Patent ID: 8144889

Claim:
An automotive vehicle, comprising: a chassis defining an engine compartment and a longitudinally spaced passenger compartment; an engine mounted in said engine compartment and being operable to generate noise energy; a transverse box-like structure having a constrained volume separate from the passenger compartment that is interposed between said engine compartment and said passenger compartment within the transfer path of the noise energy being transmitted from said engine to said passenger compartment, said box-like structure being divided into chambers by internal longitudinally extending walls; smart material affixed to the walls of each respective chamber of said box-like structure, said smart material being operable to selectively change a property characteristic thereof; and a noise control system including a controller operatively coupled to said smart material to change said property characteristic to vary the acoustic resonance of each respective chamber of said box-like structure to change the effectiveness of controlling the transmission of noise energy through said box-like structure.