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Front Page » Going Ford » Research Centre

Fords new Vehicle Semi Anechoic Chamber

Cambo, Thursday December 13, 2007.

Page 1 of 1

The only one if its kind in Australia, Ford’s new Vehicle Semi Anechoic Chamber (VSAC) has been designed to replicate a moving vehicle during open road driving, but in a controlled environment.

The surrounding acoustic conditions behave as a sterile version of the real world for the purpose of vehicle refinement and NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) testing.

The chamber creates free field conditions, but above a reflective plane so that, above a certain frequency, all sounds waves that hit the walls or ceiling of the chamber will be absorbed.

For the application of vehicle testing, the benefits of a semi anechoic chamber are considerable, including:

• Errors in the measurement of key NVH metrics due to wind and weather are eliminated
• Key NVH metrics can be repeatedly measured under constant temperatures (variability in tyres and cabin air space temperatures can prove critical)
• Measurement variability due to dissimilar road surfaces is eliminated
• Operator (driver) variability is eliminated through application of a driver robot
• Front and rear axles can be independently driven, developed and tested as singular contributing systems
• Testing can be conducted 24/7 irrespective of ambient lighting conditions
• Vehicle top speed testing can be conducted without track closures or other preventative safety measures

Improved prototype security is also a key benefit of the VSAC facility, due to the reduction in equivalent on road testing that is required.

The chamber is designed to replicate a moving vehicle on open road driving to a maximum speed of 250 km/h via an all-wheel drive capable dynamometer, rated to 300 kW at the rear and 200 kW at the front.

Temperature in the chamber is controlled through a 200 kW chiller and 38 kW heater units, with 70 per cent of cooling air recirculated to increase energy efficiency and reduce running costs, while the energy generated during dyno braking modes is fed back into the community power grid.

The 1.35 metre Metadyne perforated, metal-faced, acoustic absorption wedges enable the chamber to replicate the open road above 50Hz, which is well below all powertrain and road noise frequencies of interest for driving.

Background noise has been designed to be less than 25 dB(A) for engine idle measurements, while it has also been certified at 50 dB(A) at 100 km/h equivalent road speed.

Textured epoxy road shells replicating Australian coarse road surfaces can be specially fitted to the dyno for vehicle and tyre development – road shells also replicate the Gleneagles coarse road at Dearborn Proving Ground for global proving ground correlation.

The internal chamber building features 200mm thick concrete tilt-slab acoustic wall barrier construction, along with 750 Metadyne acoustic absorption wedges and a 120-tonne seismically de-coupled concrete footing for the dynamometer.

Project specifications:

• ­Dynamometer
  • Front axle power: 200 kW
  • Rear axle power: 300 kW
  • Max speed: 250 km/h
  • Max. cooling air flow: 11.1m³/s
  • Max. summer cooling: 25°C at 38°C building ambient
  • Max. winter heating: 38°C at 5°C building ambient
  • Roll diameter: 1844mm
  • Wheelbase range: 2500mm – 4200mm
  • Inertia simulation range: 450kg – 5,400kg
  • Max. permissible axle load: 2,000kg
  • Roller bearings: Hydrostatic for low vibrations
  • AC electric motors: Water cooled

• Building
  • Internal chamber dimensions: 17.1m long x 12.8m wide
  • Additional 200mm concrete tilt-slab acoustic barrier wall to plant room

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