The trend towards increasing the efficiency and power of modern transport engines leads to an increase in the levels of emitted vibrations and noise. At the same time, the tendency to reduce the weight of their structures, coupled with the increasing use of composite materials, leads to a reduction in damping capacity. Conventional passive soundproofing means have limited capability for frequencies of less than 500Hz, and their increased use leads to an increase in the weight and volume of the soundproofing layer.

Conventional passive vibration dampers have the ability to absorb at very specific frequencies, while they are heavy on account of their metallic parts. This has the consequence that low noise and vibrations are not adequately addressed in modern transport modes.

The subject of the project is the creation of an integrated modular system of active reduction of a wide range of low-frequency vibrations and noise for use in transport and other related applications.

Active systems have many advantages over classic passive systems, such as the ability to adapt and address the entire range of frequencies, as well as low weight and volume.

The system is based on consumed actuator components of two types of intelligent (electrically active) materials:

• Piezoelectric materials capable of exerting large forces over a wide range of frequencies, with the main objective of controlling mechanical oscillations.
• Electroactive polymers, which will be used to create specialized speaker arrays for noise control.

Because of its distributed and varied structure, this system will be able to be integrated at all critical points in both new and existing modes of transport and reduce the noise and vibration level all the way down the noise from production , Dissemination to the final recipient. In particular, the system will include:

• Power-assisted mounting / insulating bases from piezo-electric components to insulate the vehicle structure from engine excitement.
• Distributed piezoelectric arrays integrated into the structure of the transport medium to reduce vibration transfer through structural vibrations.
• Distributed loudspeaker arrays of electrically active polymers designed to actively control the noise that will remain in the passenger compartment.

The system will be accompanied by

• A comprehensive computational modeling system covering the components of the transport medium, the acoustic behavior of the cabin, and the behavior of the electro-active elements, aiming not only at the computational analysis of the instrument itself but also optimizing the number and the position of both actuators and sensors.
• A single system of co-ordination and control of all electrically active elements, which incorporates both the classic oscillatory control functions and the active noise control functions. It will include both appropriate sensors (eg piezoelectric accelerometers and microphones) as well as real-time computing units.

This system will be used in:

• Aerial means of transport, with the emphasis on small aircraft (eg small business aircraft, small helicopters, helicopters)
• Terrestrial means of transport, with emphasis on heavy duty vehicles, commercial vehicles, special off-road vehicles.
• Sea transport means, with emphasis on passenger vessels and recreational craft.
• Other similar application environments, such as Structural and agricultural machinery, operating booths in special industries, etc.