The automotive industry is currently seeing a change away from the classical combustion engine to novel drive train technologies. At the moment, research is focused mainly on electrified units. Cars with electric engines are more silent than their combustion engine counterparts. As a result, noise and vibrations, which used to be masked by the sound of the combustion engine, are now perceived more strongly by end users. The acoustic comfort, forming a significant part of the quality assessment and purchasing decision process, is affected in electrified cars.
One of the most significant noise sources can be the thermal management system with the compressor as most powerful auxilliary component. In conceptualising thermal management systems, the current state of the art is to consider only the thermodynamic properties of the individual components without taking their acoustic effects into account. Acoustic enhancements in later stages are costly and possibly ineffective. Taking acoustic properties into account in early development stages could aid in reducing annoyant sounds in the passenger cabin, that are due to the thermal management system.
To this end we are conducting a research project with the IfT and TLK-Thermo. The goal is the development of a novel mathematical-physical model library which allows the joint planning of acoustic and thermodynamic qualities of heat management systems. To do so, we are conducting experiments on the acoustic behaviour of thermal management systems, which will enable us to develop models that describe the relevant acoustic properties.
