WO2017128179A1

WO2017128179A1 - Noise insulation device on seat ventilation blower

Info

Publication number: WO2017128179A1
Application number: PCT/CN2016/072513
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chundong ZHANG; Yunzhu WU; Bertrand BOUTEILLER; Zhibin QIAN
Original assignee: Peugeot Citroen Automobiles Sa
Priority date: 2016-01-28
Filing date: 2016-01-28
Publication date: 2017-08-03
Also published as: CN108602457A

Abstract

A noise insulation device on a seat ventilation blower (3) of a motor vehicle is provided, the device comprises: a first component (1) covered on the blower and provided with an opening (4) communicated with an air intake (5) of the blower (3); and a second component (2) made of sound absorption material between the first component (1) and the blower (3). Said device is used to absorb motor noise and aerodynamic noise produced by the blower (3). The size of said device is small enough to be used in a ventilation seat base of the normal motor vehicle, which also fulfils the requirement of economic cost.

Description

NOISE INSULATION DEVICE ON SEAT VENTILATION BLOWER

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the domain of motor vehicles， more particularly， to a noise insulation device on a seat ventilation blower of a motor vehicle， which is used to absorb motor noise and aerodynamic noise produced by the ventilation blower.

Background of the Invention

As the global temperature has been rising up， an improved ride comfort including appropriate temperature inside the motor vehicle is required by more and more customers. In the hot season or tropical regions， even with traditional air-conditioning systems in the motor vehicle， the customers still complain that they do not feel comfortable on the cushion and the back area of the seat because their sweat cannot go out. Ventilation seats become more and more popular in this case. When the customers decide to buy a motor vehicle， the ventilation seat is an element sometimes taken into account.

However， the ventilation seat creates additional issues during the development. A main issue comes from the seat ventilation blower under the cushion. Generally， the ventilation blower comprises 53 blades and the maximum rotation speed is around 4500rpm， so that it is very noisy during runtime. NVH (Noise， Vibration and Harshness) study shows that the noise mainly comprises the aerodynamic noise at the maximum speed and the motor noise at the middle speed.

In order to decrease the motor noise， an existing solution is to use three-phase motor to replace the current single-phase motor. In order to decrease the aerodynamic noise， an existing solution is to use a bigger blower having lower rotation speed. But the bigger blower occupies more space and impacts on the cushion thickness which is related to seat comfort. As a result， there will be interference between the seat and the floor of the vehicle when the seat moves forward or rearward. Furthermore， the bigger blower is not economic.

The NVH study has shown that the change of the ventilation blower is not better enough to overcome the problems of the motor noise and the aerodynamic noise. Therefore， development and improvement that could provide high-performance of noise insulation would be appreciated.

Summary of the Invention

The object of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned problems. More particularly， the object of the present invention is to provide a noise insulation device on a seat ventilation blower of a motor vehicle， which can absorb or reduce the motor noise and the aerodynamic noise produced by the ventilation blower.

For these purposes， according to the present invention， a noise insulation device on a seat ventilation blower of a motor vehicle is provided， the noise insulation device comprising：

a first component covered on the blower and provided with an opening communicated with an air intake of the blower； and

a second component made of sound absorption material and disposed between the first component and the blower.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention， the first component is made of polymeric compound or metal.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention， the first component is made of PP (polypropylene) .

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention， the first component has a thickness of 2mm.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention， the second component has a thickness chosen from 1mm to 20mm. More particularly， the second component has a thickness of 4mm. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention， the second component is made of a material chosen from， cotton felt， glass felt， PET (polyethylene terephthalate) felt， PU (polyurethane) foam， PE (polyethylene) foam， glass fiber and glass woven.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention， the second component is shaped to follow the profile of the first component.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention， the center of the second component is compressed by a fixation component to prevent the center of the second component from touching a motor central axle of the blower. In some embodiments， the fixation component is adhesive， or at least one nail or fixation clip.

When being used in the current seat ventilation blower， the noise insulation device according to the present invention can significantly absorb or reduce the motor noise and the aerodynamic noise produced by the ventilation blower. In addition， the size of the noise insulation device is small enough to be used in a ventilation seat base of the normal motor vehicle， which also fulfils the requirement of economic cost.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Other advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings， in which：

Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a noise insulation device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention， wherein a second component is disposed between a first component and a blower；

Fig. 2 illustrates the result of a test for a front seat when the blower is set at the maximum air flow mode；

Fig. 3 illustrates the result of a test for a rear seat when the blower is set at the maximum air flow mode；

Fig. 4 illustrates the result of a test for the front seat when the blower is set at the middle air flow mode； and

Fig. 5 illustrates the result of a test for the rear seat when the blower is set at the middle air flow mode.

Description of Embodiments

As shown in Fig. 1， a noise insulation device according to the present invention is disposed on a seat ventilation blower. The noise insulation device comprises a first component 1 covered on the blower 3 and a second component 2 disposed between the first component 1 and the blower 3. Preferably， the first component 1 is provided with an opening 4 communicated with an air intake 5 of the blower 3. In this way， an air flow path of the blower 3 would not be closed.

In an embodiment shown in Fig. 1， the first component 1 can be configured as a cover made of polymeric compound， such as PP， wherein the edge of the cover is fixed on the top of the blower 3 by adhesive， such as glue. Due to the good insulation performance of PP， the cover can stop the noise produced by the blower 3 from coming out easily. Further， the cover is also served as a support of the second component 2 disposed therein. Ifthe second component 2 is disposed directly on the top of the blower 3， it cannot be fixed tightly and has a possibility of falling off. Therefore， the edge of the second component 2 is preferably fixed on the cover by the glue， for example.

