Acoustical Characteristics of Air Filter in the Engine Intake System

엔진 흡기계 공기 여과기의 음향 특성

The air filter in engine intake system filters the dirt in the breathing air but also it attenuates the noise although the phenomenon has been regarded negligible. For the analysis of the acoustical performance of air filter, an acoustical model is suggested in this paper. The air filter consists of a porous filter element, which catches the particulate dirt, and a plastic filter box, which supports the filter element. Fibrous structure of the filter element is modeled as a micro-perforated panel using the flow resistivity and porosity. The pleated geometry of the filter element is modeled as two coupled ducts and a mathematical model is developed for the analysis of sound propagation. The filter box Is modeled as a rigid rectangular box. By combining two models, a 4-pole transfer matrix for the air filter is derived. The transmission loss calculated using the transfer matrix of the suggested model is compared with the measured data. Reasonably good agreement is observed. The result can be improved by considering the visco-thermal effect in modeling, in particular at a frequency range near the troughs of TL curve.