Acoustic Sensing and Noise Identification of a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Unit: Industrial Case Study
Reducing the noise and improving the sound quality of vehicles’ interior space is one of the challenges to enhance passengers’ experience. This is an ever-growing issue as entirely electric cars are becoming commonplace, making previously unnoticed noise a significant problem. Heating, Ventilation a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/21/9811 |
| _version_ | 1827678395840856064 |
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| author | Stephen Grigg Zeyad Yousif Abdoon Al-Shibaany Matthew Robert Pearson Rhys Pullin Paul Calderbank |
| author_facet | Stephen Grigg Zeyad Yousif Abdoon Al-Shibaany Matthew Robert Pearson Rhys Pullin Paul Calderbank |
| author_sort | Stephen Grigg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Reducing the noise and improving the sound quality of vehicles’ interior space is one of the challenges to enhance passengers’ experience. This is an ever-growing issue as entirely electric cars are becoming commonplace, making previously unnoticed noise a significant problem. Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) units are a major noise source in a vehicle’s interior space, yet automotive manufacturers only give a maximum dB specification to HVAC unit manufactures. Problematic noise is only typically identified once the unit is within the vehicle at the late stages of a project. Psychoacoustics is the study of human perception to sound, allowing unpleasant noise to be identified within recorded data. Within this study, an industrial prototype HVAC unit was analysed using a 96-channel acoustic camera capable of isolating and locating noise sources from the unit using beamforming. In addition to identifying the location of noise sources, several psychoacoustic metrics were used, such as sharpness and loudness, to identify undesirable noise within an extensive data set due to the vast range of test configurations. Testing was conducted to analyse the unit. Within the initial testing, an ‘annoying’ sound was identified at a particular motor RPM, and this was located using the camera to an area which indicated that it was a result of structural resonance. In addition, present was a high-frequency source which could not be located accurately. The results of this testing enable modifications to the unit to be made early in its’ development, either structurally to alter the resonance of the unit or within the settings to ensure certain RPMs are avoided. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:07:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-919fc5a2c98d44c8830818d737840ca0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:07:52Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-919fc5a2c98d44c8830818d737840ca02023-11-22T20:23:27ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172021-10-011121981110.3390/app11219811Acoustic Sensing and Noise Identification of a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Unit: Industrial Case StudyStephen Grigg0Zeyad Yousif Abdoon Al-Shibaany1Matthew Robert Pearson2Rhys Pullin3Paul Calderbank4Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UKCardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UKCardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UKCardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UKBergstrom (Europe) Ltd., 41 Sycamore Close, Dyffryn Business Park, Ystrad Mynach, Hengoed CF82 7RJ, UKReducing the noise and improving the sound quality of vehicles’ interior space is one of the challenges to enhance passengers’ experience. This is an ever-growing issue as entirely electric cars are becoming commonplace, making previously unnoticed noise a significant problem. Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) units are a major noise source in a vehicle’s interior space, yet automotive manufacturers only give a maximum dB specification to HVAC unit manufactures. Problematic noise is only typically identified once the unit is within the vehicle at the late stages of a project. Psychoacoustics is the study of human perception to sound, allowing unpleasant noise to be identified within recorded data. Within this study, an industrial prototype HVAC unit was analysed using a 96-channel acoustic camera capable of isolating and locating noise sources from the unit using beamforming. In addition to identifying the location of noise sources, several psychoacoustic metrics were used, such as sharpness and loudness, to identify undesirable noise within an extensive data set due to the vast range of test configurations. Testing was conducted to analyse the unit. Within the initial testing, an ‘annoying’ sound was identified at a particular motor RPM, and this was located using the camera to an area which indicated that it was a result of structural resonance. In addition, present was a high-frequency source which could not be located accurately. The results of this testing enable modifications to the unit to be made early in its’ development, either structurally to alter the resonance of the unit or within the settings to ensure certain RPMs are avoided.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/21/9811acoustic cameraHVACnoise identification |
| spellingShingle | Stephen Grigg Zeyad Yousif Abdoon Al-Shibaany Matthew Robert Pearson Rhys Pullin Paul Calderbank Acoustic Sensing and Noise Identification of a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Unit: Industrial Case Study Applied Sciences acoustic camera HVAC noise identification |
| title | Acoustic Sensing and Noise Identification of a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Unit: Industrial Case Study |
| title_full | Acoustic Sensing and Noise Identification of a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Unit: Industrial Case Study |
| title_fullStr | Acoustic Sensing and Noise Identification of a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Unit: Industrial Case Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Acoustic Sensing and Noise Identification of a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Unit: Industrial Case Study |
| title_short | Acoustic Sensing and Noise Identification of a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Unit: Industrial Case Study |
| title_sort | acoustic sensing and noise identification of a heating ventilation and air conditioning unit industrial case study |
| topic | acoustic camera HVAC noise identification |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/21/9811 |
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