Quiet, I can’t hear my eco-friendly vehicle
NVH, Acoustics and comfort performances go perfectly together with new eco-design concepts
The last decade the automotive outlook underwent a complete make-over. The ecological trend entails new challenges: legislation imposes tougher limits for noise and vibrations and with the arrival of hybrid & electrical vehicles we have a completely different understanding of noise. Yet drivers of today attach a continued value to drive comfort.
Building eco-friendly vehicles ranks high on the development agenda of automotive manufacturers and suppliers. This ambition is linked to the successful introduction of hybrid or full electrical technology. In case of traditional cars, an eco-friendly vehicle implies the downsizing of the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) as well as further weight reductions. All these new concepts impact strongly the Noise, Vibration and Harshness behavior of the vehicle under development:
- Fuel-economy-driven measures on engine design result in acoustics and vibration degradation, causing particular quality issues such as impulsive noises in the injector systems and high frequency whine in turbochargers.
- Weight reduction and ICE-downsizing programs strongly affect noise and vibration transfer paths, causing driveline originated booming issues. In addition, torque lock-up strategies as well as start-stop features create transient vibrations.
- Without low frequency ICE noise, the interior sound quality for electrical vehicles (EV) is affected by high frequency sounds induced by small motorized parts, the HVAC system and fan as well as by transmission whine, while road and wind noise are likely to further degrade the sound experience.
- Noise from the electrical motor and inverter as well as the battery cooling system represent new challenges as do transient effects from switching mode drives in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV).
Weight reduction encourages automotive manufacturers and suppliers to focus on new materials such as composites and related bonding in body systems. Needless to say that this also affect the NVH and acoustic performances.
Gear rattle, driveline shaft unbalance, pass-by noise, booming noise or road noise … LMS tests, simulates and engineers it all:
- Hybrid test-simulation development process to shorten time-to-market when introducing new eco-related design concepts.
- A Market-leading hardware and Test-based Engineering Solutions
- State-of-the-art 1D and 3D simulation platforms for Multi-attribute Optimization
- Or NVH Engineering services in co-development, technology transfer and trouble-shooting. Supporting benchmarking, design requirements, detailed engineering using simulation and hybrid technology, test based refinement, and late prototype optimization
References
- “We looked for a supplier with solid experience in NVH engineering, with capabilities to assist us in the transition to the new system, and with a strong offering in virtual simulation for NVH.” - Dr. Ralf Kunkel, Head of the Acoustics Engineering Department at Audi
- “PSA’s strategy includes reducing environmental impact of the diesel engines with HDI technology. We realize that engine acoustics need to be integrated into the car development process. LMS Virtual.Lab Acoustics fits well into our engine simulation process.” - Mr. Olivier Dumas, NVH simulation project manager for powertrain at PSA Peugeot Citroën
- "We are developing Model S to deliver a refined driving experience and LMS Test.Lab delivers the breadth of test capability our NVH engineering team needs. We are using LMS Test.Lab in all aspects of the NVH development of Model S.” Tesla Motors
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