Psychoacoustic Study on Contribution of Fan Noise to Engine Noise

There are more researches on engine fan noise control focusing on reducing fan noise level through optimizing fan structure, and a lot of research achievements have been obtained. However, researches on the effect of fan noise to engine noise quality are lacking. The influences of the effects of fan structure optimization on the engine noise quality are unclear. Thus, there will be a decline in fan noise level, but the deterioration of engine noise quality. Aiming at the above problems, in consideration of fan structure design and engine noise quality, an innovative method to analyze the contribution of fan noise to engine noise quality using psychoacoustic theory is proposed. The noises of diesel engine installing different cooling fans are measured by using the acoustic pressure method. The experiment results are regarded as analysis samples. The model of sensory pleasantness is used to analyze the sound quality of a diesel engine with different cooling fans. Results show that after installing 10-blade fan in medium diameter the sensory pleasantness at each test point is increased, and the increase is 13.53% on average, which indicate the improvement of the engine noise quality. In order to verify the psychoacoustical analysis, the subjective assessment is carried out. The test result shows the noise quality of engine installed 10-blade fan in medium diameter is most superior. 1/3 octave frequency spectrum analysis is used to study the reason of the improvement of engine noise quality. It is found that after installing proper cooling fan the sound pressure level below 400 Hz are obviously increased, the frequency assignment and spectral envelope are more reasonable and a proper cooling fan can optimize the spectrum structure of the engine noise. The psychoacoustic study is applied in the contribution of fan noise to engine noise, and the idea of engine sound quality improvement through the structure optimization is proposed.