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ASHRAE Chapter Meeting HVAC Noise & Vibration Control Best Practices

Industrial

Presented By

OEM

Noise & Vibration Control, Inc. 610-863-6300 www.brd-nonoise.com


Architectural HVAC

Marine 1

Environmental

Military

Aviation

Why Acoustics Matter!

Topics
Introduction to Acoustics Fundamental Design Questions Acoustic Materials

Important Acoustic Terminology


Loudness vs. Pitch Tonal Content Decibels: Sound Power vs. Sound Pressure Decibel Weighting Networks

Loudness = Quantity of Sound Pitch = Quality of Sound

What Is The Decibel Scale?

The decibel (dB) is a dimensionless unit calculated using the ratio of a measured value (p) to a reference value (ref). The values of sound pressure of most interest range from the threshold of hearing at about 20 Pa to a level of extreme danger at about 200 Pa. This range of variation translates to 7 orders of magnitude with the high level being 10,000,000 times that of the lower threshold. The use of a logarithmic scale compresses the unit of measure to a manageable range in order to simplify calculations, computations and quantitative manipulation of data.
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Actual Scale versus Decibel Scale


Source
Saturn Rocket Turbojet Engine Jet Aircraft at Takeoff Turboprop at Takeoff Prop Aircraft at Takeoff Large Pipe Organ Small Aircraft Engine Blaring Radio Automobile at High Speed Voice, Shouting Garbage Disposal Unit Voice Conversation Level Ventilation Fan Office Air Diffuser Small Electric Clock Voice, Soft Whisper Rustling Leaves Human Breath Threshold of Hearing

Watts
100,000,000 100,000 10,000 1,000 100 10 1 0.1 0.001 0.0001 0.00001 0.000001 0.0000001 0.00000001 0.000000001 0.0000000001 0.00000000001 0.000000000001 0.0000000000001

Watts Exponential Decibel re: 1012 W


108 105 104 103 102 101 100 10-1 10-2 10-3 10-4 10-5 10-6 10-7 10-8 10-9 10-10 10-11 10-12 200 170 160 150 140 130 120 110 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Frequency and Wavelength


Sound wavelengths are the linear measurement of one full cycle of displacement where the motion of air molecules is first compressed and then expanded (forming a pressure pulsation). The wavelength is determined by the ratio of the speed of sound to the frequency. Wavelength (ft) = Speed of Sound (fps) / Frequency (Hz)

The rate at which these pulsations occur is called the frequency and is described in cycles per second (1 cycle per second equals 1 Hz). Each cycle is one complete expansion and compression.

A 1K Hz tone at 60 dB would require a 102 dB tone at 20 Hz to sound as loud to the human ear.

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Calculation Tools
Decibel Addition: 10 log (10dB/10 + 10dB/10 + ) For example, 87 dB + 87 dB = 10 log (1087/10 + 1087/10) = 10 log (108.7 + 108.7) = 10 log (1.00237 x 109) = 10 (9.00103) = 90 dB Sound Power to Sound Pressure: dB = Lw ((20 Log dist in ft) - 2.4) For example, at 30' dB = Lw ((20Log30) - 2.4) = Lw ((20*1.477) - 2.4) = Lw (29.5 - 2.4) = Lw - 27.1

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Octave Band Center Frequency, Hz 31.5 A-weighting -39 63 -26 125 -16 250 -9 500 -3 1000 0 2000 +1 4000 +1 8000 -1

A-weighting network is designed to approximate the human hearing response. Note that curve is similar but opposite the equal loudness contours.

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What is the overall dBA level?


Octave Center Band Frequency 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 63 125 250 500 1,000 2,000 4,000 8,000 Unweighted A-weighting A-weighted Sound factor (dB) Sound Pressure (dB) Pressure (dBA) 94 -26 68 86 -16 70 85 -9 76 89 -3 86 89 0 89 77 1 78 75 1 76 76 0 76 Decibel Addition 72 86 86 89 89 79 91 dBA Overall Resultant Level

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Why is it important to know dB versus dBA?


63 A-scale dB dBA -26 111 85 125 -16 103 87 250 -9 98 89 500 -3 92 89 1k 0 85 85 2k 1 79 80 4k 1 69 70 8k -1 62 61 94 94 Total dBA

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What is Sound Pressure?


Decibels of sound pressure (Lp) have a universally accepted reference pressure of 2.0 x 10-5 Pascals (Pa). Lp = 20 log10 [Root Mean Square (RMS) Sound Pressure] 2.0 x 10-5 Pa (Reference Pressure)

What Is Sound Power?


