Don Leblanc helps to make sure that our buses and trains are comfortable in all climate conditions, a major concern for Canadian commuters.

I manage the climatic engineering facility at the NRC-Centre for Surface Transportation Technology. This means I test anything and everything. We test products at different temperatures and we can simulate precipitation: snow, humidity, fog and rain.

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"If you get on a commuter train in the winter and... you're comfortable, you're more likely to come back tomorrow."

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Current Projects

We do a lot of work for the military and for passenger railcar manufacturers – our facility is big enough for a railcar. We test switch heaters for rail equipment manufacturers. We test aircraft wing de-icing fluids for Transport Canada and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. We've done work for electrical cable and snowblower manufacturers.

Getting There: Road to NRC

In high school, I wanted to study medicine. I thought medicine would be a good place to make a contribution and a good living. At university, I chose biochemistry because it's a harder route into medicine and I figured that if I'm going to eliminate myself, I would rather do so early. It worked!

Although biochemistry was a hot field when I started my degree, there were few job openings when I graduated. Many folks had switched from biochemistry into chemical engineering, so I gave it a try. I earned a B.Eng. from the University of Ottawa in 1984.

Afterwards, I spent time in the military reserves while looking for work. I got my first real job at the Ontario Research Foundation (now called Ortech) in Mississauga. I worked there for about 13 years. We mainly tested packages: boxes, bottles, cans. Testing beer packaging was one of my favourites. We would snag the handle of a beer case on a wire. If the handle ripped, the bottles would fall on the floor and break. Then our technician realized that the actual test ends when the handle breaks. He put foam under the testing rig so the bottles wouldn't break and we could dispose of them in the old fashioned way! Why waste perfectly good beer?

One day, I got a phone call from NRC: "Do you know anyone interested in running a lab, who knows something about climate and testing vehicles?" I said: "Yeah, me!" That was in 1998.

Life in a Research Lab

When our climate chamber is running, we sometimes start tests at 8 a.m. and don't finish until after midnight. Sometimes we run tests for 24 hours a day.

I wear several hats at work. I manage the other people who work with me. When there's testing work, I oversee the tests. I also market our services. We are 100% funded by industry, so we survive on the projects that come in. I attend two or three conferences a year where I make an effort to meet new customers. So far, I've been to Orlando, Frankfurt, Toulouse, Vancouver and San Francisco.

Our main customers are railcar manufacturers that bring passenger vehicles here to check the heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems. If you get on a commuter train in the winter and get a blast of hot air in your face while your feet freeze, you may decide to drive the next day. But if you're comfortable, you're more likely to come back tomorrow. Transit authorities know that, so their suppliers have to meet certain requirements. Rather than wait for Mother Nature to provide a range of conditions, CSTT can simulate winter or summer and everything in between.

A Test to Remember

Someone once asked us to test some aircraft fuel lines with fuel in them, because they might leak in hot conditions over time. How could we do this safely? We made a steel frame with glass batts inside. We put in raw heating elements. We set it outside in an enclosed compound in mid winter and ran the test at about 150° C. It ran smoothly. If the fuel line had blown a leak and exploded, the walls would have popped off with little impact. But if we had done the test indoors, the safety issues would have been very complex.

Don After Hours

I practice karate about three times a week. Karate gives me a good workout. It's a 45 minute class and I sweat pretty hard at the end. I help teach the classes.

I also like building plastic models such as military vehicles, boats and planes. And I enjoy gardening – I focus on vegetables and my wife focuses on flowers.

Books: I like science fiction. I like fantasy books like Lord of the Rings, which I've read several times.

Television: I like the current Enterprise series. I tape Coronation Street every Sunday morning. I also like comedy such as Just for Laughs.

Movies: I liked Lord of the Rings and I enjoy historical films and action pictures.

Got Questions?

• Feel free to drop Don a line at education@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca .
• Be sure to address your question to Don and he'll try to answer it as best he can.