Application of theoretical modeling to multichannel active control of cooling fan noise

Multichannel active control has been applied to the global reduction of tonal noise from a cooling fan. In order to achieve consistent far-field attenuation of multiple harmonics of the blade passage frequency (BPF) of the fan, an analytical model has been applied to the control system in order to determine appropriate transducer configurations. The results of the modeling show that the additional global reduction possible by locating acoustically compact secondary sources coplanar with a compact primary source rapidly lessens as the number of symmetrically placed sources is increased beyond three. Furthermore, the model suggests that there are locations in the extreme near field of the sources that can be considered ideal for the minimization of far-field radiated power. Experiments carried out show that a four-channel control system is more effective than a two-channel system at achieving far-field attenuations, especially at the higher harmonics of the BPF for the fan tested. In addition, greater far-field mean-square pressure attenuations are achieved with the error microphones located along the calculated ideal regions than for nonideal placement.     

Performance of a snoring noise control system based on an active partition

This paper proposes an active partition that can be placed between a snorer and a non-snorer on a bed to reduce the snoring noise around the non-snorer ears by integrating a rigid finite size passive partition with a two channel active noise control system. The noise reduction performance of the passive partition on a bed with a headboard is studied first, where the effects of the height and the width of the partition are discussed. Due to the limited partition size, the attenuation for the low-frequency diffracted noise is not sufficient, so two loudspeakers are proposed to be installed on the partition as the secondary sources to increase the overall noise attenuation. Both numerical simulations and experiments are carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed integrated snoring noise control system, and the results show that the proposed active partition can achieve over 10 dB noise attenuation at non-snorer ears in the 1/3 octave bands from 80 to 1000 Hz.     

Noise immunity of a planar array of combined receivers

The far-field noise immunity of a passive direction-finding planar array consisting of combined receivers is considered for different signal processing algorithms. It is shown that there is no point in using combined receivers in arrays with an acoustic baffle.     

The effect of double heterojunction waveguide parameters on the far field emission patterns of lasers

A model of double-heterostructure lasers is developed which gives the far-field pattern of the laser in terms of such waveguide parameters as the active region width and the dielectric constants of the layers forming the waveguide. For symmetrical waveguides an explicit expression is given. Experimental results are presented which show a close agreement between the theory and the measured far-field patterns. By adding an extra passive layer to the conventional double heterostructure laser a structure is produced in which the measured half-power width of the far-field distribution is reduced from 55° to 32°. It is shown in this case that the model is useful for estimating the near-field pattern from the measured far-field pattern and hence determining the unknown waveguide parameters.     

A study of sound intensity control for active noise barriers

Active noise control systems have been applied to increase the insertion loss of noise barriers where the squared sound pressure or the total acoustic energy density is used as the cost function in previous works. The absolute value of the mean active sound intensity is chosen as the cost function to obtain extra sound insertion loss in the dark area of a hybrid active noise barrier system in this note. The strategy of minimizing the near-field sound intensity at discrete locations along the edge of the passive barrier is shown to be able to provide better far-field noise reduction than that of minimizing the squared sound pressure control. Both numerical simulations and off-line experiments are carried out with a three-channel demonstration system, where the locations of the secondary sources and the error sensors are optimized and comparisons are made between the extra sound pressure attenuation of the sound intensity control and that of the squared sound pressure control.     

A method for calculating active feedback system to provide vertical position control of plasma in a tokamak

In designing tokamaks, the maintenance of vertical stability of plasma is one of the most important problems. Systems of the passive and active feedbacks are applied for this purpose. Role of the passive system consisting of a vacuum vessel and passive coils is to suppress fast MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) instabilities. The active feedback system is applied to control slow motions of plasma. The objective of the paper is to investigate two successive problems, solution of which allows to determine the possibility of controlling plasm a motions. One of these is the problem of vertical stability under the assumption of ideal conductivity of plasma and passive stabilizing elements. The problem is solved analytically and on the basis of the obtained solution a criterion of MHD-stability is formulated. The other problem is connected with the control of plasma vertical position with active feedback system. Calculation of feedback control parameters is formulated as an optimization problem and an approximate method to solve the problem is suggested. Numerical simulations are performed with parameters of the T-15M tokamak in order to justify the suggested method.      

Multiaspect Aperture Synthesis

A novel kind of aperture synthesis, called the multiaspect aperture synthesis, is proposed for far-field reconstruction of a moving noise source from near-field measurements by a receiving array of finite length comparable with the source length. This kind of aperture synthesis is based on certain characteristics of the near-field spatial correlation function which is sensitive to the current locations of the source and the receiving system. The statistical characteristics of the reconstructed far-field pattern, as well as the effects of noise spectral power density bandwidth and the source velocity on the reconstructed source characteristics are studied. The corresponding numerical simulations are performed.     

