Search Results

Vehicles powered by electric machines offer the advantage to be more silent than vehicles equipped with an internal combustion engine. On the one hand, the reduced noise levels enable an improvement of the inner-city noise pollution. On the other hand, quiet vehicles entail risks not to be acoustically detected by surrounding pedestrians and cyclists in the lower speed range. The emitted noise can easily be masked by the urban background noise. Therefore, the UNECE has founded an informal working group which is currently developing guidelines in terms of an exterior noise required for detecting Quiet Road Transport Vehicles (QRTV). With the introduction of an Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS), not only the exterior noise but also the perceived interior noise for an enhanced driving experience can be considered. Nevertheless, car manufactures have a big interest in maintaining their perceived brand identity.

The automotive industry permanently enhances Downsizing concepts due to environmental commitments and energy consumption concerns. Even in the category of city- and supermini-cars, great efforts are made for the development of highly charged engines with small displacement. So far the main focus of these developments is set on the reduction of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. However these are not the only aspects, which have to be fulfilled by the vehicle in order to meet the demands of the customers and to be successful in competition. The NVH characteristics of such Downsizing vehicles have to match a class-specific level, which can only be achieved by additional measures. Regarding this, a view of the dynamic behavior of the entire vehicle is required. At the Institut für Kraftfahrwesen Aachen (ika) the potential for reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of a Downsizing concept is investigated using a city-car as reference.