MEBS6008 Environmental Services II

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Acoustic Treatment Noise Control

Department of Mechanical Engineering The University of Hong Kong
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Content
Basics The Sources The Path Sound Level at a Receiver Point Noise Control in Practice The Noise Control Ordinance
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Basics - Acoustic Design Objective

Noise is unwanted sound. The primary objective for the acoustical design of HVAC systems and equipment is to ensure that the acoustical environment in a given space is not degraded. Sound and vibration are created by a source, are transmitted along one or more paths, and reach a receiver. Treatments and modifications can be applied to any or all of these elements to achieve an acceptable acoustical environment.

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Basics - Comparison of Pitch and Frequency

Frequency an objective quantity independent of sound-pressure level. subjective quantity primarily based on frequency dependent on sound-pressure level and composition not measured described with terms like bass and tenor

Pitch -

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Basics - Octave Bands

Human ear perception: sounds at frequencies 20 to 16,000 Hz. HVAC system sounds 45 to 11,200 Hz (11,156 data points). HVAC sounds frequencies smaller ranges (octave bands). Center frequency = square root of the product of the lowest and highest frequencies in the band. The frequency range (45 to 11,200 Hz) eight octave bands with center frequencies of 63, 125, 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, and 8,000 Hz.

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Basics - Sound Power and Sound Pressure

Sound power Acoustical energy emitted by the sound source Unaffected by the environment Expressed in terms of watts (W)

Sound pressure Pressure disturbance in the atmosphere What our ears hear and what sound meters measure Affected by strength of source, surroundings, and distance between source and receiver Also affected by room is carpeted or tiled/ furnished or bare
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Basics - Sound Level

Decibel

Sound Power Level

log (a b) = log a + log b

a log = log a - log b b

The reference value used for calculating sound-power level is 10-12 watts.

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Basics - Sound Pressure Level

The reference value used for calculating sound-pressure level is 2 10-5 Pa. Reference values are the threshold of hearing. Sound power is proportional to the square of sound pressure multiplier 20 is used (not 10).

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Basics - Sensation of Loudness

The sensation of loudness = f(sound pressure & frequency). Each contour approximates an equal loudness level across the frequency range shown. Human ear is more sensitive to high frequencies than low frequencies. Ears sensitivity at a particular frequency changes with sound-pressure level. Loudness to human ear : 60 dB 100 Hz = 50 dB at 1,000 Hz. Loudness Contour Human ears are less sensitive to lowfrequency sounds. Human ear not respond linearly to pressure and frequency.
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Basics - Single-Number Rating Methods

Human ear : sound as loudness and pitch Electronic Sound-measuring equipment : Sound as pressure and frequency. Single-number descriptors to express both the intensity and quality of a sound : 1) A-weighting network 2) Noise criteria (NC) 3) Room criteria (RC)

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Basics - A-weighted Sound Pressure Level (SPL)

Steps to calculate A-weighted SPL 1) 2) 3) List actual sound-pressure levels for the eight octave bands Add or subtract the decibel values represented by the A-weighting curve. Logarithmically sum all eight octave bands to get an overall A-weighted SPL.

Most sound meters can automatically calculate & display the A-weighted SPL.

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Basics - Noise criteria (NC)

The steps to calculate an NC rating:1) Plot the octave-band sound-pressure levels on the NC chart. 2) The highest curve crossed by the plotted data determines the NC rating. Example: plotting the sound pressure levels on the NC curves NC-39

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Basics - Room criteria (RC) curves

Steps to determine RC rating are as follows: 1)Plot the octave-band SPLs on the RC chart. 2) The speech interference level = arithmetic average of the sound pressure levels in the 500 Hz, 1,000 Hz, and 2,000 Hz octave bands. Perceptible vibration : The sound level in the octave bands between 16 Hz and 63 Hz regions (A and B). Region A: High probability that noise-induced vibration levels in lightweight wall and ceiling constructions. Anticipate audible rattles in light fixtures, doors, windows. Region B: Noise-induced vibration levels in lightweight wall and ceiling constructions may be felt. Slight possibility of rattles in light fixtures, doors, windows.
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Basics - Setting a Design Goal

