Winterthur, June 2020 – Environmental concerns have led to increasingly strict CO2 regulations that are triggering disruptive changes in automotive development. The transformation from conventional combustion engines to electrified powertrains presents challenges for NVH engineering – and Kistler is responding with highly flexible and efficient measurement solutions.
NVH – which stands for 'noise, vibration and harshness” – includes all aspects of the acoustic and vibrational behavior of a vehicle. Increasing attention is focused on these issues, because optimizing the NVH behavior of a vehicle or powertrain helps to create reliable products with long lifetimes – but that's not all: it also characterizes how the occupants perceive the quality of a vehicle. These developments are turning NVH into a key factor in the evolution of the automobile – with the ultimate goal of raising comfort, driving pleasure and brand image to unprecedented levels.
From an NVH perspective, combustion engines and electric motors have fundamentally different characteristics. But even to non-engineers, it is obvious that the throaty sound universally associated with sporting performance and engine power is now giving way to a source of propulsion that sounds more like a whistle. A high-frequency tonal sound of this kind is totally new to end customers' ears, and they may perceive it as unpleasant. Another factor is the absence of what is known as the 'masking effect” of the combustion engine while it is running – so other sounds now become more noticeable: noises from the road and tires, or from wind and ventilation, are now more clearly audible in vehicles with an electric motor, and this can negatively impact users' perception of the comfort level.