Efficient topography optimization of a washing machine cabinet to reduce radiated noise during the dehydration process

In modern society, the use of washing machines has increased owing to increased interest in personal hygiene. Over the years, the performance of washing machines has been enhanced, whereas the noise/vibration of the machine has increased. Most existing research focused on reducing noise/vibration to achieve high performance. In particular, the rotating speed of the washing machine is fastest during the dehydration process, and radiation noise also increases. Previous studies on reducing washing machine noise focused on the internal structure (e. g., tub, suspension, etc.). However, the design refinement of internal parts inevitably leads to an increase in the manufacturing cost. In this study, we performed topography optimization of the cabinet to reduce radiation noise. Because the cabinet is generally manufactured by a stamping process, an optimized cabinet model can be manufactured using only the existing processes. Moreover, the computational efficiency was improved using in situ experiments and model-order reduction.