Eric Amoah Asante - Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
Randy Amuaku - ۲Department of Mechanical EngineeringKoforidua Technical University, Koforidua, Ghana

Due to increase in the number of goods carrying tricycles, the amount of noise and pollution on our roads has increased. To optimize the control of the engine noise emission for tricycle, different absorptive material liners have been introduced into muffler design. In this study, the performance of Aerogel, Ceramic, Kenaf fibre, Polyester and Rockwool as absorptive material liners on the transmission loss under ۲۰ ℃, ۶۰ ℃, ۱۰۰ ℃, ۱۵۰ ℃ and ۲۰۰ ℃ temperature treatment for goods carrying tricycle was evaluated. The analysis averaged over all temperature treatments showed that introducing absorptive materials into the muffler improved the performance by ۷۱.۵۶ %, ۸۴.۱۲ %, ۸۶.۳۱ %, ۸۹.۳۷ % and ۹۳.۹۹ % for Aerogel, Rockwool, Ceramic, Polyester and Kenaf fibre respectively. Similarly, analysis averaged over all absorptive material treatments disclosed that the muffler with absorptive material liner under ۶۰ ℃, ۱۰۰ ℃, ۱۵۰ ℃ and ۲۰۰ ℃ temperature treatment improved the performance over the muffler without a liner by ۸۵.۱ %, ۸۰.۸ %, ۸۷.۵ % and ۹۲.۳ % respectively. The flow resistivity values for the absorptive material liners used was inversely proportional to the transmission loss except the Kenaf fibre which had the highest transmission loss though with second highest flow resistivity. PLSR analysis showed that Aerogel, Rockwool, Ceramic, Polyester and Kenaf fibre yielded better prediction accuracy than the No liner by ۳۳.۸۸%, ۳۲.۷۵%, ۳۰.۴۵%, ۳۰.۴۱% and ۲۲.۳۵% respectively. The study has confirmed that introducing absorptive material liners in mufflers used by goods carrying tricycles can optimize the performance.

Tricycle, PLSR, Transmission Loss, Absorptive Material Liner