Integration of an End-of-Line System for Vibro-Acoustic Characterization and Fault Detection of Automotive Components Based on Particle Velocity Measurements

The automotive industry is currently increasing the noise and vibration requirements of vehicle components. A detailed vibro-acoustic assessment of the supplied element is commonly enforced by most vehicle manufacturers. Traditional End-Of-Line (EOL) solutions often encounter difficulties adapting from controlled environments to industrial production lines due the presence of high levels of noise and vibrations generated by the surrounding machinery. In contrast, particle velocity measurements performed near a rigid radiating surface are less affected by background noise and they can potentially be used to address noise problems even in such conditions. The vector nature of particle velocity, an intrinsic dependency upon surface displacement and sensor directivity are the main advantages over conventional solutions. As a result, quantitative measurements describing the vibro-acoustic behavior of a device can be performed at the final stage of the manufacturing process. This paper presents the practical implementation of an EOL system based on data acquired with a single 3D probe containing three orthogonally placed acoustic particle velocity sensors. Aspects such as installation process, feature extraction, classification, fault detection and diagnosis are hereby discussed. The presented results provide experimental evidence for the viability of particle velocity-based solutions for EOL control applications.