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Reduction of fan noise emission by enclosure modification

Article  in  Noise Control Engineering Journal · January 2008

DOI: 10.3397/1.2835170

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 Fan Noise Control by Enclosure Modification
Moohyung Leea, J. Stuart Boltonb, Taewook Yooc, Hiroto Idod, Kenichi Sekie
a,b,c
Ray W. Herrick Laboratories, Purdue University
140 South Intramural Drive, West Lafayette IN, 47907-2031, USA
d,e
SONY Corporation, 7-35 Kitashinagawa 6-chome,
Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 141-0001, Japan

a
leemoohy@ecn.purdue.edu; bbolton@ecn.purdue.edu; ctyoo@purdue.edu;
d
Hiroto.Ido@jp.sony.com; eKenichi.Seki@jp.sony.comҏ

Abstract In the present study, a structural modification approach to reducing the sound
power radiated by an axial fan mounted to an enclosure is described. An axial fan
operating in free-space exhibits a dipole-like radiation pattern at sufficiently low
frequencies that the source is compact. When a fan is mounted to an enclosure, however,
the sound radiation pattern becomes monopole-like since only one side of the fan is
exposed to the exterior space; thus it radiates more efficiently than the same fan operating
in free-space. Also, it is possible for the source level to be amplified by coupling with the
interior resonances of the enclosure. The radiation enhancement can be suppressed by
introducing a second “path” that allows the sound fields on both sides of the fan to interact
with each other while also providing damping for the acoustical cavity, thus reducing the
radiation efficiency of a fan towards its free-space value. Experimental results are
presented here to demonstrate this effect. The sound fields radiated by two fans mounted
to a consumer electronics enclosure were visualized by using near-field acoustical
holography, and the baseline results were compared with those for various enclosure
modifications. First, the top of the enclosure was replaced by an acoustically-transparent
mylar sheet. Then two types of acoustical openings, i.e., a grilled port and a perforated
panel, were introduced on the top of the original enclosure close to fan locations. A
significant reduction of sound power resulted from the enclosure modifications, in
particular at the fundamental and twice the blade passing frequencies, and a clearer
conversion from a monopole to a dipole-like radiation pattern was observed when the size
of the opening was made larger.

1. INTRODUCTION

Axial fans are widely used for electronic cooling, but their use often results in a noise
nuisance. To find efficient noise control solutions for these cases, it is important to
understand the noise generation mechanisms of a fan. Among the various source
mechanisms that contribute to the overall noise emission, the most dominant source type,
especially in the case of the low-speed fans that are considered in the present study, is known
to be the dipole-like source that is generated by the fluctuating pressure distribution on the
surface of the blades [1]. Thus, an axial fan in free-space can be modeled as a point dipole
whose source strength is proportional to the magnitude of a fluctuating point force so long as
the compact source assumption holds true (i.e., when the dimensions of the fan are much
smaller than an acoustic wavelength). It is also known that the source strength of an
aerodynamically-induced dipole source of the latter kind is proportional to the sixth power of
the flow speed [1]. Therefore, the simplest remedy for fan noise problems is to decrease the
rotational speed of a fan while maintaining the volume flow rate by increasing the size of a
fan in order to achieve the same cooling performance; the application of the latter approach is
often restricted, however, either by the design layout or cost issues. Instead, a careful
optimization of the blade shape can help reduce the aerodynamic noise generation. But, in
addition to reducing noise at the source, some consideration should be given to practical
issues that would help ensure low noise emission: e.g., the fan location must be chosen so
that it does not entrain disturbed aerodynamic inflow since a disturbed inflow condition
resulting from obstructions that are located close to the fan inlet results in an increase in noise.
Since noise caused by structural vibrations is also of concern, a fan should be well-balanced
so that it does not cause significant vibration, and a fan should be well-isolated from the
structure to which it is mounted.
In addition, when a fan is mounted to an enclosure, the sound radiation pattern
becomes monopole-like rather than dipole-like since the interaction between the sound fields
on the two sides of the fan is prevented by the enclosure. Since a lower-order source radiates
sound more efficiently than higher-order sources, a fan mounted to an enclosure results in a
higher radiated sound power level than the same fan operating in free-space. Also, the sound
level can be amplified by the effect of the enclosure’s interior acoustical resonances. The
structural modification scheme described in the present study is based on a physical
understanding of the latter aspects of acoustical sources. The main idea is to introduce an
acoustical path between the sound fields on the two sides of the fan so that cancellation can
occur, thus reducing the overall sound radiation, while at the same time weakening the effect
of the interior acoustical resonances.
In the present study, the proposed scheme was applied to a consumer electronics
enclosure, which was equipped with two cooling fans. Some examples of enclosure
modification are presented, and their noise reduction effect was verified experimentally by
using near-field acoustical holography.

