arctic cat unveils stateoftheart noise vibration and harshness facility

 If you've ever traveled to Thief River Falls, you might think that the only problems people in this northeastern Minnesota town had with noise, vibration and harshness was from winter winds blowing in across the border from Manitoba. And you might wonder why snowmobiling's most modern NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) was located there.

As home base to Arctic Cat snowmobiles and ATVs, Thief River Falls gains a state-of-the-art NVH facility as Arctic Cat puts the finishing touches on a facility that resembles something out of a sci-fi motion picture. The powersports company clearly expects this new 3500 sq.ft. facility to give it clear competitive advantage in the industry, ultimately allowing them to design and build smoother, quieter snowmobiles.

The major NVH investment at Arctic Cat began in January of 2000 and is headed up by Bala Holalkere, Engineering Design Manager, and his team of five full-time NVH employees. The facilty represents the first endeavor of its kind within the snowmobile industry. Holalkere possesses over 18 years of experience in the field, ten of those spent with two of the major auto manufacturers and holds his Masters in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis on acoustics and vibration.

"Focused NVH development requires unique facilities capable of carrying out year-round laboratory and analytical development in a controlled environment," stated Holalkere. "Such a dedicated NVH facility lessens the dependency on snow conditions to quantify noise and vibration generated by sleds and enables engineers to develop counter measures to decrease noise exhibited by our snowmobiles in a lab setting. And it will accomplish all this from the early design stage right up until prototype validation so it's an integrated part of the development process."

The Sound Chamber room within the facility is lined with hundreds of wedge units for acoustical treatment on all four walls and ceiling. Housing the sound chamber is a double walled sound dampening structure that measures over two feet thick.

Beneath the floor of the Sound Chamber room lays the Chassis dynamometer system utilizing dual water-cooled AC dynamometers and special water containment and sound reduction systems to meet the unique demands of snowmobile testing. The Chassis dynamometer system is capable of simulating trail riding and high performance conditions without any adverse outdoor variables, enabling the acquisition of accurate and repeatable noise and vibration data.

Another valuable testing mechanism within the NHV facility is known as the Modal Bay. There engineers accurately test vehicles for excessive vibration ultimately enabling engineers to design an ultra-smooth machine.

This is accomplished by hooking up (via hanging or bolting down) any structural component such as a chassis, engine block, or skid frame then applying stress and measuring known inputs and outputs at given points throughout the structure giving a clear understanding of how and where it's vibrating. Using this new information, components may then be designed to minimize vibration.

What's more, the new facility also houses a Sound Quality Room that will effectively shape the way future Arctic Cats will sound to the consumer's ear by providing conditions for evaluating various sound recordings generated by competitive vehicles and Arctic Cat's development vehicles.

"We recognize the importance of noise and vibration performance in our ever-growing product offerings and this high-tech investment will help Arctic Cat continue its long history of high-performance products while reducing unwanted noise and vibration," commented Chris Twomey, Arctic Cat's President and CEO.

Although the NVH facility will be utilized initially for snowmobiles, only minor enhancements need to be implemented for it to be useful for Arctic Cat's increasingly popular and expanding line of ATVs. Benefits from the NVH investment will be heard and felt as early as model year 2005 on Arctic Cat snowmobiles.