UK noise technology attracts attention

Slough, UK – Engineers from the Industrial Noise and Vibration Centre (INVC) have developed a ‘quiet fan’ noise control technology.

The technology uses aerodynamic techniques to reduce fan noise at source and which can effectively be designed and installed remotely from their base in Slough.

They have recently been commissioned to install the technology at several high profile organisations across the US, following on from UK successes at organisations such as Corus.

Environmental noise legislation means that industrial sized fans have to be as quiet as possible, but traditional fan silencing technology can add millions of pounds to day to day running costs; using unnecessary energy and increasing the carbon footprint of the organisation.

For industrial outfits where power consumption is a high percentage of their running costs, substantial savings can be made and fan efficiency increased through using the new ‘quiet fan’ technology.

INVC claims that applying the technology to three 4MW fans at Corus reduced the capital cost by an estimated £800,000 and led to saving of around £200,000 a year in running costs compared with conventional silencing.

Elsewhere, representatives from a large oil refinery in the US contacted the INVC, looking for ways to reduce drone from five large 1.4MW fans at their site.

The drone from these fans was causing a serious nuisance, according to Peter Wilson, INVC’s technical director. As well as gains in energy efficiency, compared with silencers, the system also reduced the company’s capital costs by around 80%.

“Installing our technology required very little downtime and, as we were able to manage the project remotely from our UK office, we dispensed with site visits to further minimise costs for the client,” said Wilson.

“Our technology differs from silencers as it eliminates the noise at source. This means that, in many cases, clients can dispense with conventional silencers, enclosures and lagging,” continued Wilson.

“Being able to remotely control and analyse the technology from our base in the UK means that working with overseas organisations doesn’t mean hefty travel costs are added and downtime is reduced.”

The group also cites a project to install quiet fan technology at the Schiller power station in New Hampshire, whcih it said, has also delivered major savings.

A conventional silencer had been fitted to the 3m diameter 1.5MW wood burning boiler fan at the power station to reduce noise disturbance to local residents. However, the silencer dramatically reduced the fan’s efficiency, leading Schiller’s engineers to look for an alternative.

Quiet fan technology restored the fan to full efficiency, and it eliminated the low frequency tonal noise problem at a fraction of the cost of the original conventional silencer, claims INVC.

“The efficiency of fans is often seriously compromised by the silencers that have to be fitted to meet environmental noise requirements,” said Wilson.