It should be appreciated that the overall size of the noise insulation device would not impact on the seat comfort of the passenger. That is， the size of the noise insulation device would not significantly increase the overall size of the blower 3. Therefore， the first component 1 is configured to have a thickness of 2mm and have a round shape similar to the shape of the top of the blower 3. Alternatively， in any other variant embodiments， the first component 1 can be made of metal or other materials and its shape can also be different， for example， it can be rectangular or trapezoidal. It can be seen from Fig. 1 that， in this embodiment， the opening 4 is formed at the edge of the first component 1 as a notch. However， the position and shape of the opening 4 can be changed as required as long as it can meet the demand of communicating with the air intake 5.

Normally， the air intake 5 is arranged at the top of the blower 3 as shown in Fig. 1 to face the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle， and thus the noise produced by the blower 3 is radiated through the air intake 5 to the passenger compartment and influence the ride comfort of the passenger. The second component 2 is made of sound absorption material so as to provide an improved noise insulation performance. In some embodiments， the second component 2 can be made of anyone of cotton felt， glass felt， PET felt， PU foam， PE foam， glass fiber and glass woven. In the shown embodiment， the second component 2 is also configured as round shape to follow the profile of the first component 1， but other shapes can be taken into account as well. In order to obtain the better insulation performance， the second component 2 has a thickness chosen from 1mm to 20mm. It should be noted that a large thickness will impact on the level of the air flow. In other words， the more absorption material means the less air flow and the poor cooling performance of the seat ventilation blower. Upon the texts， the second component 2 preferably has a thickness of 4mm.

According to the present invention， the center of the second component 2 is compressed by a fixation component to prevent the center of the second component 2 from contacting a motor central axle of the blower 3 during the operation of the blower. For example， the fixation component can be adhesive， or at least one nail， fixation clip and the like in some embodiments.

Objects and advantages of the invention are further illustrated by the following examples， but the particular materials and amounts thereof recited in the examples， as well as other conditions and details， should not be construed to unduly limit the invention.

The following tests are made for the second component. In Table 1， PU foam and PET felt are tested in a bench test， and the ventilation seat subsystem is not assembled on a motor vehicle. Both of the two materials have a thickness of 2mm.

Table 1： Material test

The results in the Table 1 show that both of the two materials have an evident sound absorption effect and the insulation performance of the PET felt is a little better than that of the PU foam.

In Table 2， the PET felts of 2mm and 6mm are tested on a test bench.

Table 2： Thickness test on a test bench

The results in the Table 2 show that compared with 2mm PET felt， about 8 Kg/h (26％) of the air flow is lost when 6mm PET felt is used.

In Table 3， the PET felts of 2mm， 4mm and 6mm are tested， in which the ventilation seat subsystem is assembled on a motor vehicle.

Table 3： Thickness test on a motor vehicle

The results in the Table 3 show that the sound absorption performance of the 4mm PET felt and the 6mm PET felt is similar， so that the 4mm PET felt is the best choice to achieve the compromise between the cooling performance and the sound absorption performance.

Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 illustrate respectively the results of the tests for a front seat and for a rear seat when the blower 3 is set at the maximum air flow mode. The 4mm PET felt is chosen for the test. The graphs show the levels of the noise measured on the 1/3 octave frequency. The bar charts show the levels of the noise without any noise insulation device and the curves show the levels of the noise when the noise insulation device according to the present invention with a 4mm PET felt as the second component is covered on the blower 3. As shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3， the noise decreases by 4～6 dB from 1250Hz to 10000Hz for the front seat and from 1250Hz to 16000Hz for the rear seat.

Similarly， Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 illustrate respectively the results of the tests for the front seat and for the rear seat when the blower is set at the middle air flow mode. With the same material and the thickness of the second component 2， the noise decreases by 5～7 dB from 1250Hz to 10000Hz for the front seat and from 1250Hz to 16000Hz for the rear seat.

With the noise insulation device according to the present invention， the first component 1 can keep the noise inside thereof to some extent and the second component 2 can quickly absorb or reduce the noise， especially the motor noise and the aerodynamic noise produced by the blower 3. When driving the vehicle， the passenger would not be affected by the noise come from the blower or even would not feel the change of the size of the seat blower.

It will be understood that there are numerous modifications and variations of the illustrated embodiments described above. These modifications and variations fall within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

A noise insulation device disposed on a seat ventilation blower (3) of a motor vehicle， comprising：

a first component (1) covered on the blower (3) and provided with an opening (4) communicated with an air intake (5) of the blower； and

a second component (2) made of sound absorption material and disposed between the first component (1) and the blower (3) .
The noise insulation device according to claim 1， characterized in that the first component (1) is made of polymeric compound or metal.
The noise insulation device according to claim 2， characterized in that the first component (1) is made of PP.
The noise insulation device according to claim 2 or 3， characterized in that the first component (1) has a thickness of 2mm.
The noise insulation device according to claim 1， characterized in that the second component (2) has a thickness chosen from lmm to 20mm.
The noise insulation device according to claim 5， characterized in that the second component (2) has a thickness of 4mm.
The noise insulation device according to claim 1， characterized in that the second component (2) is made of a material chosen from cotton felt， glass felt， PET felt， PU foam， PE foam， glass fiber and glass woven.
The noise insulation device according to claim 1， characterized in that the second component (2) is shaped to follow the profile of the first component (1) .
The noise insulation device according to claim 1， characterized in that the center of the second component (2) is compressed by a fixation component to prevent the center of the second component (2) from contacting a motor central axle of the blower (3) .
The noise insulation device according to claim 9， characterized in that the fixation component is adhesive， or at least one nail or fixation clip.