NOISE EVALUATION METHOD FOR ROBOT VACUUM CLEANERS AND THE TARGET SETTING

摘要

Robot vacuum cleaner is one of the newly developed appliances and this cleans rooms automatically. On the other side, this generates noise according to the operational condition and the user is exposed various level noise without any advance notice. This auditory environment is quite different from the conventional vacuum cleaners. Hence, it is important to evaluate the noise level considering the usage situation and setting appropriate target level. In addition, the method had better to be stable and easy to be used in the development stage. In this study, the methods were considered. Firstly, the sound power level of them positioned in a restricted area in anechoic room was measured using five microphones to grasp the objective noise characteristic. After then, the articulation index (AI) in a room was calculated to evaluate how degree the noise disturbs the living environment. Furthermore, the sound pressure level and AI in several target positions in the room were estimated using a compensation functions. Through this procedure, AI could be estimated well in each target position. Finally, the target sound power level in each frequency band in the anechoic room was set to clear the target AI in each position by using these relationship. From these considerations, easy handling and suitable evaluation methods for the robot vacuum cleaners were proposed.