ARAI Cylinder Testing Facility Gets NABL Accreditation

The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) has received ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for its newly established Cylinder Testing Facility at the Mobility Research Centre (MRC), Takwe, Pune.

The facility is now operational and provides testing and validation services for high-pressure gaseous cylinders used in alternative fuel systems. ARAI says it can test Type I to Type IV gaseous cylinders for applications spanning automotive, industrial, marine, defence, space and other specialised sectors.

The accreditation covers a facility intended to support cylinder manufacturers through product development, evaluation, certification, type approval, batch testing and developmental testing in line with applicable national and international standards.

ARAI Cylinder Testing Facility: Testing Scope

The facility supports research and certification activities for gaseous cylinders used for CNG, HCNG, oxygen, nitrogen, inert gases and other applications under the applicable Gas Cylinder Rules.

It also supports testing of hydrogen cylinders up to 700 bar in areas covered by its established test capabilities, although ARAI notes that some specialised hydrogen-related tests remain outside the current accreditation scope.

The testing infrastructure includes both destructive and non-destructive evaluations covering cylinder performance, safety, reliability and durability.

Cylinder Testing Capabilities

Key tests available at the facility include:

• Material characterisation and testing
• Hydrostatic testing
• Pressure cycling under climatic conditions
• Permeation testing
• Burst testing
• Bonfire testing
• Drop testing
• Mechanical durability testing
• Environmental durability evaluations
• Other specialised cylinder validation tests

ARAI director Dr Reji Mathai said the NABL accreditation establishes a standards-based quality framework for testing high-pressure gas cylinders and expands domestic testing capacity for such systems.

The facility is intended to provide manufacturers and technology developers with testing support within India, reducing their reliance on overseas facilities and potentially shortening development and validation cycles.

Support For Alternative Fuel And Domestic Manufacturing Programmes

ARAI said the facility can support technical qualification and validation requirements associated with government programmes, including the Automotive Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme.

The testing capability is relevant to the development and validation of high-pressure storage systems used with CNG, Bio-CNG, hydrogen and other gaseous fuels.

Vehicle manufacturers, cylinder producers, technology developers and other industry stakeholders can access information on the facility's NABL accreditation scope and technical capabilities through ARAI.