2012-28-0004

Trelleborg Innovative Solutions for Growing Problems of High-

Frequency Noise and Vibration
Enrico Kruse
Advanced Engineering Manager Trelleborg Automotive Europe
Bruno Carr
Dpty VP Global Engineering Trelleborg Automotive

ABSTRACT
In this paper, we will present a wide variety of Solutions
to manage growing problems of high-frequency noise
and vibration. These solutions go from very simple and
cost-efficient design features requiring very accurate
simulation and testing capabilities, to more sophisticated
products such a Active Vibration Control components.
INTRODUCTION
The Global Automotive Industry is requesting years
after years Continuous Improvements in Vehicle
Noise Vibration and Harshness Performance.
Therefore the demand for better performances for Power
Train Mounting System is constantly increasing and is
more and more focused on to High-Frequency Issues.
In this paper, we will present several cases related to
High-Frequency Issues that Trelleborg had to manage
and we will see that Trelleborg can deliver very Simple
and Cost-Efficient Solutions as well as Very
Performing Innovative Technology such as Active-
Vibration Control.

MAIN SECTION
1
ST
CASE DOBLE-ISOLATION
The 1
st
case is related to an European Top 3 OEM. The
concerned engine is a 6 Cylinders Engine with
Transversal Installation. The issue is 21
st
and 42
nd
order
Chain Whine Noise, during 2nd Gear Wide Open
Throttle. In below chart we can see 21
st
and 42
th
order
Contribution to Interior Noise (dB(A) vs rpm / Hz).


We can see that the 21
st
order has a contribution from
500 Hz to above 2.000 Hz.

The dynamic stiffness measurements completed on the
Trelleborg part show a resonance peak at 1.000 Hz.

This resonance peak and dynamic stiffness increase
after 1.800 Hz will couple with engine excitations and
therefore generate High Interior Noise as we could see
in the 1
st
picture. We can see below the coupling
frequency range between Engine Excitation and the Left-
Hand Side Dynamic Stiffness.


Copyright 201 SAE International 2
Downloaded from SAE International by Vellore Inst of Technology, Thursday, January 09, 2014 10:45:05 PM

In order to decrease significantly this coupling between
excitation an LHS Mount response, Trelleborg proposed
to re-design the part using a Double-Isolation Concept.
This concept is to add to the Rubber Main Spring the
1
st
isolation layer a 2
nd
isolation of the entire
component. Therefore the component is assembled to
the car body through rubber grommets which are press-
fitted into the Trelleborg part (see below picture).

With this Double-Isolation device, the entire component
has a vertical bounce mode close to 500 Hz.

The Dynamic Stiffness of the Part is now as shown in
the curve below. After 500 Hz vertical bounce mode
we can see a significant reduction of the dynamic
stiffness which means a significantly reduced
transmissibility.


The same Interior Noise Test shows consequently a very
important Interior Noise Reduction of up tp 8 dBA.



2
ND
CASE RUBBER FLAPS
The 2
nd
case is related to a European Top 3 OEM. The
concerned engine is a 6 Cylinder engine with
longitudinal i.e. North South installation. The target was
to improve the overall NVH Vehicle performance through
better gearbox mount dynamic stiffness. We conducted
joint technical workshop with the OEM for Idea
Generation and Knowledge Sharing.

The X-direction dynamic performance for original design
is shown in the attached picture.




Downloaded from SAE International by Vellore Inst of Technology, Thursday, January 09, 2014 10:45:05 PM

Dynamic Stiffness curve shows a peak value at 1.250 Hz
and the curve starts increasing after 900 Hz.

The basic idea to improve the X-direction Dynamic
Performance of Trelleborg parts is to add to the original
design some very simple additional rubber mass
Rubber Flaps - on the shear element (refer to attached
picture).


These Rubber Flaps behave as small Dynamic
Dampers and their shape can be tuned easily by FEA
Simulation to get targeted improvement for the mount
dynamic stiffness. The Trelleborg FEA team could model
and analyse with Abaqus Software - the Rubber
Flaps behaviour as shown below.


When we look at the Rubber Flaps 1
st
Modal Shape,
we can see their contribution in X-direction. Therefore
we achieve a new design w delivering a X-direction
dynamic stiffness with a significant improvement starting
at 800 Hz.


This improvement above 800 Hz far out-weights the
higher dynamic stiffness from 400 Hz to 800 Hz and
provides better overall vehicle NVH performance.
This design principle has been jointly patented by the
OEM and Trelleborg and it is applicable and applied on a
wide variety of PTMS.

This example and the following one demonstrate that
with some grams of rubber we can significantly improve
our part dynamic performance and that we can tune our
Design by FEA to meet customer expectations.

3
RD
CASE RUBBER RING
The 3
rd
case is related to an European Top 3 OEM. The
concerned engine is a 4 Cylinder Engine with transversal
installation. The PTMS is a 4 Point System with Left-
Hand Side (LHS), Lower Torque Rod (LTR), a Right-
Hand Side (RHS) and an Upper Torque Rod (UTR). The
issue was to improve the overall vehicle NVH
performances through better radial dynamic stiffness of
the Trelleborg Part. The Technical Issue was a potential
modal alignment between the RHS and the UTR.





Downloaded from SAE International by Vellore Inst of Technology, Thursday, January 09, 2014 10:45:05 PM
The X-direction dynamic stiffness fore-aft in the vehicle
- shows a main spring mode close to 800 Hz with a
potential modal alignment with the UTR mode in that
direction. The target was to separate these modes from
each other top prevent modal coupling. Therefore we
added a rubber ring to the main spring to shift the natural
frequency of 1
st
main spring mode. The attached picture
shows the effect of increasing this additional mass in two
steps, thus lowering the resonance frequency.

