NVH Attribute - Roadmap for Competitive Advantage 2013-01-2851

In the automotive industry several attributes needs to be considered for the development of a new vehicle which are important for the customer, such as vehicle dynamics, driveability, fuel consumption, emissions, durability and NVH among many others. Sometimes these characteristics are conflicting and often need is to create a robust trade-off where the design space is sufficient to fit all of them in a vehicle that rhymes with the brand image and is appealing to the intended customer.

Automobile manufacturers try to meet the requirements with respect to quality and comfort and often, emotional, aspects supercede the previous objective, pragmatic demands. The satisfaction of the demands by the customers concerning comfort, driving pleasure, design appears dominant and functionality criteria sometimes takes a back seat. NVH is considered to be one of the key buy in factor among the above mentioned attributes.

This paper discusses on how the NVH aspect plays an vital role to get a competitive advantage over other vehicle aspects Moving from traditional approach of - ‘Test -Analyse -Fix’ to ‘Design Right First Time’ has been experienced. Integration of NVH into digital development, before prototypes are built. NVH Competences has been built to tackle tough NVH challenges.

The in-cabin noise of vehicles is critical towards the comfort and usability for the end user, and the sound package installed on the vehicle plays a vital role in determining the levels associated with this attribute, especially the high frequency content. The paper also discusses a case study on optimization on the sound package for performance, cost, and mass, for a truck. The approach uses a Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) based optimization. For vibration related aspects, reduction in steering wheel vibration of one of the premium truck has been discussed. It has been observed that NVH refinement of the products is becoming increasingly important in buying decision and can significantly give competitive edge to the products in market place.