Cooling and Airflow Management Development for Trucks Considering Pass-by-Noise

A vehicle cooling system development and optimization success is strongly dependent on the prevention of recirculation zones and other areas of heat transfer and air flow concerns generated by underhood components.

Traditionally, noise insulation package is defined without considering its impact on the thermal environment surrounding it. However, the airflow restriction created by the noise shields surfaces may become a huge air flow issue. This situation is usually verified on trucks designed for tropical markets and submitted to severe environments.

This paper presents a development strategy coupling cooling and underhood air flow management package specification with pass-by-noise insulators design. The interaction between cooling and pass-by-noise developments must avoid the necessity of a later redesign phase. A CFD software, lab sound intensity noise source ranking tests as well as vehicle cooling testing are suggested as development tools. Finally, an optimized development work plan is proposed and commented. Lessons learned in a current development are the basis of the proposed methodology.