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10 Steps to choose the right Soundproofing Materials

Soundproofing Materials: 10 Steps to choose the right one and how to test their effectiveness in the Industrial context.

 

Soundproofing refers to the processes involved in checking the sound from entering or leaving a specified area by absorbing and/ or mitigating the sound. Soundproofing mechanisms can be employed in a number of situations, some of which may include private homes, religious centers, offices, studios, and most especially industries notorious for sound pollution mostly attributed to the use of heavy-duty machinery.

Over the years, it has been discovered that noise pollution has the potential of causing damage to our health than we initially conceived. And as a result of these findings, employers of labor owe their employees good working conditions and a safe working environment, which typically involves a working area that dissipates noise levels below standardized noise thresholds. 

What’s more, it’s common knowledge that a noisy environment negatively affects concentration and attentiveness, and would drastically reduce productivity and the quality of service.

More negative effects

Noise pollution doesn’t stop there, it also targets the psychological health of its victims and can trigger health issues such as high blood pressure, hearing impairments, stress, and insomnia. In truth, the list is inexhaustible. 

Most industries the world over understand the importance of the health of employees, yet cannot afford to get rid of such heavy-duty machinery due to a lack of quieter alternatives. To solve this problem, it is best to lock in the noise that these machines produce by the installation of quality soundproofing materials.

 

Soundproofing Materials and How They Work

As was earlier stated, soundproofing simply refers to mitigating the noise within a certain area. This is achievable by installing certain materials (insulators) that trap sound and absorb them. 

There exist different types of soundproofing materials and you’d need to consider a lot of factors like the kind of building to be soundproofed and the intensity of noise to be absorbed among many other factors.

Here are a few soundproofing materials used in for industrial soundproofing applications:

 

  • Mineral Wool (Rockwool Rockboard)
  • Soundproof Fiberglass (Owens Corning 703)
  • Acoustic Fiberglass.
  • Acoustic Foam Panels.
  • Echo Absorber™ Acoustic Cotton.
  • Fabric Wrapped Acoustic Panels.
  • Fire Rated Foam. 

 

Ten Steps towards choosing the right soundproofing material

 

There are no wrong materials when it comes to soundproofing, it really just depends on what you aim to achieve. We have, however, come up with 10 guidelines to be followed when choosing soundproofing materials in order to get the best out of soundproofing.

 

 

 

  • The level/Source of Noise: The level of noise that is to be locked out or in, goes a long way in deciding the kind of materials to use. For minimal noise, soft, specially designed foams can help to absorb the noise, but for noise emanating from heavy-duty machinery, more advanced noise insulators may be adopted.

 

  • Propagation of Noise: Noise can either be airborne or structure-borne. To get the best materials for soundproofing, you would need to first determine how the noise travels from the original source to the receiver. This is because some insulators are suited for airborne noise transmission and may be quite ineffective for noise that is structured-based and vice versa.

 

  • What are these materials are made of: Some soundproofing materials are more eco-friendly than others, and should generally influence the choice of materials. Some others may include flammable agents which may not be suitable for certain applications.

 

  • Thermal Insulation: Some soundproofing materials carry with them some thermal insulation features, which helps to reduce heat also. It is advisable to get these types of soundproofing materials for cost-effectiveness and the added advantage, especially in an industrial setting.

 

  • Ease of Installation and Maintenance: When choosing soundproofing materials, it’s advisable that opt for the ones that are easier to install for time maximization. For example, when decoupling walls and ceilings to keep sound front traveling through them, it is best to make use of the resilient sound clips instead of resilient channels because they are easier to install.

 

  • Why are you soundproofing? In choosing the right materials, you must understand the purpose for which you are soundproofing in the first place. If the aim is to lock sound in, you should not consider soundproofing materials like the mass loaded vinyl which is specifically designed to keep sound out.

 

  • Additional soundproofing: If you are looking to cover the loopholes that may remain after general soundproofing, you should consider getting additional soundproofing such as the under door draft stopper as it seals the small gap between the bottom of the door and the floor, and ensures that there are no under-door spaces that could let noise penetrate or escape.

 

  • What parts of the area are most important? You should also determine what parts of the noise prone workspace you want to focus on when soundproofing, as this will help to decide the kind of materials to look out for. For example, the weather stripping can only be used to seal gaps around doors and windows, hence it should not be considered for soundproofing walls.

