Search Results

Squeak and Rattle (S&R) noises are transient sound events occurring when adjacent parts come into contact, either impacting or sliding. All components and sub-systems integrated in a vehicle may produce noise when excited with certain vibro-acoustic load. S&R noise can be linked to the perceived build quality, durability and even discomfort or annoyance. As a result, car manufacturers have strict regulations to prevent noise issues. Current vibro-acoustic validation tests can vary in complexity from full vehicle simulation to component level tests. Additionally, subjective assessments are often required to locate problematic areas and quantify their relevance. In this paper, S&R noise of a car seat is investigated using 3D sound intensity measurements. A multi-axial shaker is used to drive the seat with a time-stationary excitation extracted from a road profile. The impact of using different shaker configurations is evaluated.

The automotive industry is currently increasing the noise and vibration requirements of vehicle components. A detailed vibro-acoustic assessment of the supplied element is commonly enforced by most vehicle manufacturers. Traditional End-Of-Line (EOL) solutions often encounter difficulties adapting from controlled environments to industrial production lines due the presence of high levels of noise and vibrations generated by the surrounding machinery. In contrast, particle velocity measurements performed near a rigid radiating surface are less affected by background noise and they can potentially be used to address noise problems even in such conditions. The vector nature of particle velocity, an intrinsic dependency upon surface displacement and sensor directivity are the main advantages over conventional solutions. As a result, quantitative measurements describing the vibro-acoustic behavior of a device can be performed at the final stage of the manufacturing process.

In order to apply an effective noise reduction treatment determining the contribution of different engine components to the total sound perceived inside the cabin is important. Although accelerometer or laser based vibration tests are usually performed, the sound contributions are not always captured accurately with such approaches. Microphone based methods are strongly influenced by the many reflections and other sound sources inside the engine bay. Recently, it has been shown that engine radiation can be effectively measured using microphones combined with particle velocity sensors while the engine remains mounted in the car [6]. Similar results were obtained as with a dismounted engine in an anechoic room. This paper focusses on the measurement of the transfer path from the engine to the vehicle interior in order to calculate the sound pressure contribution of individual engine sections at the listener's position.

For (benchmark) tests it is not only useful to study the acoustic performance of the whole vehicle, but also to assess separate components such as the engine. Reflections inside the engine bay bias the acoustic radiation estimated with sound pressure based solutions. Consequently, most current methods require dismounting the engine from the car and installing it in an anechoic room to measure the sound emitted. However, this process is laborious and hard to perform. In this paper, two particle velocity based methods are proposed to characterize the sound radiated from an engine while it is still installed in the car. Particle velocity sensors are much less affected by reflections than sound pressure microphones when the measurements are performed near a radiating surface due to the particle velocity's vector nature, intrinsic dependency upon surface displacement and directivity of the sensor. Therefore, the engine does not have to be disassembled, which saves time and money.

Exterior noise testing is one of the main standardized quality controls required for developing the majority of vehicles. The combination of static tests and on-road measurements provides an essential key to undertaking a successful refinement process. Beamforming techniques using phased microphone arrays are one of the most common tools for localizing and quantifying noise sources across the vehicle body. However, the use of such devices can result in a series of well-known disadvantages regarding, for instance, their very high cost or transducer calibration problems. Virtual Phased Arrays (VPAs) are proposed as an alternative solution to prevent these difficulties providing the sound field is time stationary. Several frequency domain beamforming techniques can be adapted to only use the relative phase between a fixed and a moving transducer.

The Panel Noise Contribution Analysis (PNCA) is a well-known methodology for an airborne Transfer Path Analysis (TPA) in car interior. Pressure contribution from the individual panels at a reference point can be very accurately calculated. Acoustic Trim package treatment can therefore be optimized in terms of frequency and panel area which saves money and time. The method uses only one type of sensors so called particle velocity probes for measuring source strength as well as transfer function (with a reciprocal measurement). Traditionally the PNCA makes use of a big amount of probes at fixed points (about 50) hence non-stationary conditions can be measured as well. Typically the measurement is performed in 3 sessions resulting in 150 individual panels. Because of the low spatial resolution the method can only be used at mid-low frequency range.

The interior noise of a car is a general quality index for many OEM manufacturers. A reliable method for sound source ranking is often required in order to improve the acoustic performance. The final goal is to reduce the noise at some positions inside the car with the minimum impact on costs and weight. Although different methodologies for sound source localization (like beamforming or p-p sound intensity) are available on the market, those pressure-based measurement methods are not very suitable for such a complex environment. Apart from scientific considerations any methodology should be also “friendly” in term of cost, time and background knowledge required for post-processing. In this paper a novel approach for sound source localization is studied based on the direct measurement of the acoustic particle velocity distribution close to the surface. An airborne transfer path analysis is then performed to rank the sound pressure contribution from each sound source.

All surfaces of a cabin interior may contribute to the sound pressure at a certain reference position, e.g. the human's ear. Panel noise contribution analysis (PNCA) involves the measurement of the contribution of separate areas. This is an effective method to determine the effect of apparent noise sources at a specific location. This paper presents the latest developments on particle velocity based panel noise contribution analysis. In contrast to the traditional methods, the particle velocity approach is faster; it requires 3 days instead of weeks. While the theoretical base of the procedure in this paper is similar to previously published particle velocity based procedure, here the measurement protocol has now been simplified dramatically, which has reduced the measurement time even more to less than a day. The method and its implementation are explained in the paper and a full measurement procedure is reported.