Link Group, the Plymouth-based automotive testing company, brought a global vehicle manufacturer and five technical service organizations to Germany for a technical exchange on new brake emissions rules.
Link Engineering Company GmbH, the German subsidiary of the Plymouth-headquartered firm, hosted a three-day technical exchange at its laboratory in Limburg, Germany, the company announced Oct. 20 in a press release. The announcement did not identify the participating manufacturer or organizations.
The focus was UN Regulation No. 179, which sets uniform rules for measuring brake particle emissions from light-duty vehicles. The European Union’s Euro 7 regulation includes limits on particles released during braking.
The company said engineers demonstrated how they prepare components, weigh collection filters, adjust cooling, run laboratory brake tests and analyze the resulting data.
"The event gave LINK the opportunity to demonstrate its end-to-end brake emissions testing capabilities in accordance with UN R179 while providing participants with valuable insight into the testing processes and support required for homologation projects," Marco Zessinger, managing director of Link Engineering Company GmbH, said in the press release.
The Limburg event builds on a milestone The Brake Report covered in July. The company said its Limburg laboratory received authorization from the United Kingdom's Vehicle Certification Agency to conduct witnessed brake emissions testing for vehicle type-approval programs.
That allows a VCA representative to observe testing at the laboratory as part of the vehicle approval process, according to the report. The company says only a limited number of organizations worldwide hold the equipment and accreditations needed for such programs.
Link Group traces its roots to 1935, when Herbert Link founded the company in a Detroit basement. The firm established its Plymouth headquarters in the 1990s and created the Link Group holding company in 2019 to oversee Link Engineering Company, Link Industries and Tescor, according to its company history.
The family-owned company lists its largest design and manufacturing plant at 43855 Plymouth Oaks Boulevard and its corporate office at 41100 Plymouth Road, Suite 300, on its locations page.
Link says it provides emissions testing and measurement in Germany, Italy and China for both light-duty and heavy-duty vehicle applications. Its accreditation page lists ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation for the Limburg laboratory.