Decibels of sound power (Lw) have a universally accepted reference value of 10-12 watts (1 picowatt). Lw = 10 log10 Watts Sound Power 10-12 Watts (Reference Value)

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PWL vs. SPL


Power vs. Pressure Cause vs. Effect

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Typical Sound Pressure Levels


Military Jet Takeoff @ 100 ft Artillery Fire @ 10 ft Passenger Ramp at Airport Loud Rock Band Platform of Subway Station Large Diesel Engine @ 130 ft Computer Printout Room Freight Train @ 100 ft Conversation Speech @ 3 ft Window Air Conditioner Quit Residential Area Whisper @ 6 ft Buzzing Insect @ 3 ft Threshold of Good Hearing Threshold of Youthful Hearing

Sound Sound Pressure Pressure Pa Level dB


200.0 63.2 20.0 6.3 2.0 0.6 0.2 0.06 0.02 0.006 0.002 0.0006 0.0002 0.00006 0.00002 140 130 120 110 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Subjective Reaction
Extreme Danger Threshold of Pain Threshold of Discomfort Very Loud

Moderate

Faint Threshold of Hearing

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Tonal Noise

Sioux Falls, SD Municipal Code defines tone as: any sound which can be distinctly heard as a single pitch or set of single pitches. and shall exist of the one-third octave band sound pressure level in the band when the tone exceeds the arithmetic average of the sound levels of the two contiguous one-third octave bands by five dB for frequencies of 500 Hz and above, eight dB for frequencies between 160-400 Hz, and by 15 dB for frequencies less than or equal to 125 Hz.

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Recommended NC levels for various room uses

OSHA, MSHA, etc. Company policy Bldg criteria for human comfort Local ordinance: generalcode.com municode.com noisepollution.org amlegal.com
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Outdoor Objective Criteria State, City, Township Ordinances

Researching Outdoor Objective Criteria

www.generalcode.com www.municode.com www.noisepollution.org www.amlegal.com


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System Problems Require System Solutions

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System Problems Require System Solutions

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1. Where are we now?


Freq (Hz) Lw Loss100 Lp 63 90 -37 53 125 98 -37 61 250 99 -37 62 500 97 -37 60 1K 94 -37 57 2K 92 -37 55 4K 85 -37 48 8K 81 -37 44 A 100 -37 63

(Sound Levels 270 ton Air Cooled Chiller)

2. Where do we need to be?

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3. How much noise reduction is required?


Freq (Hz) Chiller Ordinance Needed Attenuation 63 53 67 -125 61 61 -250 62 52 10 500 60 46 14 1K 57 40 17 2K 55 33 22 4K 48 28 20 8K 44 26 18 A 63 50 13

4. What needs to be done to achieve compliance?

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ABSORBERS

BARRIERS

COMPOSITES

DAMPING

ELECTRONIC

FLOW CONTROL

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Air-Cooled Chillers
Covers Discharge Stacks Silenced Discharge Stacks

Wall Treatments

Barriers

Enclosures

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Water-Cooled Chillers
Covers Soft Enclosures Hard Enclsoures

Rooftop Units
Covers Acoustic Curbs Discharge Stacks and Acoustic Screens

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A Specification Should Provide Just the Right Prescription


Accountability Cost Control Predictable Performance Review of subjective and objective noise criteria

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Common Specification Strategies

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Common Spec Strategies on Noise Sensitive Projects


Specify sound data for lowest rated model as equipment basis of design Specify all available OEM equipment low noise options Specify an equipment model that is not tonal Specify the same treatment used on the last noise sensitive project Retain an acoustical consultant to write the specification Specify base equipment and address any noise problems at start-up
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Common Specification Strategies: Specify sound data for lowest rated model as equipment basis of design Specify all available OEM equipment low noise options

Sound Pressure Data for property line 80 away (No OEM Sound Kit Options)
4 Different Chiller Manufacturers & 1 Models (Screw 2 and Scroll 3 Designs) 4 63 61 66 31 57 Sound Pressure Levels 5 (dB) @ 80' Octave Band Center Frequency (Hz) 125 250 500 1000 2000 4000 58 56 61 54 52 48 67 63 63 62 58 51 34 43 47 53 55 52 63 61 64 61 55 52 8000 46 48 44 44 Overall A-Wtd (dBA) 61 66 60 66

Sound Pressure Data for property line 80 away (with factory OEM options)
Sound Pressure Levels 5 (dB) @ 80' Octave Band Center Frequency (Hz) 4 Different Chiller Manufacturers & Models (Screw and Scroll Designs) 63 63 52 31 57 125 57 60 33 63 250 57 61 43 61 500 59 59 46 61 1000 54 56 49 60 2000 48 54 51 55 4000 44 46 48 52 8000 42 41 42 42 Overall A-Wtd (dBA) 60 62 56 64

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None of the chillers will comply with typical nighttime noise ordinance values of 50 to 55 dBA.

Common Specification Strategies: Specify an equipment model that is not tonal

Screw Chiller Sound Pressure Levels

dB 100

90

80

70

60

Scroll Chiller Sound Pressure Levels

50

40

Z C A 12 16 20 25 32 40 50 63 80 100 125 160 200 250 315 400 500 630 800 1k 1k25 1k6 2k 2k5 3k15 4k 5k 6k3 8k 10k 12k5 16k 20k

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Hz

Best Practices Acoustic Design


Answer 4 design questions
1. 2. 3. 4. Where are we now? Where do we need to be? What needs to be done to get there? How much will that cost?


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Use 3-5 dBA safety factor Cursory review on every project, in depth review when warranted Assess site ambient noise levels Evaluate airborne and structure-borne transmission System problems require system solutions

Best Practices Specifications


Job specific combined design/performance specs preferred over generic performance specs Evaluate project specific objective and subjective criteria
Indoor criteria: NC, RC, NCB, RC Mark II Outdoor criteria: Zoning and ordinance criteria

Place in Division 15/23 with equipment Specify single source for system acoustic performance Specify turnkey where installation critical Require submission for approval as or equal 10 days before bid date

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