 

  • The best material wins: It is of paramount importance to purchase the best quality materials affordable. You can seek expert opinion in deciding what materials are of the best quality based on your proposed applications. Low-quality materials will only bring you discomfort in the long run and in some cases a potential industrial hazard.

 

  • Soundproofing windows: When soundproofing windows, the use of double-glazed windows may fail miserably to effectively mitigate noise pollution, hence, you may opt for thick glass as a more functional alternative. The thicker the glass, the better the results. 

 

How to Test the Effectiveness of Your Soundproofing Materials 

To ensure that you are purchasing the best and most effective soundproofing materials for your industry, it is best to run a series of tests. Here are some methods to employ in testing the effectiveness of soundproofing materials:

  • Making use of Impedance tools: The impedance tube is pretty much a tube with circular ends. There are different types based on size, shape, and material used in making it. This tube can be used in free field situations to test the transfer of sound in a bid to understand the specific soundproofing needs.

 

  • The impact insulation class: This is used to test sound-blocking floor soundproofing products. There are other products such as the impact insulation class that test other soundproofing efficiency of other parts of a workspace. 

 

  • If your industry related noise challenges require that you test how effective sound-blocking materials are for ceilings and walls, you may use the CAC and STC respectively.

 

  • For sound absorption material testing, the NRC is your best method. NRC is the comparing of different sound absorption levels through the use of speakers and microphones.

Stopson Italiana produces customized solutions according to the client’s needs. The main soundproofing solutions can be collected in 2 categories:

Silencers

Absorptive for cold and hot gases, reactive for engines or small boilers exhaust, combined absorptive and reactive for venting systems. Circular or rectangular shape, atmospheric or pressurized for any gas, temperature range 
, and applications providing sound attenuation up to 70 dB and reduce residual noise to a sustainable level.

→Read more

Enclosures and Barriers

Shaped around noisy equipment, indoor or outdoor, on-base or off-base, designed to provide optimum noise attenuation in any critical environment. Made of modular acoustic panels and linings for sound isolation while ensuring equipment maintenance, ventilation, weather protection, and fire safety.

→Read more

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Stopson Italiana supplied Pulse-Jet Filter houses and Soundproofing Equipment for Blower packages in Egypt

No. 2 Air Intake systems with self-cleaning filters, inlet silencers and ducts, acoustic enclosures, discharge silencers, including control system with related inlet silencers recently commissioned at the “Ain-Sokhna Phosphatic Fertilizer Complex” near the Red Sea.

 

The project – recently installed – entails the supply of several components joined together. The main item is represented by a system of n.2 auto-cleaning filters, designed taking into consideration the high presence of dust in the site. In addition to this, n.2 Duct silencers, n.2 Acoustic Enclosures, and n.4 Discharge Silencers complete the project.

These latter are the ideal solution for noise reduction caused by gas pulsation in refrigeration and air conditioning systems.

The multidisciplinary nature of the project has been turned into a challenging research and design work, carried out successfully by the Stopson Italiana engineering team. Indeed each component has been customized in order to be assembled and working in non-ordinary climatic condition. It is also noteworthy that Stopson Italiana has been designed as responsible both for the release of the electro-instrumental parts and the control panels of the system.

The project – of which the installation is underway in these days – consists in the following units:

  • 2 Filter house pulse jet type for a flow of 172189 Nm3/h
  • 2 Inlet and Duct Silencer from filter house to blowers
  • 2 Acoustic Enclosure for blowers
  • 4 Exhaust Silencers on blowers discharge

The acoustic warranty covers 82 dbA SPL, at 1m from each unit supplied.

 

This Sulphuric Acid Plant is a part of a contract that represents half of the total Fertilizers Complex built at Ain Sokhna, which is the biggest complex ever built in the fertilizers sector in Egypt.

The project aims to cover the local market’s fertilizer needs and export surplus production. The cluster includes n.9 major factories with a production capacity of 1m tons/y of phosphate and compound fertilizers, Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and pure and commercial phosphoric acid. The whole plant has been implemented by three companies specialized in building the largest phosphate fertilizer factories in the world using Italian, Spanish and Chinese technology.

With this recent achievement, Stopson Italiana re-confirm its capability to provide “one-stop-shop option” for complex equipment packages covering the entire range of product related to air inlet and filtration system, soundproofing solutions for either in duct and break-out noise and control system implementation.

