INDUSTRIAL NOISE AND VIBRATION CONTROL

Most of the problems with noise in industrial, construction and mining environments relate to the risk of employee hearing loss, and compliance with OSHA and MSHA noise regulations (29CFR 1910.95 and 1926.52; 30CFR 62.100-190). Although the use of hearing protection is often seen as a panacea for noise exposure, their use may create physical safety hazards as well, as the use of hearing protection effectively blocks the ability to hear – and communicate.

Within the intent of the regulations, our approach has always been to emphasize engineering controls to minimize noise at the source – or separate people from it. Here are just a few of our many industrial projects:

Case # 1

A manufacturer of turbines in Maine had a serious noise problem caused by “peening” the hard alloy blades (or buckets) into the ring using an air hammer. The noise was produced, not only by the impact of the hammer, but by air exhaust and radiation of the sound off the large assembly.

We couldn’t eliminate the noise, but we reduced it by adding air exhaust mufflers and designing a composite noise barrier/absorber “blanket” to drop over the assembly to dampen and block the radiation of sound throughout the facility – thus reducing everyone’s exposure.

We had previously used this technique to reduce noise from “wing riveting” at an aircraft manufacturing facility in the southern tier of New York.

Case # 2

Another manufacturer in the southern tier had a severe vibration problem caused by the operation of several large power presses (working, we found, above their rated capacities). The presses had been bolted directly to the concrete floor, and the resultant vibration was transmitting into other building in the area.

Although we should have, ideally, mounted the presses on separate isolated inertia bases, the client elected a lesser cost alternative, and we selected Kinetics^® adjustable press mounts that reduced the vibration to an acceptable level.

Case # 3

In a similar instance, a client in Rochester, NY needed to isolate a “metrology lab” from nearby power press operations, and we designed a large “inertia base floor” using “floating floor” concepts to virtually eliminate shock coming into the area from the presses.

Earlier, we had used a similar technique with a client in Endicott, NY that was having trouble using an electronic microscope on the fourth floor of a building located near the main Conrail line and across from a manufacturer using forging hammers. The solution was a specially-designed air-mount system for the microscope that blocked the incoming vibration.

Case # 4

Automatic screw machines and a low ceiling brought a citation from OSHA to a manufacturer near Syracuse for excessive noise. We recommended a matrix of low-cost poly-wrapped fiberglass noise baffles over the area – and the noise level was documented by OSHA to have dropped by 8dBA!

Noise baffles help quiet screw machine noise in Syracuse, NY area plant

(Photo by ESA)