Abstract
BSH, a global home appliance manufacturer, sought to develop washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators, and other appliances with lower sound and vibration levels while ensuring that product sound matched customer expectations. The BSH Vibrations and Acoustics Department in Košice, Slovakia, needed to address acoustic and vibration performance early in the product development cycle, reduce physical prototype testing, and accurately validate simulation results. By implementing Siemens’ Simcenter 3D and Simcenter Testlab solutions, BSH established a connected digital twin, simulation, and physical testing environment for advanced sound quality engineering. The solution enabled BSH to analyze vibro-acoustic characteristics, identify sources of noise and vibration, optimize designs before manufacturing prototypes, and correlate simulations with experimental tests. As a result, BSH shortened product development times, reduced the number of prototypes required for testing, and lowered noise and vibration levels across its home appliances.
Key Takeaways:
- Shortened product development time: Simcenter solutions helped BSH reduce development cycles, with processes that previously took weeks completed in days and some simulations shortened from days to hours.
- Reduced physical prototypes: Virtual acoustic engineering and simulation enabled BSH to evaluate designs before manufacturing physical prototypes, reducing the need for prototype testing.
- Improved sound and vibration performance: Simcenter helped BSH lower noise and vibration levels in home appliances while maintaining product functionality and production costs.
- Early-stage sound engineering: Involving acoustics and vibration specialists early in development helped BSH identify and eliminate potential noise problems before they became costly late-stage issues.
- Digital twin collaboration: BSH used a digital twin to connect product development teams and simulate engine activity, loads, and outputs before physical prototyping.
- Advanced vibro-acoustic analysis: Simcenter 3D enabled engineers to perform vibration and acoustic analyses throughout the development cycle and identify individual component sources of noise and vibration.
- Accurate sound quality evaluation: BSH used binaural heads and a high-quality anechoic chamber to capture and analyze appliance sounds and establish acoustic targets based on customer assessments.
- Simulation and testing correlation: Simcenter Testlab enabled BSH to correlate simulation results with experimental tests, verify simulation parameters, and validate the reliability of results before creating physical prototypes.
- Optimization across development loops: Engineers could trace the effects of design changes through the simulation chain and work with the Drives Development team to optimize structural or electromagnetic designs when noise and vibration issues were identified.
- Foundation for long-term product quality: BSH’s connected simulation and testing approach supports the development of appliances designed to maintain their noise and vibration performance over years of operation, helping build customer trust.
