Study on Characteristics and Control of Aerodynamic Noise of a High-Speed Centrifugal Air Compressor for Vehicle Fuel Cells

Abstract

As the main noise source in the hydrogen fuel cell system, the noise level of the centrifugal air compressor greatly affects the comfort of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. For reducing the noise level of centrifugal air compressors, the noise characteristics and control of a high-speed two-stage compressor prototype are studied in this paper. Firstly, the near-field noise measurement, along with the independent component analysis, is carried out to identify the noise source of the developed compressor. Results showed that the “buzz-saw” noise at the rotating fundamental frequency and its low order harmonic frequency in the aerodynamic noise is prominent in the noise spectrum. Thus, the aerodynamic noise characteristics are predicted and analyzed using the CFD–BEM coupling aeroacoustic calculation model. Based on the analysis results, a noise control method coupling the structure optimization and perforated muffler is proposed. The results show that the sound pressure level of the air compressor at 1 m away from the surface is reduced by 4.1 dBA after the structural optimization. A perforated muffler applied in the pipe system of the air compressor can accomplish a reduction of 5.8 dBA in the sound pressure level of the air compressor by impeding the noise transmission on the path. With the coupled noise control methods above, the sound pressure level of the air compressor is reduced from 78.8 dBA to 68.9 dBA under the rated condition.