Active fan blade noise cancellation system

Abstract

An active noise cancellation device and method for reducing fan blade noise over a broad spatial area. The device comprises a microphone, a band pass filter, and audio amplifier, and a speaker array. The microphone captures the sound produced by the fan and converts it into an electrical signal. This electrical signal is input to the band pass filter which has a center frequency equal to product of fan speed and the number of fan blades which comprise the fan. The band pass filter attenuates any signals other than the primary harmonic sound produced by the rotating fan blades. The filtered signal from the band pass filter is input to the audio amplifier. The audio amplifier conditions the signal for input to the speaker array. Accordingly, each speaker in the array receives and outputs an audio signal of equal amplitude and phase as that produced by the rotating fan blades. The speaker array is mounted on or close to the fan hub in a symmetric pattern commensurate with the fan blade geometry. In general, the number of speakers which comprise the array corresponds to the number of fan blades. The position of the speaker array is adjusted until a maximum destructive interference occurs between the sound produced by the rotating fan blades and the speaker array. With the addition of a phase shifter, the active noise cancellation device can be utilized to provide noise cancellation for variable speed fans.