2. NEAR-FIELD ACOUSTICAL HOLOGRAPHY

Near-field acoustical holography (NAH) [2] is an array-based measurement technique

that allows various acoustical properties (e.g., the sound pressure, the particle velocity, and
the acoustic intensity) to be reconstructed in three-dimensional space based on the use of the
sound pressure measured on a two-dimensional surface (i.e., the hologram surface). In DFT-
based NAH, the projection of the sound field onto a surface of interest is performed in the
wave number domain. That is, in planar NAH of the type which was implemented in the
present study, the wave number spectrum of the acoustical property to be reconstructed,
a(k x , k y , z ), is obtained by multiplying the wave number spectrum of the measured pressure
on the hologram surface, p(k x , k y , zh ), by appropriate propagator functions: i.e.,
 a(k x , k y , z ) FD (k x , k y )G (k x , k y , z  zh )p( k x , k y , zh ), (1)

where z and zh are the vertical locations of the reconstruction surface and the hologram
surface, respectively, G (k x , k y , z  zh ) is a diagonal matrix whose elements are given by

­ eik z ( z  zh ) , for the sound pressure

°
Gi (k x , k y , z  zh ) ® k z ik z ( z  zh ) (2)
° e , for the normal particle velocity
¯ U ck

FD ( k x , k y ) is a diagonal matrix that implements wave number filtering, and k is the wave
number that satisfies the relation k 2 k x2  k y2  k z2 . The filtering procedure is necessary
especially when back-projecting towards a source since the reconstruction results can be
degraded by the amplification of measurement noise associated with evanescent wave
componenets that cannot be accurately estimated during a measurement owing to their rapid
decay. Various regularization methods [3] can be used to construct FD ( k x , k y ) , and, in the
present study, modified Tikhonov regularization was implemented in conjunction with the
Mozorov discrepancy principle. Once a(k x , k y , z ) is obtained by using Eq. (1), the spatial
distribution, a( x, y, z ), can be obtained by taking the two-dimensional inverse Fourier
transform of a(k x , k y , z ).
In practical holography measurements of a source comprising a number of uncorrelated
sub-sources [4], as in the present case, a cross-spectral procedure based on the use of a set of
fixed references must be used to identify the phase distribution of each partial field; it is
recommended that a larger number of references than the actual number of sub-sources be
used to minimize the effect of measurement noise [4]. The composite sound field measured
in the latter approach needs to be decomposed into spatially coherent partial fields in order to
enable the holographic projection described earlier, and the total sound field is then obtained
by adding the projected significant partial fields together on an energy basis. The number of
significant partial fields can be identified as the number of fields that causes the sum of the
virtual coherence functions to have a unity value over the entire hologram surface [4].

3. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

In Fig. 1, the research prototype of consumer electronics enclosure used in the present
study and the NAH measurement setup are shown. The consumer electronics enclosure had
a dimension of 42 cm x 34 cm x 7.5 cm (L x W x H), and two 6 cm diameter fans were
installed on both sides of the unit: an intake fan was mounted on the left side (at x = 0 cm and
y = -21 cm), and an exhaust fan was mounted on the right side (at x = 0 cm and y = 21 cm);
the blue arrows in Fig. 1 show the direction of air flow through the two fans. During
measurements, the unit was placed on a rigid surface, and seven reference microphones were
distributed around it. Two references were placed near each fan and three references were
placed over the top of enclosure. The sound field on the planar hologram surface located 2
cm above the top of the enclosure was measured at 11-by-16 points: i.e., a linear array
comprising eleven, equally-spaced (8 cm) field microphones was traversed in the y-direction
in 16 steps with an increment of 8 cm. The measurement bandwidth was 2.5 kHz, and the
frequency resolution was 2 Hz.
 Scanning array
(11 mics.)

y
x

Figure 1: The consumer electronics enclosure and the NAH measurement setup (red and blue arrows represent
reference microphones and the direction of air flow, respectively).

The enclosure was modified in three ways: first, the whole top of the enclosure was
replaced by an acoustically-transparent mylar sheet, thus allowing the sound fields on both
sides of fans to interact with each other freely while the air flow was maintained within the
enclosure (see Fig. 2(a)). The next two modifications were chosen considering their
applicability to real products. A grilled port and a perforated panel were added to the top of
the enclosure near the fan locations as shown in Figs. 2(b) and (c). In both cases, a mylar
sheet was also applied to the openings to prevent air from flowing out through them. In all
cases, the same current was provided to the two fans so that they operated at the same
nominal rotational speed. Nonetheless, a small difference in the two fans’ speed in each case
was observed presumably due to slight changes of the flow conditions experienced by the
fans.

8 cm 26.5 cm
5 cm
7 cm

(a) mylar top (b)grilled port and mylar (c) perforated panel and mylar
Figure 2: Modifications of the enclosure.