Coherent combination of two ytterbium fiber amplifier based on an active segmented mirror

To control the phase noise of two ytterbium fiber amplifiers, a coherent combination system based on an active segmented mirror (ASM) has been established in our laboratory. The ASM is controlled by a feed back control loop on the basis of a Peak Rate (PR) algorithm which is realized on a DSP + FPGA hardware control board. Experimental results indicate that when the control loop is off, the far-field interference pattern is blurred and dynamic, while when it is on, the far-field beams interference pattern achieves clear and stable. At two different output powers, the contrasts of the interference stripes are improved from 7% to 19% and 8% to 28% respectively.     

A passive inverse filter for Green's function retrieval

Passive methods for the recovery of Green's functions from ambient noise require strong hypotheses, including isotropic distribution of the noise sources. Very often, this distribution is nonisotropic, which introduces bias in the Green's function reconstruction. To minimize this bias, a spatiotemporal inverse filter is proposed. The method is tested on a directive noise field computed from an experimental active seismic data set. The results indicate that the passive inverse filter allows the manipulation of the spatiotemporal degrees of freedom of a complex wave field, and it can efficiently compensate for the noise wavefield directivity.     

Slat noise modeling and prediction

This paper presents a model for aircraft slat noise prediction, based on the theory of aerodynamic sound generation and the first principles of source flow physics. Starting from the theory of acoustic analogy, the noise from the high Reynolds number and low Mach number flows in the slat cove region is formulated as a general solution by the method of dimensional analysis, far-field asymptotic expansion and statistical modeling. The solution relates the far-field noise spectrum to the surface pressure statistics, the characteristic length and time scales in the surface pressure statistics and Green's function that accounts for the sound-flow coupling and propagation effects. The general solution is then used to extract scaling laws and correlation models for the individual functional dependences between the far-field noise and various parameters, including the slat noise spectral shape, its Mach number dependence and its far-field directivity. The simple scaling laws and correlation models are validated by test data and serve as building blocks to construct a slat noise prediction model.     

充液管路系统流体声与结构声的复合有源控制

采用基于谐频自适应控制算法的有源消声与消振系统对充液管路系统突出的低频线谱噪声进行有源控制实验研究.建立了泵水循环管路实验系统,在管路中安装有源消声器对流体声进行控制,在管路出口障板上采用8×8通道有源消振系统控制结构声辐射。开展的低频线谱噪声与振动有源控制实验结果表明,在50~200 Hz频带内,通过结合有源噪声与振动控制可在多数频点取得10 dB以上的降噪效果。针对该实验系统,通过分别控制流体声和结构声分析了两者的贡献.实验结果验证了有源消声与消振系统具有较好的降噪性能,各频点处流体声与结构声占比情况不同,需要综合控制流体声与结构声才可以取得显著的降噪效果。      

Hybrid passive/active absorbers for flow ducts

A new type of acoustic liner developed for broadband noise reduction in flow ducts is considered in this paper. It combines passive absorbent properties of a porous layer and active control at its rear face. The complete design procedure of this hybrid passive/active liner is developed here. The passive part is first considered with the determination of a suitable porous material and the cut-off frequency separating the active low frequency regime from the passive high frequency one. The control system is then presented: a digital adaptive feedback control is performed independently cell by cell, allowing an easy subsequent increase of the liner surface. The entire optimization process has been successfully applied to a laboratory flow duct: both predictions and measurements show the interest of the hybrid liner to reduce the noise radiation.     

Directional cancellation of acoustic noise for home window applications

This paper focuses on an active noise cancellation system for a home window using a transparent acoustic transducer. In a traditional active noise cancellation system, direct microphone measurements are used for reference and error signals. In the case of the window application, both external and internal sound would be picked up by such microphones. This leads to adverse effects on the performance of the active noise cancellation system and also to distortion of the internal sound. To address this problem, a wave separation technique is proposed to separate the internal and external components of sound. The wave separation algorithm is based on the use of two microphones and an algorithm that separates components based on their direction of travel. An active noise cancellation system is implemented using wave separation for both the error and reference signal measurements. The performance of the resulting ANC system is experimentally tested in a cabin equipped with a window and results are presented. Experimental results show that the new system is able to accurately preserve desired internal sound while cancelling uncorrelated external noise.     

复杂声学环境中人耳附近空间有源降噪研究综述

复杂声学环境中人耳附近空间降噪是有源噪声控制研究的重要课题,目前采用的主要方法为有源降噪头靠(AHR)和虚拟声屏障(VSB).本文简述AHR与VSB的发展历史和研究现状,介绍其物理原理和设计方法,评述其在实际应用中的优缺点,讨论了目前存在的问题与未来相关的研究方向.已有理论、数值仿真和实验研究验证了相关技术在人耳附近空间产生静区的可行性. AHR系统需要较少控制源,系统相对简单易实现,但静区范围较小,结合虚拟传声器技术和人头跟踪技术后可实现随人头移动的静区,降噪频率可达中高频; VSB产生的静区范围较大,但控制源个数较多,系统复杂和成本高,可通过代价函数和控制源优化,以及主被动混合控制技术来提高有效降噪频率范围和减少控制源个数.     