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Noise Reduction in Power Generation Plants

Power Generation Plant and Soundproofing – a brief introduction

Over the years, there has been a general increase in the use of power plants, from smaller generating plants owned by individuals to large industrial power generation plants. This increase may be attributed to the trends of development which seems to be taking over the global front currently.

With these changes with regards the need for more power, there is the prevailing issue of noise pollution by power generation plants which has been ever-present but is gradually becoming a point of concern for communities and individuals who suffer the effects of noise pollution, especially those emanating from the power generation plants.

While innovations such as industrial soundproofing and industrial silencers have played a role in curbing some of the issues associated with noise pollution from power generation plants, many other factors continue to serve as bottlenecks towards an effective campaign against noise pollution. Some of these factors include:

  • Lack of scalability of power plants
  • Insufficiencies in the design of power plants
  • Challenges with heat management in power plants due to soundproofing materials

 

Why Noise Reduction is important

Noise reduction in power plants is of utmost importance owing largely to the issues associated with persistent noise pollution, especially with regards health. Common noise sources include:

  • Compressors
  • Turbine
  • Fan Intake & Exhaust (PA, ID, FD fans)
  • Generators
  • Piping and ducts
  • Steam Exhaust
  • Motors
  • Centrifugal Blowers

 

Noise reduction in power plants is of grave importance as the employees are exposed to health issues which may not manifest immediately. Some of these issues include:

  • neurobehavioral change
  • psychological stress
  • unhappiness
  • reduced speech intelligibility,
  • permanent hearing loss

These factors may also affect those who may be directly affected by the noise from power generation plants.

 

When Noise reduction in the industry is crucial (limits and tolerance)

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA, the permissible thresholds or permissible exposure limit for noise exposure is set at 90Dba over the course of 8 hours.

To grasp a full understanding of what 90 Dba is, a whisper perhaps between two friends is approximately 30dBA. A regular conversation between two parties is set at approximately 60dBA while a mower operates at 80dBA.

Based on OSHA standards, a noise level increase of 5 Dba translates to an exposure period of half the time. This implies that a worker who is exposed to 95dBA should work for only four hours under such conditions.

Below is a table to ensure better understanding:

Source: https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/tf4173

 

 

How is this covered by international standards

A number of health and safety organizations around the world have set certain thresholds, mostly within the aforementioned ranges. Some of these organizations include the ISO, ANSI ad WHO to mention but a few.

 

Which solutions are implementable

Thanks to technological advancements, there are solutions to the menace of noise generation in energy plants. The most common of these solutions, especially for individuals and small-scale business owners are industrial silencers and industrial soundproofing. Some other solutions include:

Duct Silencers – These components offer an incredibly high level of sound reduction in airflow applications. It is mainly applied in stacks, larger ID fans, building ventilation and so many other applications.

Mufflers –While these share a similar concept to the duct silencers above, its mode of operation differs in that it ensures noise reduction in energy plants in that the mufflers are applied to motors or compressed air pipings within the system in a bid to eliminate exhaust noise. Some of the more common applications of mufflers include blowers, compressors and generators.

Acoustical Louvers – Due to the challenges associated with poor designs of some power generation plants and a resulting inability to inculcate a sound proofing system without risking rising temperatures, acoustical louvers provide sound reduction with little to minimal restriction of airflow within the power plants. For the most part, acoustical louvers are used in place of standard louvers for a high level of noise reduction while retaining the effective ventilation of their system.

Duct and Pipe Lagging – While this sounds pretty hands on, it is quite the process to go through with. it simply refers to eliminating breakout noise which is being generated from pipe and ductwork. Hence, the piping or ductwork is neatly wrapped with a barrier absorber composite to keep noise within safe thresholds.

Sound Enclosures – Sound enclosures are arguably the most effective solutions noise control in power generating plants, especially amongst newer designs. With sound enclosures, the power generating plant is simply enclosed, while access for heat dissipation as well as maintenance are made readily available. Sound enclosures are particularly effective in Enclose blowers, pumps, fans or other equipment generating high noise levels.,

Absorptive Panels – Absorption panels serve as an active form of noise reduction in Energy plants. In most cases, these panels are available as an additional feature to generating sets, especially industrial based sets. To large extents, it significantly reduces noise levels in areas of application. It is normally installed to either side of the wall of the generating power plant in a bid to mitigate the noise effects from the power plant.