Goals to be achieved: NC or RC A balanced distribution of sound energy over a broad frequency range No audible tonal or other characteristics such as whine, whistle, hum, or rumble No noticeable time-varying levels from beats or other system induced aerodynamic instability No fluctuations in level such as a throbbing or pulsing

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The Sources - Sound Pressure Level of Some Equipment

If manufacturers data are not available, the sound pressure level LpA, in dBA, for centrifugal chillers at a distance (1 m) from the chiller can be calculated as For reciprocating chillers, LpA in dBA at a distance of 1 m is

The sound pressure level Lp, in dB, at the center frequency of various octave bands can be obtained by adding the following values at each octave band to the calculated LpA:

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The Sources - Sound Pressure Level of Some Equipment

Circulating pumps
LpA at a distance of 1 m is

where hp power input to the pump, hp.

For fan, predicting equation was found giving very inaccurate result use manufacturer data
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The Path - Free field

In theory, a free field is a homogeneous, isotropic medium that is free from boundaries. In practice, an example of a free field over a reflecting plane would be a large open area void of obstructions. An ideal sound source radiates sound equally in all directions in which sound-pressure waves in a spherical pattern. At equal distances from the source, the sound pressure is same in all directions. Doubling of the distance from the source spreads the sound over four times as much surface area.

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The Path - Free-Field

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The Path - Free field

Free-Field Over Reflecting Plane. In cases of unavailability of completely free field measurements can only be made in a free field over a reflecting plane. That is, the sound source is placed on a hard floor or on pavement outdoors. Since the sound is then radiated into a hemisphere rather than a full sphere, the relationship for Lw and Lp for a non-directional sound source becomes

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The Path - Near field

The near field is an area adjacent to the source where sound not behave as in a free field. Most sound sources, including all HVAC equipment, do not radiate sound in perfectly spherical waves. This is due to the irregular shape of the equipment and different magnitudes of sounds radiating from the various surfaces of the equipment. These irregularities cause pressure-wave interactions the behavior of the sound waves unpredictable. Sound-pressure measurements should not, therefore, be made in the near field. The size of the near field depends on the type of source and dimensions of the equipment.

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The Path - Reverberant field

Reverberant Field

Reverberant fields exist in rooms with reflective walls, floors, and ceilings. When a sound source is placed in an enclosed room, the sound waves from the source bounce back and forth between the reflective walls many times. This can create a uniform, or diffuse, sound field. In a perfectly reverberant room, the soundpressure level is equal at all points within the room.

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The Path - Semi-reverberant field

Buildings :between a free field and a reverberant one. Some of the sound is reflected by walls, floor, and ceiling ( but a portion of the sound is absorbed or transmitted). When a small sound source is placed in the center of a room, close to the source, in the near field, sound measurement is unpredictable. Near the wall, in the reverberant field, the reflected sound begins to add to the sound coming directly from the source. The reduction in sound level due to the distance from the source tends to be cancelled out by the addition of the sound reflecting off the wall a near-

constant sound-pressure level near the wall.

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The Path Air Conditioning System

The receiver is the person working in the adjacent conditioned space. The supply duct provides one of the paths for sound to travel from the source to the receiver. To specify the maximum allowable equipment sound power not exceeding the sound-pressure target for the space.

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The Path Air Conditioning System

Airborne sound Sound in air is called airborne sound or simply sound. Generated by a vibrating surface or a turbulent fluid stream. Structure borne sound In solids, sound travels as bending waves, compression waves, torsion waves, shear waves and others. Sound in solids is generally called structure borne sound.

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The Path Air Conditioning System

One piece of equipment may contain several sound sources. For example,a packaged rooftop air conditioner contains supply and exhaust (or return) fans, compressors, and condenser fans. Sound may travel from a single source to the receiver along multiple paths: supply airborne, supply breakout, return airborne, and transmission through the adjacent wall. The total sound heard = the sum of all the sounds from various sources traveling along several paths. Supply airborne path contributes to the total sound-pressure level in the space much more than the other three paths.

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The Path Transmission Loss (TL) of Partition

TL depends on material properties, such as stiffness and internal damping. 16 mm gypsum boardTL depends mainly on the surface mass of the wall at frequencies below about 1 kHz (match with mass law) At higher frequencies, there is a dip in the TL curve( coincidence dip) the the wavelength of flexural vibrations in the wall coincides with the wavelength of sound in the air. 150 mm concrete slab has a coincidence frequency at 100Hz The coincidence dip for the 25 gage (0.531 mm thick) steel sheet occurs at about 2.5kHz.

