of the new intake manifold for Audi: “The three-length design reaches a high torque at low speeds. This reduces fuel consumption even further. In addition, pollutant emission values are cut back.” Another important reason for winning the Audi quality prize – besides the excellent technology of the intake manifold – was the very short period needed to develop the product. The concept definition was made in January 1997 and series production already got started in mid 1998. This was a development period of only one and (Continued on page 23)
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