All in all, the need to match up with the world’s seemingly unchecked noise generation levels in light of increasing power generation cannot be understated. Hence the need for all hands to be on deck in an effort to ensure that noise reduction, particularly in energy plants becomes a reality that everyone embraces.

 

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Stopson Ventilation Silencers to be installed at Gas Compression stations in Northern Italy

Completed delivery of 12+8 combined Ventilation System Building for Gas storage plant in Sergnano and Minerbio (Italy)

 

Stopson has successfully fulfilled the delivery of 12+8 Ventilation System Buildings for the natural gas Compression Stations in Sergnano and Minerbio (Italy).

Ventilation System Building for Industry
Section of combined Filtered-and-silenced Inlet System (Cremona – Italy)

The supply service entails a total of twenty ventilation systems, composed by 20 filtered-and-silenced Inlet System together with the same number of Soundproofed Outlet Systems with forced extraction and fireproof dumpers.

The acoustic warranty covers a noise level reduction of 30 dB(A) SPL at 1mt.The order has been completed and tested phase in these past days.

In general, the plant consists of implementation of 3 turbo-compressor to be set within the Sergnano gas infrastructure. The operations necessary for the installation of the station will be completed as a whole by mid 2018.

The total investment amount is 0.6 bln € (between 2017-2021), aimed to increase the general safety and flexibility of the area, bringing a resources’ capacity increment of 7% circa.

Thanks to a 50 years of experience in the field of industrial soundproofing, Stopson’ technical department is able to deeply analyze and propose the rightest solutions to control noise produced by the extraction systems.

Some possible applications are:

  • Soundproofing of compressors
  • Soundproofing of pumps
  • Silencers for industrial fans
  • Soundproofing air expulsion chimneys
  • Silencers for ATU/air treatment units
  • Silencers for extraction systems
  • Soundproofing engine testing room
  • Silencers for side channel blowers

The main solutions consists of rectangular or circular silencers, designed taking into account of the different noise sources and sound spectrum. The installation can be made along the piping or chimneys of emission into the atmosphere.

They can be designed and produced in standard dimensions, or in any size on request and are equipped for external air intake, in addition to return from the filter system.

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Everything You Need to Know about Noise Pollution

How to limit the noise propagation (not only in Oil and Gas). Risks and countermeasures of a phenomenon as important as universally underrated.

The noise pollution’s matter has become a well-documented public domain anthology by now.

The World Health Organisation has reported that 40% of Europe’s population is exposed to noise levels in excess of 55dB. Moreover, noise pollution is ranked as second to air pollution, in terms of affecting our health and wellbeing, including diabetes, tinnitus and risk of heart disease.

Noise pollution in Oil and Gas

According to recent study achieved by PSE Healthy Energy and West Virginia University, some modern Oil and Gas techniques – such as hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) – produce noise that may increase adverse effects on human health. 

Fracking can create noise at levels high enough to harm the health of people living nearby (source phys.org). “Oil and gas operations produce a complex symphony of noise types, including intermittent and continuous sounds and varying intensities,” argued PSE Healthy Energy Executive Director Seth Shonkoff.

An adequate set of policies should be specified, in order to safeguard residents and communities, such as particularly vulnerable populations (e.g. schools and hospitals). Noise mitigation techniques like perimeter sound walls, noise barriers and acoustic enclosures could represent the most appropriate solutions to hold back this phenomenon.

Noise impact on marine species

This is not all. A recent study led by International Fund for Animal Welfare, reveals the damaging impact of Oil

Noise pollution can damage marine species

and Gas noise pollution on whales and dolphins. In the report, they put in evidence how new technologies should reduce their impact on marine environment during the exploration phase (source: International Fund for Animal Welfare).

 

Noise and Diseases

Numerous epidemiological studies have linked noise to adverse health outcomes too. They include diabetes, depression, birth complications and cognitive impairment in children.

In facts, apart from damage to hearing, exposure to excessive and constant noise can cause other health problems including:

  • Headache
  • Sleep and heart disease
  • Stress
  • Elevated blood pressure
  • Fatigue
  • Irritability
  • Digestive disorders
  • Increased susceptibility to colds and other minor infections

Noise in Europe: limits and human tolerance

As we know, the loudness of noise is measured in decibels. Sensitivity to noise differs from one individual to the next, but experts believe that damage to hearing occurs when noise levels are higher than 85 decibels, which is about the loudness of heavy traffic.

