Sound quality of small dc motors

Abstract

Many industrial and consumer applications require their components be activated to achieve the desired functionality. In most of the cases, the activation is produced by gear-motors, which adapt speed and torque to the specifications set forth in the design process stage. On the whole, gear-motors consist of a motor as the main energy source provider and a kinematic chain to transmit and transform the energy into a mechanical force - a torque - usually in the form of a thrust. The motor is also one of the most important noise sources in gear-motors; consequently, its choice largely determines its acoustic behaviour. In this paper, a study of the sound features of small electric motors is carried out with the aim of determining a metric that help select the most suitable motor for small electromechanical devices. A semantic differential method has been adopted to evaluate the users’ perception of attributes such as annoyance, power, robustness, condition, acoustic behaviour, quality, and price.