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The Path Transmission Loss (TL) of Partition

The total sound energy that strikes a surface is either reflected, absorbed by the material, or transmitted through the material. Materials that are dense (such as masonry block or wallboard) or stiff (such as glass) are generally better at reducing transmitted sound than materials that are lightweight or flexible. Increasing the thickness of a material reduces the amount of sound transmitted through it. High-frequency sound is more easily reduced than low-frequency sound when it pass through material.

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The Path Transmission Loss (TL) of Partition

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The Path Noise reduction by enclosure

Sound Absorption of Materials The absorptivity of a material depends on thickness, frequency of the sound, and whether there is a reflective surface located behind the absorptive material. The absorptivity of a material is described as absorption coefficient.

Reduction in reverberant sound pressure level

in a room due to the enclosure of a source in the same room:

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The Path Noise reduction by Sound Barrier

A sound barrier is a solid structure that intercepts the direct sound path from a sound source to a receiver. It reduces the sound pressure level within its shadow zone. Maximum reduction in SPL = 24 dB due to Scattering and refraction of sound into the shadow zone formed by the barrier Practical constructions, size and space restrictions often limit sound barrier performance to 10 to 15 dB.

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The Path Noise reduction by Sound Barrier

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The Path Noise reduction by Sound Barrier

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The Path Noise control in Ventilation System

Step 1- Minimize flow resistance and turbulence in air distribution system High flow resistance increases the required fan pressure and results in higher fan noise. Turbulence increases the flow noise generated by duct fittings and dampers. Step 2 - Select of a fan A fan operating close peak efficiency at design point. Not oversize or undersize fan => inefficient point. Step 3- design duct connections (the fan inlet and outlet) for uniform & straight air flow Else, turbulence at the fan inlet and outlet and in flow separation at the fan blades increase fan noise
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The Path Noise control in Ventilation System

Step 4 - Selection of Silencer Duct silencers not largely increase fan total static pressure. Maximum static pressure losses = 87 Pa Step 5 Flow velocity and duct area Duct airflow velocity <7.5 m/s near critical noise areas by expanding the duct cross-section area. Step 6 Turning vanes at elbows & discharge point far from them Use turning vanes in large 90 rectangular elbows and place grilles, diffusers and registers far from them. Step 7 Vibration Isolators/ Flexible Connectors Vibration isolation for ceiling supported pipes and pipe flexible connectors between equipment & pipes.

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The Path Noise control in Ventilation System

Silencers used in HVAC&R systems : Dissipative silencers. Dissipative silencers use perforated metal surfaces covering acoustic grade fiberglass to attenuate sound over a broad range of frequencies. Packless silencers The facing material can be made of galvanized or aluminum sheet with perforation. There is no fibrous fill. Noise is attenuated by means of acoustically resistive perforations in the splitters. Active silencers These silencers produce low-frequency inverse sound waves to cancel the unwanted noise.

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The Path Noise control in Ventilation System

Dissipative Silencer
A silencer is for reduction of the sound power level of a fan, an airflow noise, or other sound source transmitted along a ductborne path or airborne path. Rectangular and cylindrical silencers: (a) rectangular silencer and (b) cylindrical silencer. A say 2m length prefabricated silencer is effective in frequencies between 63 and 4000 Hz

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The Path Noise control in Ventilation System

Dissipative Silencer

Inside the rectangular casing are a number of flat splitters, depending on the width of the silencer. These splitters direct the airflow into small sound-attenuating passages. The splitter is made from an envelope containing sound-attenuating material, such as fiberglass or mineral wool, with protected non-eroding facing. The thickness of a splitter is often between 25 and 100 mm.

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The Path Noise control in Ventilation System

Dissipative Silencer

Splitters often have a round instead of a flat nose, to reduce their airflow resistance. A rectangular silencer is often connected with rectangular ducts or sometimes with rectangular fan intakes and discharges. A cylindrical silencer has an outer cylindrical jacket and an inner concentric center body. Both the cylindrical jacket and the center body contain sound-attenuating material and noneroding facing. A cylindrical silencer is often used in conjunction with vane-axial fans and in round duct systems.