Every year, 7 million people in Europe die from heart disease, which would put the toll from exposure to noise at around 210,000 deaths. In England heart disease kills 110,000 people annually, so the deaths linked to noise could be around 3,300.

2% of Europeans suffer severely disturbed sleep because of noise pollution. The researchers calculate that chronic exposure to loud traffic noise causes three percent of all cases of tinnitus, in which sufferers hear constant noise. Length of exposure is important too. In facts, it is not recommendable to listen to noises of 109 decibels for any longer than two minutes in row.

Noise and public health in U.S.

In US the noise phenomena has been studied deeply, causing a direct response by public health. The Health Impacts Project (HIP) provides since 2013 guidance for policy makers to identify the health consequences of potential projects by making public a national sample of health impact assessment.

Exposure Limits in U.S.

The U.S. EPA recommends an average 24-hr exposure limit of 55 A-weighted decibels (dBA) to protect the public from all adverse effects on health and welfare in residential areas. This limit is a day–night 24-hr average noise level (LDN), with a 10-dBA penalty applied to nighttime levels between 2200 and 0700 hours to account for sleep disruption and no penalty applied to daytime levels.

More info about the Noise sources and Soundproofing solutions in industrial sector can be found here.

 

 

ventilation silencer
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Why control of noise is so important in manufacturing

The main principles that affects the engineering process of a soundproofed plant

The noise pollution is considered nowadays a crucial aspect in the selection and construction of manufacturing plants.

Noise is defined as, “the unwanted, unpleasant or disagreeable sound that causes discomfort to all living beings”. One dB is the faintest sound that a human ear can hear. Unless levels are above 85 decibels, noise pollution should not be a problem in the workplace. Federal occupational safety and health mandates state that if the noise produced by heavy machinery or equipment is in excess of these levels, employers must control noise pollution through engineering and administrative controls.

The environmental noise has been doubling every ten years; The Indian Institute of Oto-Rino Laryngology, Chennai reported, in facts, that increasing industrial pollution damages the hearing ability by at least 20%.

Workers in steel industry, who work close to heavy industrial blowers are exposed to 112dB for eight hours suffer from occupational pollution.

Noise is classified as: Industrial Noise, Transport  Noise and Neighbourhood noise. The first one is caused by industry machines, and it entails noise pollution caused by machines from machines in various factories, plants (e.g. Power Generation and Oil & Gas), industries and mills.

The preceding step to the selection and design of control measures, is to identify and carefully evaluate the noise sources. In order to set up the control strategy with the right approach, the following factors need be considered:

  • Type of sound
  • Noise levels and temporal pattern
  • Frequency distribution
  • Noise sources (location, power, directivity)
  • Noise propagation pathways, through air or through structure
  • Room acoustics (reverberation)

Additionally, other crucial factors have to be determined, such number of exposed workers, type of work, amount of time spent to the noise’s exposure etc. Where possible, noise levels should be evaluated at locations occupied by workers’ ears.

The noise control planning is based on a “A-weighted immission” (or noise exposure levels) for which the respect of standard ISO 11690-1 is recommended.

Any noise problem may be described in terms of source, transmission path and a receiver (e.g., a worker); thus a noise control plant needs to take into account the relative combinations of this different factors.

The better phase to project a soundproofing system lies in the original design. In fact, when noise control is included in the first design of a new plant (or factory), advantages both in terms of overall performance and costs’ reduction arise.

When noise cannot be controlled to an acceptable level at the source, attempts has to directed to control it at some point during its propagation path. For this reason, an important part of the process consists to identify noise sources and to sort them in terms of contributions to excessive noise.

When the requirements for noise control have been quantified, and sources ranked, it’s possible to consider various options for implementing the control, determining the cost effectiveness of the various options. Generally speaking, some studies put in evidence that the cost of enclosing a noise source is much greater than modifying the source or process producing the noise.

Stopson Italiana produces fully customized solutions for all type of plants and applications: Boilers, Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG), Turbomachinery, Venting systems, Combustion engines and Industrial equipments.

Check it out http://stopson.it/applications/