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In the design of recreational vehicle alternators, a particular challenge arises from marketing and engineering teams' desire to ensure that their products meet “best in class” sound quality characteristics. Furthermore, it is desirable to know these characteristics in measurable engineering terms in the product design stage, preferably before prototypes are built and tested. However, the aim of this paper is to investigate experimentally the electromagnetic sound quality characteristics of a vehicle alternator with the view of determination. For this reason, a special test rig was designed to simulate the alternator electromagnetic noise source. The results indicate that significant information can be obtained for this source. This can be an effective way to control this generated noise and consequently improve the vehicle alternator sound quality and look promising.

Plug-in hybrid vehicles connect to the power grid while parked so they can operate on electricity from the grid as well as on petroleum-based fuel. This distinguishes them in a fundamental way from the plug-less hybrid vehicles currently produced or planned by auto-marker which rely 100% on the petroleum-based fuel. A plug-in hybrid can reduce emissions. However, the aim of this paper is to investigate experimentally the aerodynamic noise performance of a plug-in hybrid vehicle induction motor with the view of evaluation. For this reason, a special test rig was developed to simulate the motor aerodynamic noise source. The results indicate that significant information can be obtained for this source. This can be an effective way to control this generated noise and consequently reduce the vehicle interior and exterior noises and look promising.

Squeal from brakes is a problem in the automotive industry and large efforts are made to understand the squeal tendencies. The approach taken is mainly to change the design of the caliper, fine-tune the brake pad material and finally to trim the introducing shims on the backside of the pads. Despite these efforts still no general solutions exist. To advance the situation, a deeper understanding of the actual source of excitation of the sound in the friction interface is needed. However, in the present investigation the surfaces modifications of brake disc and pad have been tested with respect to the understanding properties. The surfaces modifications are slotted pad material and coated disc. All tests have been made in a brake test stand consisting of a complete front wheel corner of a vehicle. The changes have resulted in a significant understand of the generated noise.

Recently, the control of traffic flow has been proposed using several types of criteria (e.g. minimum-time control, minimum fuel control and so on). Most recently, an environmental noise pollution problem caused by the road traffic is being aggravated more and more by the consolidation and expansion of roadway system particularly in urban areas. However, the objective of this paper is to control road traffic flow by regulating traffic noise propagation in an urban area in Cairo city. The results of traffic noise prediction obtained by trending of the experimental data collecting by systematic noise measurement and the evaluation of the traffic noise which is in close connection with physical parameters of traffic flow and noise propagation characteristics is presented. The analysis of road traffic flow noise control is based on the mixed integer non-linear programming technique, where the optimal control strategy is used.

Many basic studies were conducted to discover the main reason for squeal occurrence in both disc and drum brake systems. As, it is well-known that the squealed brake system is more effective than the non-squealed brake system and it is also a common discomfort. So, cancellation of the squeal is not preferable, however, elimination of the brake squeal is a favorable. An approach to study the drum brake squeal is presented based mainly on the Finite Element Method (FEM) representation. The brake system model is based also on the model information extracted from finite element models for individual brake components. This finite element method (FEM) was used to predict the mode shape and natural frequency of the brake system after appropriate verification of FEM.

Squeal of disc brakes is considered as a main source of discomfort for passengers. Typically 1 to 4 kHz noise is considered low frequency squeal and ≻8 kHz noise is considered high frequency squeal. It is a significant problem in passenger vehicles for the comfort of the passengers and a significant financial problem for industry too. Many manufacturers of brake pad materials spend up to fifty percent of their engineering budgets on noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) issues. Squeal noise is strongly correlated to the squeal index and degree of instability of the brake system assembly. Decreasing this squeal noise to some extent during braking is very important matter for the comfort of passengers. So, a mathematical prediction model of 10-degree-of-freedom has been developed to study the effect of different brake components parameters on the degree of instability and squeal index of the brake system.

The influence of the pad contact surface deformation for vehicle brakes on its frictional behavior and friction induced noise is presented in this paper. Friction composite samples of organic binder-type brake pad have been curried out at 17 MPa and 180 °C for heavy-duty applications. However, samples with different surface shapes (solid, drilled and grooved) have been formed and tested tribologically to satisfy suitable friction coefficient at low noise level. A FAST machine was used to find out the accurate friction response at steady frictional moment. Friction acoustic noise has been carried out on the test machine using the sound pressure level meter. Analyses of the obtained results showed that the feature of the pad material surface has a significant influence on the brake frictional stability and noise emission. The results also confirmed that; adding a groove to the brake lining in heavy-duty vehicles gives a better brake performance and hence it is highly recommended.