From Complex Vehicle Requirements to Component Design - A Case Study of Sound Package Early Development Using SEA Genetic Optimization and System Engineering

System Engineering has increasingly been applied in the automotive industry to develop quality vehicles efficiently and effectively. It is particularly important to use System Engineering methods in the early stages of vehicle development when all requirements such as performance, package space, cost and weight are actively defined and balanced, and when decisions are made that have substantial downstream design consequences. To achieve effective balance, decisions have to be data driven to complement engineering experience and judgment. Analytical tools (CAE) have been developed in the industry to evaluate and synthesize designs. However, there are limited examples and discussions in the literature on how the “upfront” CAE can be implemented to integrate cross-functional requirements into the component design. Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) method is the CAE tool used in sound package development. This paper demonstrates that vehicle SEA model, along with design optimization techniques, can be used to achieve balanced sound package design with respect to noise performance, cost, weight and package space at the same time. Practical implementation of the methodology is also discussed.