Brüel & Kjær Sound & Vibration Measurement A/S, the world’s leading supplier of advanced technology for measuring and managing the quality of sound and vibration, has released a new version 2019.1 of its NVH Simulator. This significant release brings a greatly expanded ability to model electric and hybrid vehicles, along with over 200 other improvements and enhancements.
Image credit: Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik GmbH
Dave Bogema, Product Manager with Brüel & Kjær explains: “One of the challenges associated with electric vehicle sound is the phenomena of non-zero-crossing and “negative” orders. These arise from the operation of the power electronics controlling the motor. Typically, this manifests as tonal harmonics increasing and decreasing in frequency simultaneously, centred around a higher frequency tone. These harmonics have been difficult or impossible to extract from a measurement.”
With the 2019.1 release, not only can these tonal harmonics be extracted from a measurement, but they can also be resynthesized in real-time driver-in-the-loop simulations using the NVH Simulator software.
Sound and vibration - or NVH - are amongst the most important elements vehicle manufacturers use to convey character, refinement and a sense of quality to customers. The NVH Simulator software enables automakers to create and evaluate virtual NVH prototypes, saving millions on every vehicle programme - and shaving months off development time.