New Opportunities for Vehicle NVH Refinement Using Active Control

Recent progress in active control technology has opened new opportunities for low frequency vehicle NVH refinement. Some of these opportunities include active structural control and active interior sound control. With active structural control, depending upon the vehicle application, either a reduction in sound pressure levels and/or vibration levels can be achieved at the vehicle occupant positions. Typical NVH issues where active structural control can be useful include bracket or cross member resonances and system resonances where specific force transmission sites create large acoustic responses. If only noise reduction is desired, active interior sound control can be used to globally reduce the sound field in the passenger cabin.

This paper will present application results highlighting the use of a regenerative feedback single-input-single-output (SISO) algorithm for active structural control and the use of a feedforward multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) algorithm for active interior sound control. These new algorithm advances coupled with the ever present evolution of digital signal processing hardware allow the broader application of active control to reduce low frequency noise and vibration.