4. RESULTS

In Fig. 3, the singular values of the reference cross-spectral matrix are presented, and
the green line represents the sum of the singular values (i.e., the total autospectral amplitude
of the reference signals). In the original enclosure case (see Fig. 3(a)), it was observed that
the first two blade passing tones dominated the frequency spectrum, and that the overall level
of the sum of the singular values in the 0 ~ 2 kHz band was 71.3 dB. In comparison, it was
observed that the levels of the two dominant blade passing tones were reduced by the
enclosure modifications; however, the higher harmonics of the blade passing tones were
increased slightly in some cases (see Figs. 3(b), (c), and (d)). The overall level of the
summed singular values was reduced to 70.9 dB in the mylar top case, 71.1 dB in the grilled
port case, and 70.8 dB in the perforated panel case. Note that the overall level change does
not accurately reflect the noise reduction effect at the blade passing tones since blade passing
tones are usually narrow-band, the overall level usually being dominated by broadband noise.
Also, the reference signals measured at a small number of points in a source’s nearfield may
not be correlated with the farfield sound power when the effects of either nearfield or farfield
radiation directivity are significant.

80 60 80 60

Sum of Singular Values [dB]

60 40 60 40

Sum of Singular Values [dB]

Singular Values [dB]

Singular Values [dB]

40 20 40 20

20 0 20 0

0 -20 0 -20

-20 -20
0 500 1000 1500 2000 0 500 1000 1500 2000
Frequency [Hz] Frequency [Hz]

(a) original enclosure case (b) mylar top case

80 60 80 60
Sum of Singular Values [dB]

Sum of Singular Values [dB]

60 40 60 40
Singular Values [dB]

Singular Values [dB]

40 20 40 20

20 0 20 0

0 -20 0 -20

-20 -20
0 500 1000 1500 2000 0 500 1000 1500 2000
Frequency [Hz] Frequency [Hz]

(c) grilled port and mylar case (d) perforated panel and mylar case
Figure 3: The singular values of the reference cross-spectral matrix (the green line represents the sum of the
singular values).

In Fig. 4, an example of the use of the virtual coherence function is shown. It can be
seen that the sum of the virtual coherence functions calculated by using the first two partial
fields at 328 Hz in the original enclosure case was close to unity over the entire hologram
surface; the latter observation led to a conclusion that the first two partial fields were required
to construct the total sound field. The same result was found in the other cases considered.

1 1

0.5 0.5

0 0
10 15 10 15
8 10 8 10
6 6
x 4 5 y x 4 5 y
2 2

(a) when the first partial field was used (b) when the first two partial fields were use
Figure 4: The sum of the virtual coherence functions in the original enclosure case at 328 Hz.
 In Figs. 5 and 6, the first and second partial fields are plotted at the fundamental blade
passing frequency to show how the sound field was changed by the enclosure modifications;
real parts of the partial fields are plotted, and the vertical and horizontal planes represent the
plane containing the two fans, and the source surface (i.e., the top of the enclosure),
respectively. When the original enclosure was used, it can be seen that the sound fields
generated by both fans exhibited a monopole-like radiation pattern (see Figs. 5(a) and 6(a)).
In contrast, when the top of the enclosure was either replaced by a mylar sheet or when a
perforated panel was added, the sound field was converted into a dipole-like field (i.e., the
sound field on both sides of each fan were out-of-phase, and a pressure null was observed in
the direction perpendicular to the fan axis) and the sound levels were reduced. When a
grilled port was introduced, the sound fields remained monopole-like; however, the sound
level was reduced although the latter reduction was smaller than in the other two cases. From
the latter results, it can be concluded that the degree of source-type conversion depends on
the size of the additional acoustical path. In addition, it was judged that the opening had an
influence on the behavior of the acoustic cavity: the latter effect presumably played, at least,
a partial role in reducing the sound level at the sources. When the opening was large (i.e., the
mylar top and perforated panel cases), the sound fields radiated from the two fans were well-
separated (i.e., the first and second partial field consisted essentially of the sound fields
radiated by the intake and exhaust fan, respectively). In the other two cases, however, the
partial fields comprised the sound fields radiated from both fans, which might be evidence of
the role of the acoustic cavity (i.e., the sound field was amplified within the acoustic cavity
and was radiated from the location of the other fan as well). By a comparison of the
amplitudes of the sound fields at the location of both fans, it can be observed that the level of
the sound field radiated by the fan on the left side (i.e., the intake fan) was larger than that
radiated by the fan on the right side (i.e., the exhaust fan). The latter result could be
anticipated since the air flow flowing into the intake fan was disturbed due to the grill located
in front of the fan inlet.

