INNOVATIVE DELPHI SOUND GENERATORS HELP WARN PEDESTRIANS OF ONCOMING HYBRID AND ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Delphi Automotive has come up with two new vehicle sound generators which are capable of warning pedestrians of approaching hybrid and electric vehicles. These vehicle sound generators can be of great help to the car manufacturers across the globe. These are not only environment friendly but are light in weight ,compact and are inexpensive. The single-box solutions are lead-free, waterproof and temperature resistant.

Beth Schwarting, general director, Electronic Controls product business unit at Delphi stated that in future, hybrid and electric vehicle warning sounds will be required in North America and Europe. He further added that Delphi has come up with two environmentally friendly sound generators – called sounders –these make the pedestrians aware of the approaching hybrid and electric vehicles which are almost silent without the sound generator.

Let's explore more about these electronic sounder system, out of the two sounders , the first one is nearly three times lighter than the conventional multi-box system. Since it uses approximately 90 percent less power , therefore it makes it more environment friendly. The size and weight of the new sounders helps simplifying packaging, however the single-box configuration helps in reducing design, test and manufacturing cost.

Delphi has also developed a high fidelity sounder system that uses a cone speaker, these are used in applications requiring higher quality sound. This magnet based system is around 66 percent lighter than the conventional speaker system. These two systems are capable enough to be mounted beneath the vehicle's hood and successfully incorporate a 32-bit microprocessor with flash memory, which is a link to the vehicle's data bus and audio class-D amplifier.

The value of the the sound generators can be enhanced by connecting them with other systems through the vehicle's data bus. OEMs can very well use it as it provides multiple features like reminding the driver that the battery needs to be charged,confirm that a charging sequence is in progress and notify the driver when the charge is complete. Delphi’s first Vehicle Sound Generator will be introduced by a leading European OEM by mid 2012.

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