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The Path Noise control in Ventilation System

Active Silencers
Active silencers use ducted enclosure to cancel duct-borne, low-frequency fan noise (including rumbles) This is done by producing sound waves of equal amplitude and opposite phase. The primary sound source is the unwanted fan noise. The secondary sound source canceling the unwanted source comprises the inverse sound waves from a loudspeaker.

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The Path Noise control in Ventilation System

Active Silencers

Fan noise is propagated along a duct, an input microphone measures noise and sends an electric signal proportional to the sound wave to the controller. The controller calculates the amplitude, frequency, and phase of the propagating sound and sends a cancel signal to the loudspeaker. The loudspeaker broadcasts sound waves of the same amplitude and frequency as the unwanted noise (180 out of phase).

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The Path Noise control in Ventilation System

Active Silencers
The destructive interference between these two sound sources results in the cancellation of the incident fan noise by the secondary source broadcasted by the loudspeaker. An error microphone measures the residual noise optimize the performance of the active silencer. Active silencer has a good sound attenuation in frequencies between 31 and 125 Hz Air velocity in an active silencer not exceeding 7.5 m/s. The input power only at 40 W.

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The Path Noise control in Ventilation System

The Path Noise control in Ventilation System

The Path Noise control in Ventilation System

The Path Noise control in Ventilation System

End reflection loss The change in propagation medium (when sound travels from duct termination into a room) reflection of sound back up the duct. The effect is greatest at long wavelength (i.e. low frequencies) This leads to a contribution to the control of low frequency noise from the system.

Sound Level at a Receiver Point

When a source sounds in a room, energy travels from a source to the room boundaries, where some is absorbed and some of it is reflected back into the room. The relation between sound pressure level and sound power level in real room may be found by

Sound Level at a Receiver Point

For a normally furnished room with regular proportions and acoustical characteristics between `average and `medium-dead and room volume < 430 m3, a point source of source could be found by: -

Sound pressure level at a given location in a room

The sound power level information on a source to predict the sound pressure level at a given location due to a source of known sound power level depends on: (1) room volume, (2) room furnishings and surface treatments, (3) magnitude of the sound source(s), and (4) distance from the sound source(s) to the point of observation. The relationship between source sound power level & room SPL :

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The sound pressure level at a given location in a room

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Noise Control in Practice

All piping has mechanical vibration (equipment and flow-induced vibration and noise) transmitted by the pipe wall and the water column. The piping system must be flexible enough to Reduce vibration transmission along the connected piping, Permit equipment movement without reducing the performance of vibration isolators, and Accommodate equipment movement or thermal movement of the piping at connections without imposing undue strain on the connections and equipment.

Noise Control in Practice

Minimized by sizing pipe so that - the velocity is 1.2 m/s maximum for pipe 50 mm and smaller and - using a pressure drop limitation of 400 Pa per metre of pipe length with a maximum velocity of 3 m/s for larger pipe sizes. Flow noise and vibration can be reintroduced by -turbulence, -sharp pressure drops, and -entrained air.

Noise Control in Practice

Flexible Pipe Connectors
(1) They provide piping flexibility to permit isolators to function properly,

(2) They protect equipment from strain from misalignment and expansion or contraction of piping, and (3) They attenuate noise and vibration transmission along the piping . The most common type of connector are arched or expansion joint type, a short length connector with one or more large radius arches, of rubber or metal. All flexible connectors require end restraint to counteract the pressure thrust.

The Noise Control Ordinance

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Noise from domestic premises and public places (often referred to as general neighbourhood noise); Noise from construction activities (including piling); Noise from places other than domestic premises, public places or construction sites (for example, noise from industrial or commercial premises); Noise from intruder alarm system installed in any premises or vehicle; Noise from individual items of plant or equipment (referred to in the Ordinance as Product Noise, for example, noise from hand-held breaker and air compressor); and Noise emission from motor vehicles.

6.

When defining the acoustical design goal for an outdoor environment, to meet noise ordinance for example, the Environmental Protection Department specified A-weighted scale.
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Environmental Protection Department, HKSARG

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The Noise Control Ordinance

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Question and Answer

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