It looks a bit like a racing game in a video arcade, but the driver wears headphones. The object of this high-tech drive down the digital highway? Perfect the sound quality inside a future Ford vehicle long before the first prototype is ever built.
Ford Motor Company is the first North American automaker to utilise the Virtual Vehicle Sound Simulator to fine-tune sound inside a vehicle’s cabin, part of a continuing effort by Ford to deliver industry-leading quietness and refinement with minimal noise, vibration and harshness.
The Virtual Vehicle Sound Simulator can shave valuable time and cost out of the vehicle development process. Calibrating cabin sound in the virtual world reduces the amount of real-world testing needed in the wind tunnels and on the test track once vehicles reach the prototype stage.
The new Virtual Vehicle Sound Simulator technology gives Ford sound engineers capabilities similar to their visual counterparts, who are doing groundbreaking work with virtual reality and animation software – creating immersive experiences that allow designers to virtually sit in vehicles during the computer design process.
With the audio technology, engineers also predict sounds based on digital drawings of the vehicle and then combine those sounds into a realistic simulation. For the first time, engineers can hear what a vehicle would sound like under different road conditions, at various speeds and in a range of gear and throttle conditions as the simulated vehicle shifts, accelerates and decelerates.
Previously, Ford engineers would test the sound quality of specific components one at a time, playing back and measuring the sound of each component under a single drive condition. Now engineers can hear the way a vehicle’s interior sounds in real-time under dozens of drive conditions simply by clicking through them. Ford engineers also can make comparisons against competitive vehicles with a simple click of the mouse.
Ford is now able to eliminate mistakes up front, reduce the need for prototyping, shorten the time to market, and produce a product with improved interior quietness, while providing vehicle sounds that are more engaging for the customer.
A number of improvements in sound-deadening technologies and materials on Ford vehicles help block the noise outside. Advancements in materials, such as expandable foam pellets strategically placed in the doors, headliner and pillars, can improve sound-deadening efficiency by up to 20 percent. Interiors are quieted further with hood insulators, inner and outer dash absorbers, sound-absorbing carpet, improved ceiling baffles, additional sound absorption in the trunk, and new interior and headliner materials.
Other ways Ford engineers build interior quietness into the 2010 lineup include:
Acoustic laminated windshields that feature a layer of sound-absorbent vinyl sandwiched between two sheets of glass; Improved body/door sealing to reduce wind noise; Expandable stuffers in the fenders and pillars; Constrained layer damping material on the entire floor to reduce road noise, especially generated by the tyres; A re-tuned air induction system for a more refined powertrain and sound.
Adapted from Auto123
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