Automotive interior acoustic testing and development environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11470432-B2
Application number	US-201916659805-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2019
Priority date	Nov 6, 2018
Publication date	Oct 11, 2022
Grant date	Oct 11, 2022

Abstract

A vehicle cabin simulator module provides flexible reconfiguration of transducer locations for evaluating acoustic performance in a vehicle design at a prototyping stage. A frame lattice defines a plurality of cavities around an interior space. A plurality of transducer assemblies are mounted in selected ones of the cavities, each assembly having a faceplate mounting a transducer for acoustic coupling with the interior space. Blank panels are mounted in other selected cavities to shutter the respective cavities. A covering liner is applied to an inner side of the frame lattice. Wiring is provided to interconnect the transducers with a signal processor. The frame lattice further defines a door section radially movable for enclosing the interior space at a closed position and for providing ingress and egress to the interior space at an open position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle passenger cabin simulator module, comprising:
a frame lattice defining a plurality of cavities around an interior space;
a plurality of transducer assemblies mounted in selected ones of the cavities, each assembly having a faceplate mounting a transducer for acoustic coupling with the interior space;
blank panels mounted in other selected cavities to shutter the respective cavities;
a covering liner applied to an inner side of the frame lattice; and
wiring to interconnect the transducers with a signal processor;
wherein the frame lattice defines a door section radially movable for enclosing the interior space at a closed position and for providing ingress and egress to the interior space at an open position.

2. The module of claim 1 wherein the frame lattice is comprised of a plurality of vertical panels and a plurality of horizontal panels as a reconfigurable orthogonal grid adapted for adding and removing selected panels to modify a size and shape of the interior space and the placements of the cavities.

3. The module of claim 1 wherein the frame lattice includes a rollaway section having a wheeled frame and configured to receive a plurality of transducer baffles and blanks at predetermined positions.

4. The module of claim 1 wherein the covering liner is comprised of a fabric layer mounted over a sculpted shell, and wherein a plurality of mounting posts extend from the frame lattice to connect to the shell.

5. The module of claim 1 wherein a plurality of the cavities defined by the frame lattice have a common profile so that the faceplate can be mounted in any one of the plurality of cavities.

6. The module of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of light transmissive panels mounted to the inner side of the frame lattice adjacent the covering liner to simulate windows of the passenger cabin.

7. The module of claim 1 wherein the transducer assemblies comprise at least one loudspeaker and at least one microphone.

8. The module of claim 7 further comprising a signal processor for exchanging audio signals with the loudspeaker and microphone.

9. The module of claim 1 further comprising at least one floor rail for sliding the door section between the closed position and the open position.

10. The module of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of reconfigurable seats mounted in the interior space to simulate desired passenger locations for interacting with the transducer assemblies.

11. A method of testing acoustic performance of a plurality of sound transducers in a simulated vehicle passenger cabin, comprising the steps of:
assembling a frame lattice defining a plurality of cavities around an interior space, wherein the frame lattice defines a door section radially movable for enclosing the interior space at a closed position and for providing ingress and egress to the interior space at an open position, and wherein the frame lattice is comprised of a plurality of vertical panels and a plurality of horizontal panels as a reconfigurable orthogonal grid adapted for adding and removing selected panels to modify a size and shape of the interior space and the placements of the cavities;
mounting a plurality of transducer assemblies in selected ones of the cavities, each assembly having a faceplate mounting a transducer for acoustic coupling with the interior space;
mounting a plurality of blank panels in other selected cavities to shutter the respective cavities;
mounting a covering liner to an inner side of the frame lattice; and
interconnecting the transducers with a signal processor; and
reproducing audio signals exchanged between the signal processor and the transducer to simulate a corresponding configuration of the passenger cabin in a vehicle.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of:
mounting a plurality of seats in the interior space to simulate desired passenger locations for interacting with the transducer assemblies.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of:
mounting a plurality of light transmissive panels to the inner side of the frame lattice adjacent the covering liner to simulate windows of the passenger cabin.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Norton Alan
• Abraham Chacko
• Pan Olivia S

Classifications

• G09B23/14

  for acoustics · CPC title

• G01M7/00 Primary

  Vibration-testing of structures; Shock-testing of structures (G01M9/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04R29/004

  for microphones (H04R29/007 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G09B9/00

  Simulators for teaching or training purposes (for the use of weapons F41; computing aspects G06; {protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality H04L67/131}) · CPC title

• G01M99/008

  by doing functionality tests · CPC title