(a) original enclosure case (at 328 Hz) (b) mylar top case (at 328 Hz)

(c) grilled port and mylar case (at 326 Hz) (d) perforated panel and mylar case (at 324 Hz)
Figure 5: The first partial field at the fundamental blade passing frequency (real parts are plotted).
 (a) original enclosure case (at 328 Hz) (b) mylar top case (at 328 Hz)

(c) grilled port and mylar case (at 326 Hz) (d) perforated panel and mylar case (at 324 Hz)
Figure 6: The second partial field at the fundamental blade passing frequency (real parts are plotted).

In Fig. 7, the acoustic intensities at the fundamental blade passing frequency are shown
along with the amplitudes of the total sound pressure fields on the plane defined by x = 0.
The difference between the sound fields can be seen more clearly in this figure: i.e., a larger
opening resulted in a clearer conversion to dipole-like radiation and a greater nearfield effect.
Although the overall radiation pattern remained monopole-like in the grilled port case, a
significant change in the radiation pattern was nonetheless obvious.

(a) original enclosure case (at 328 Hz) (b) mylar top case (at 328 Hz)

(c) grilled port and mylar case (at 326 Hz) (d) perforated panel and mylar case (at 324 Hz)
Figure 7: The acoustic intensity and the total sound pressure field at the fundamental blade passing frequency
on the plane defined by x = 0.
 In Fig. 8, the sound powers at the fundamental blade passing frequency and its
harmonics are compared to quantify the effect of the enclosure modifications. The sound
power was calculated by using the first and second partial fields in the frequency band
between the half-power points of the blade passing tones. At the first two blade passing
tones, it can be seen that a larger opening resulted in a greater reduction of the sound power
while at the same time causing a slight increase in the sound power of the higher harmonics
of the blade passing tones. The latter increase, however, was smaller than the increase
observed in the level of the summed singular values due to the source-type conversion to a
dipole: i.e., an increase in the sound pressure level resulting from the openings was local and
directional. The resulting total sound power of the blade passing tones was reduced from
34.5 dB to 24 dB in the mylar top case, to 30.3 dB in the grilled port case, and to 25.7 dB in
the perforated panel case.

original mylar grill perforated panel

35
30
25
dB [Watt] .

20
15
10
5
0
1 2 3 4 5

blade passing tone

Figure 8: A comparison of the sound power at the blade passing frequencies.

In summary, the effect of an enclosure is expected to appear in various ways depending

on the precise details of each situation. At low frequencies, when the fan’s sound field is best
described by a point dipole, an enclosure renders the radiation pattern monopole-like by
preventing the interaction between the sound fields on both sides of a fan, thus enhancing
radiation efficiency, and, in addition, the sound level at the source is likely to be amplified by
being coupled with the enclosure’s interior acoustical resonances. At high frequencies, in
contrast, the amplification of the sound power caused by the effect of an enclosure is not
likely to be significant, not only since the source-type conversion is not clear compared to
that at low frequencies, but also since, except for very small devices, the lowest interior
resonance frequency typically appears below 1 kHz. In the latter case, the sound muffling
effect of an enclosure may be larger than the amplification, so that the opening causes an
increase in the sound power. As a result, the modification scheme described in the present
study may sometimes not be suitable. Therefore, in a practical implementation, the
characteristics of noise radiated from a fan should be identified first, and the size and location
of the enclosure openings should then be chosen carefully depending on the situation to
achieve an optimal result. In many practical cases, however, simply using a large acoustical
 path is expected to provide good results. Also, using other types of material (e.g., porous
material) rather than a mylar sheet may help suppress the radiation of the high frequency
noise through an opening while still preventing significant air flow through it.

5. CONCLUSIONS

In the present study, it was shown that a fan mounted to an enclosure radiates sound
more efficiently than a fan operating in free space, and that the latter enhancement of
radiation efficiency can be reduced by introducing an acoustical path that both allows the
sound fields on two sides of the fan to interact, and that reduces the effect of the interior
acoustical resonances. Near-field acoustical holography measurements were performed to
visualize the sound fields corresponding to various enclosure modifications and to quantify
the effect of enclosure modifications. The results showed that the proposed scheme helps
reduce the radiated sound power when a fan generates a larger sound field owing to the effect
of an enclosure than it does in free-space.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was supported by SONY Corporation, Japan.

REFERENCES
[1] M. J. Lighthill, On Sound Generated Aerodynamically. Part I. General Theory, Proceedings of the Royal
Society of London A211, 564-587, 1952
[2] E. G. Williams, Fourier Acoustics: Sound Radiation and Nearfield Acoustical Holography, Academic
Press, New York, 1999
[3] E. G. Williams, Regularization Methods for Near-Field Acoustical Holography, Journal of the
Acoustical Society of America 110(4), 1976-1988, 2001
[4] M. Lee and J. S. Bolton, Scan-Based Near-Field Acoustical Holography and Partial Field Decomposition
in the Presence of Noise and Source Nonstationarity, submitted for publication to Journal of the
Acoustical Society of America

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