OROS: NVH solutions more and more innovative, dedicated to classic and electric vehicles (EV/HEV)

OROS makes more than 30 years of NVH experience and expertise available to its customers in the automotive industry. An interview with Guillaume Cousin, Product Manager at OROS, who is going to tell us more about this.

OROS markets itself as a highly-reputed player in the field of noise and vibration testing (NVH). Can you tell us a bit more about this? 
OROS is a French company created in 1985 that now has more than 40 employees. Our products are manufactured in France and distributed around the globe: 80% of our turnover comes from our export activities. We have subsidiaries in the United States, in Germany and in China, as well as a vast international distribution network. In the 1990s, we pioneered the launch of the first portable FFT analyzers based on laptops. Fifteen years later, we have focused on the development of applicative software solutions: a well-thought-out interface is essential in order for our customers to be able to achieve the level of efficiency that is required of them.

Simultaneously, we have strengthened our international development with a strong presence in China and in Japan where our n°1 customer is established: Toyota. Whilst the automotive industry remains our largest market, our products are also used in rail and aeronautical fields.

What are the solutions that you propose for the automotive industry?
There has been strong growth in NVH applications for the automotive industry in recent years. In line with this trend, we have developed an exclusive solution for transfer path analysis that allows the noise and vibration in the passenger compartment to be reduced. In parallel, we have acquired market-tested software solutions for psychoacoustics, sound design and source localization. Our products also have the capacity to measure sound power based on well-known acoustic pressure and intensity methods. In addition, OROS has historically been a leader in the analysis of rotating machines, offering a technology that allows real-time order tracking, which remains precise even at high speeds. In particular, thanks to this technology, we offer specially-designed solutions for balancing of common automotive components (turbo-compressor, crankshaft, etc.) as well as for torsional vibration analysis.
Concerning structural analysis, we offer high-performance methods that allow machining quality to be optimized, by determining the resonance frequencies of cutting tools. Obviously, this is in addition to classic modal analysis on frames and the various components produced by automotive suppliers.
Lastly, we have very recently launched MODS “Mobile DAQ System”. This is an ultraportable DAQ, paired with the NVGo mobile app: it allows very easy acquisition of noise and vibration signals in a vehicle.

As part of your innovative approach, you work in close collaboration with your R&D laboratory. What’s the situation exactly?
We have set up an entire process for innovation, design and approval of our products. We are supported by our own laboratory which contains specialized equipment: an anechoic chamber and other classic NVH equipment (rotating machines test benches, microphone antenna, test structures, etc.). This equipment allows us to place ourselves in our customers’ working situations in order to obtain better design and testing of our products.
We also rely on specially selected pilot customers from academic and industrial contexts, who advise us about how best to design, improve and approve our products.

What areas are you working on at the moment?
Aware of the exciting prospects for NVH, in particular in the fields of electric and hybrid vehicles (EV/HEV), we are seeking to consolidate our growth in this market. We are specifically focusing on studying the new phenomena that are related to replacement of IC engines by electric motors. Therefore, we are actively working on a specifically-designed and innovative offer to meet the requirements of these new situations.