Silicon whisker pressure sensors for noise reduction in silencers

The article contains the results of research and development of a system for active noise damping of an automobile engine. The main source of noise from a running engine is exhaust noise. The frequency spectrum of this sound has a pronounced low-frequency character, which explains its weak absorption when the sound is propagating in open spaces. A possible solution to this problem is to use an active system for suppressing the resonant frequencies of the muffler using strain gauges to read the primary information about the dynamic processes that determine the noise level. It is for such active noise suppression systems that the authors develop a high-temperature pressure sensor based on strain gauges made of silicon whiskers. Such strain gauges have unique mechanical properties, are characterized by high sensitivity and the ability to operate in various amplitude-frequency and temperature ranges up to 500℃. The study of the dynamic characteristics of pressure sensors made it possible to confirm the quality of its electromechanical part and determine that the measurement error of the sensor is ±0.5 in the temperature range of 20 to 500℃. The active noise suppression system is a buffer tank whose volume changes in accordance with signals from pressure sensors. This design makes it possible to dynamically change the resonant frequency of the buffer capacitance depending on the operating modes of the engine, which leads to a decrease in its noise characteristics. Using the developed additional resonator chamber with a variable volume in the exhaust muffler of an internal combustion engine made it possible to reduce resonance phenomena in the zone of low-frequency pulsations of the exhaust gas pressure from 57 to 43 Hz with a frequency drift in the range of 310 to 350 Hz, which significantly improved its noise characteristics.