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34 million euros-worth of peace and quiet

December 01, 2003

How can noise levels be reduced? It's a question being investigated by researchers all over the world. Noise is now generally recognized as a serious form of environmental pollution. According to a study by the Bavarian state ministry of the environment and the EU White Paper on "European transport policy for 2010", over 100 million European citizens suffer from its effects. The estimated annual cost of the associated damage lies at over 10 billion euros.

Research activities in Europe have now been brought under the umbrella of the EU's Sixth Framework Programme. Under the integrated project on "Intelligent Materials for Active Noise Reduction - InMAR", 34 million euros will be made available for the development of new, "intelligent" materials systems. Investigations will also be carried out into possible ways of using active systems to reduce the noise emitted by automotives and trains as well as noise in buildings.

There are a huge variety of approaches to cutting down noise, either by suppressing it at source or by using insulation to prevent its propagation. One technique involves using materials that set up opposing vibrations to counteract or cancel out the noise. To enable active noise reduction to make a technological breakthrough, the sensing and actuation capabilities of materials such as piezoelectric fibers need to be enhanced. These composite materials are linked together with the ne-cessary power electronics and data control circuits in systems where the individual components interact in a complex manner.

Professor Holger Hanselka, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability LBF and Dr. Thilo Bein, deputy chair of System Reliability in Mechanical Engineering SzM at Darmstadt University of Technology, submitted a joint bid to take part in the Framework Programme, hoping to be appointed to manage InMAR. As Hanselka proudly reports: "We received a positive decision from the European Union just a few weeks ago. Funds have been granted to cover the first five years of the project. Now we and the other participants - a total of 42 reputed partners in 13 European countries - can set to work on implementing the objectives of the project." Through InMAR, the European research community has succeeded in pooling its best resources in the field of active systems, forming a strong counter-force to similar activities in the USA and Asia.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft