Concurrent mechatronic design approach for active control of cavity noise

Abstract

Active control is a potential solution to many noise and vibration problems for improving the low-frequency performance. Cavity noise reduction as encountered for instance in aircraft cabins and vehicle interiors is a typical example. However, the conventional design of these active solutions may lead to suboptimal products, since the interaction between the vibro-acoustic plant dynamics and control dynamics is usually not considered. A proper way to design such active systems would be considering control and plant parameters concurrently. To cope with this approach, a methodology to derive a fully coupled mechatronic model that deals with both the vibro-acoustic plant dynamics as well as the control parameters is proposed. The inclusion of sensor and actuator models is investigated, since it contributes to the model accuracy as it can confer frequency, phase or amplitude limitations to the control performance. The proposed methodology provides a reduced state-space model derived from a fully coupled vibro-acoustic finite element model. Experimental data on a vibro-acoustic vehicle cabin mock-up are used to validate the model reduction procedure. Regarding noise reduction, optimization results are presented considering both vibro-acoustic plant features, such as thicknesses, and control parameters, such as sensor and actuator placement and control gains. A collocated sensor/actuator pair is considered in a velocity feedback control strategy. The benefits of a concurrent mechatronic design when dealing with active structural–acoustic control solutions are addressed, illustrated and experimentally validated.