Concept Study on Windshield Actuation for Active Control of Wind Noise in a Passenger Car

The windshield is an integral part of almost every modern passenger car. Combined with current developments in the automotive industry such as electrification and the integration of lightweight material systems, the reduction of interior noise caused by stochastic and transient wind excitation is deemed to be an increasing challenge for future NVH measures. Active control systems have proven to be a viable alternative compared to traditional passive NVH measures in different areas. However, for windshield actuation there are neither comparative studies nor actually established actuation concepts available to the automotive industry. This paper illustrates a comparative conceptual study on windshield actuation for the active control of wind noise in a passenger car. Making use of an experimental modal analysis of the windshield installed in a medium-sized vehicle, a reduced order numerical simulation model is derived. Possible actuation concepts are briefly recapitulated and a comparative, preliminary study assists the selection of possible actuation positions of the windshield. Two basic actuation concepts (i.e. an electrodynamic inertial mass actuator as well as windshield actuation by means of piezo-electric stack actuators) are investigated in detail and generalized design requirements are derived for both actuator types.