Design and experimental tests of active control barriers for low-frequency stationary noise reduction in urban outdoor environment

Active noise control (ANC) techniques are based on the emission of an antiphase signal in order to cancel the noise produced by a primary source. ANC has been successfully applied especially for reducing noise in confined environments, such as headphones and ducts. In this study, we present an application of ANC concepts to the design of an anti-noise barrier for an outdoor environment and its experimental testing. Even though passive techniques are effective in noise reduction at middle-high frequencies, they become less efficient at low frequencies (below 300 Hz) due to the limited dimensions of commonly deployable barriers. In this paper, we analyze the properties of a low-cost active noise system able to efficiently operate on stationary, almost pure-tone, low-frequency noise, such as that produced by electrical transformers and reactors in power and transformation plants. A prototype has been implemented and on-the-field experimental tests have been carried out. The results (confirmed also by numerical simulations) demonstrate a remarkable efficiency in the far field, with a reduction up to 15 dB with respect to the absence of the ANC system.     

Active and passive structural acoustic control of the smart beam

Structural noise and vibrations control can be achieved using two strategies: active - with feed-forward controller, a sensor and an actuator [1-3] or passive, by piezoelectric shunt damping [4-8], when a piezoelectric transducer will act as a sensor and an actuator. Potential applications of these structures are investigated. Two numerical (FEM) models based on the active and passive damping strategies are compared. The numerical solutions were confirmed experimentally.     

Novel active noise-reducing headset using earshell vibration control

Active noise-reducing (ANR) headsets are available commercially in applications varying from aviation communication to consumer audio. Current ANR systems use passive attenuation at high frequencies and loudspeaker-based active noise control at low frequencies to achieve broadband noise reduction. This paper presents a novel ANR headset in which the external noise transmitted to the user's ear via earshell vibration is reduced by controlling the vibration of the earshell using force actuators acting against an inertial mass or the earshell headband. Model-based theoretical analysis using velocity feedback control showed that current piezoelectric actuators provide sufficient force but require lower stiffness for improved low-frequency performance. Control simulations based on experimental data from a laboratory headset showed that good performance can potentially be achieved in practice by a robust feedback controller, while a single-frequency real-time control experiment verified that noise reduction can be achieved using earshell vibration control.     

Numerical simulation of passive-active cells with microperforated plates or porous veils

The main goal of this work consists in the numerical simulation of a multichannel passive-active noise control system based on devices involving a particular kind of cell. Each cell consists of a parallelepipedic box with all their faces rigid, except one of them, where a porous veil or a rigid micro-perforated plate (MPP) is placed. Firstly, the frequency response of a single passive cell is computed, when it is surrounded by an unbounded air domain (an anechoic room) and harmonic excitations are imposed. For the numerical solution of this three-dimensional problem, the original unbounded domain is truncated by using exact perfectly matched layers (PML) and the resulting partial differential equation (PDE) is discretized with a standard finite element method. Secondly, the passive cells are transformed into active by assuming that the opposite face to the passive one may vibrate like a piston in order to reduce noise. The corresponding multichannel active control problem is stated and analyzed in the framework of the optimal control theory. A numerical method is proposed to assess and compare different control configurations.     

An indirect hybrid sound transmission loss controller

The control of sound transmission through panels is an important noise control problem in the aerospace, aeronautical, and automotive industries. The trend towards using lightweight composite materials that have lower sound insulation performance is a negative factor regarding low frequency transmission loss. Double-panel partitions with the gap filled with sound absorption materials are often employed to improve the sound insulation performance with reduced added weight penalty. However, in the low frequency range, the strong coupling between the panels through the air cavity and mechanical paths may greatly reduce the sound transmission performance, making it even lower than the performance of a single panel in some frequency ranges. In this work, an experimental investigation of a new kind of hybrid (active/passive) acoustic actuator is presented. The idea consists of replacing the acoustic absorption material by a hybrid actuator aiming at improving the transmission loss at low frequencies without altering the passive attenuation. A prototype of the system is tested in a plane wave acoustic tube setup. Different kinds of SISO feedforward control implementations were used to attenuate the sound power transmitted through the hybrid active–passive panel using an error microphone or a particle velocity sensor placed downstream with respect to the sample panel. Measurement results of the transmission loss with active and hybrid attenuation are presented and discussed.     

Effective potential method for active particles

ABSTRACT

We investigate the steady-state properties of an active fluid modelled as an assembly of soft repulsive spheres subjected to Gaussian coloured noise. Such a noise captures one of the salient aspects of active particles, namely the persistence of their motion and determines a variety of novel features with respect to familiar passive fluids. We show that within the so-called multidimensional unified coloured noise approximation, recently introduced in the field of active matter, the model can be treated by methods similar to those employed in the study of standard molecular fluids. The system shows a tendency of the particles to aggregate even in the presence of purely repulsive forces because the combined action of coloured noise and interactions enhances the effective friction between nearby particles. We also discuss whether an effective two-body potential approach, which would allow to employ methods similar to those of density functional theory, is appropriate. The limits of such an approximation are discussed.