We can see at component level that we eliminated the
modal alignment risk and we were able to confirm this
with a Body-In-White measurement. The next pictures
shows the BIW measurement set-up with Upper Torque
Rod (blue) and Right-Hand Side (red). We measured the
ratio between BIW Acceleration and Engine Bracket
acceleration. This measurement is representative of the
RHS mount transmissibility.


We can see that we improved the transmissibility
between 700 Hz and 1.700 Hz and therefore improved
the total car NVH performance using a very simple cost-
efficient feature with some additional grams of rubber.

This 3
rd
case was showing the improvements we can
manage on a Hydromount to improve its transmissibility.
To support this we must have a) an accurate FEA
simulation process for Hydromount including glycol
contribution b) suitable test equipment to be able to
measure up to 2.000 Hz which is higher frequency than
standard test equipments available on the market can
achieve and c) Full-Capabilities for Vehicle NVH
Measurement.

Trelleborg developed a FEA simulation process based
on Abaqus Software to calculate dynamic stiffness up-to
2.000 Hz with good accuracy as we can see in below
correlation plot.






Downloaded from SAE International by Vellore Inst of Technology, Thursday, January 09, 2014 10:45:05 PM

Trelleborg also developed and built its own test
equipment for high-frequency dynamic stiffness
measurement up-to 2.000 Hz with or w/o preload.

Trelleborg has also full-capabilities for vehicle NVH
measurement including an anechoic chamber with a
dyno, a 2-post shaker and all necessary hardware and
software to measure and process vibration and noise
including sound quality.


4
TH
CASE ANTI-VIBRATION CONTROL
All these examples presented were using simple, cost-
efficient design features to manage high-frequency
issues. Trelleborg also developed a state-of-the-art
technology to manage Specific Vibration Issues at a
Specific Car Point across a Broad rpm Range.
We call it Active Vibration Control.


It enables us to improve Driver and Passenger
Comfort by reducing Various Customer Inputs such
as
- Seat Track Vibrations
- Steering Wheel Vibrations
- Global Interior Sound Level

AVC can also be potentially used for active tuning of
vehicle sound quality.

AVC produces controlled vibrations either with Open-
Loop or Closed-Loop Control - which target to cancel
engine vibrations (see attached scheme). Therefore we
can minimize Interior Noise and Vibrations without
any NVH compromise.


The AVC includes a) an Actuator Assembly b) an
Electronic Unit c) an Error Sensor in case of the Closed-
Loop System.


The AVC Control System has the following
characteristics. It can be integrated in the AVC
Component or be stand-alone.



Downloaded from SAE International by Vellore Inst of Technology, Thursday, January 09, 2014 10:45:05 PM

The basic components and force output of the AVC
Actuator are described in the next pictures. It should be
noted the design is completely scalable for a perfect
balance between NVH requirements, cost weight and
size.



Recently Trelleborg worked with a US OEM on a
demonstrator vehicle to quantify the global NVH
improvement we can achieve by using a Trelleborg AVC
System. In the picture below, we can see that we can
improve Interior Noise by 5 to 20 dB(A) depending on
engine rpm range. This is a significant improvement
which contributes to better comfort for the driver and the
passengers.




CONCLUSION
The Automotive Markets faces growing problems of
High-Frequency Noises and Vibrations as OEMs target
to improve overall car NVH Performances.
To manage these issues Trelleborg developed and
validated a variety of Tools and Processes to
Design-to-High-Frequency and can propose a
complete portfolio of Solutions from Simple Cost-
Efficient Design with Additional Rubber Masses
working as Dynamic Dampers to more Sophisticated
Products such as Active Vibration Control Systems.

REFERENCES
NA.

CONTACT
Enrico Kruse
Advanced Engineering Manager
Trelleborg Automotive Europe
Mob +49 1511 2232 550
enrico.kruse@trelleborg.com
www.trelleborg.com

ADDITIONAL SOURCES
NA
DEFINITIONS, ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS

LHS Mount : Left-Hand Side Mount
RHS Mount : Right-Hand Side Mount
UTR : Upper Torque Rod
LTR : Lower Torque Rod
NVH : Noise Vibration & Harshness
OEM : Original Equipment Manufacturer
FEA : Finite Element Analysis
BIW : Body-in-Whire
AVC : Active Vibration Control


Downloaded from SAE International by Vellore Inst of Technology, Thursday, January 09, 2014 10:45:05 PM
The Engineering Meetings Board has approved this paper Ior publication. It has
successIully completed SAE's peer review process under the supervision oI the session
organizer. This process requires a minimum oI three (3) reviews by industry experts.
All rights reserved. No part oI this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any Iorm or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission oI SAE.
ISSN 0148-7191
Positions and opinions advanced in this paper are those oI the author(s) and not
necessarily those oI SAE. The author is solely responsible Ior the content oI the paper.
6$( &XVWRPHU 6HUYLFH
Tel: 877-606-7323 (inside USA and Canada)
Tel: 724-776-4970 (outside USA)
Fax: 724-776-0790
Email: CustomerServicesae.org
6$( :HE $GGUHVV http://www.sae.org
3ULQWHG LQ 86$
Downloaded from SAE International by Vellore Inst of Technology, Thursday, January 09, 2014 10:45:05 PM