Ford Building 'Driving Dynamics Lab' In Dearborn

From Ford Motor Company: As temperatures climb this summer and people start thinking of roasting marshmallows by the fire, Ford is taking steps toward roasting something else entirely, all in an effort to build a relaxing space into its vehicles no matter how high – or low – the numbers may go.

Sometimes, to ensure a car is as quiet and comfortable as it can possibly be, you have to isolate it from the world and bake it at 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Other times, you might just need to plunge it into subzero temperatures to find more squeaks and rattles. These extreme measures will soon be routine in Ford’s vehicle testing procedures.

As part of its Dearborn campus transformation, the company is building a new driving dynamics lab that will house a suite of sound labs to help Ford create quieter, more comfortable vehicles. Ford’s new driving dynamics lab on its product development campus will include an elastomer lab, an airborne sound lab, sound transmission loss suite and a high-pressure air leakage machine.

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The crown jewel of the sound suite will be a climate-adjustable, all-wheel-drive low frequency chassis dynamometer – the first chamber of its kind in the United States.

“This will be one of the most advanced testing rooms we’ve ever had,” said Dave Payne, Ford manager, vehicle development operations. “It will increase our testing capacity and help us deliver the most comfortable, optimal-sounding vehicles possible for our customers.”

In typical sound test chambers, sound waves bounce off walls and hit a vehicle multiple times, making it harder to get the most accurate readings. Ford’s new state-of-the-art chamber solves this problem with specially designed wall panels. More than a foot thick, these panels absorb low-frequency sounds down to 25 hertz – which is nearly silent for most people. Isolating the vehicle away from this level of extraneous sound lets engineers pinpoint vehicle-generated noises and vibrations.

The all-wheel-drive dyno at the center of the chamber, which can duplicate multiple road surfaces, allows Ford to run vehicles indoors up to 150 mph, helping engineers more accurately measure the amount of vehicle sound and vibration that enters the cabin when the vehicle is in motion.

Notably, vehicle materials can change characteristics at different temperatures – in cold weather, for example, tires can stiffen and become louder. The climate-adjustable chamber can test and isolate vehicle sound in temperatures ranging from minus 40 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing engineers to modify a vehicle for ideal sound in nearly any climate.

While the low-frequency chamber will be used primarily to deliver a quieter, more comfortable vehicle experience, it brings the added benefit of enabling Ford to adjust the volume on its electrified vehicles. Electrified vehicles can be tougher for pedestrians to hear as they are generally quieter.

Ford’s low-frequency lab will give engineers a better understanding of the noise electrified vehicles generate, helping them set the best sound level for those inside and outside of the vehicle. Scheduled for completion by the end of this year, Ford’s new driving dynamics lab is part of the company’s 10-year transformation of its more than 60-year-old Dearborn facilities, which includes co-locating 30,000 employees from 70 buildings into primarily two campus locations.

Photo courtesy of Ford Motor Company