Noisy Industrial Machines and How to Quiet Them!

If industrial machines need to be extra quiet, the use of acoustic cameras can provide the needed support. Machines that work with aluminum are in an acoustic world of their own. For instance, the cavities in the aluminum profiles sometimes increase vibrations in a unique way: the generated sounds are clearly audible, but it is quite difficult to locate the exact noise source!

Matthias Gamisch, Sales Manager of Fill (Upper Austrian special machine manufacturer) has encountered such case: we had designed a machine for a well-known Austrian customer, and during the acceptance test, the machine made a noise that no one could locate. It was quiet but totally perceptible! This particular customer wanted maximum noise reduction, due to the spatial conditions of the factory.

No Standard Case

In fact, there is a standard solution in such cases: the entire machine is enclosed in sound insulation and it’s done! However, the sound insulation needs space which is a problem in production halls where space is scarce and in demand.

Sometimes, the sound insulation cannot be an option: when the industrial machine has to have a window which provides a view inside! In such cases, the window will be completely covered by the sound insulation covering.

However, there is another solution, which is more costly: You could build components based on less or more justified suspicion, check if they might be the cause of noise, reinstall them, and do the same for the next one until you find where the noise come from!

Or not! You can simply assess the industrial machine using a microphone, record the noise and hope that the problem come from where the noise is the loudest. However, it only works in a limited way. Because sound is easily deflected, and rarely penetrates to the outside from the place where it is directly produced.

The Acoustic Camera Solution

Luckily, there is a third solution which is relatively new: the use of an acoustic camera.

Matthias Gamisch, Sales Manager of Fill (Upper Austrian special machine manufacturer) has benefited from this third solution and siad: “The outcome of using the Seven Bel sound scanners gave us a surprising outcome! 4 sound sources were identified in one afternoon. More importantly: Two of them we would have perhaps found without the camera. But the other two couldn’t be identified or thought of even by the most experienced technicians.

Anyways, the time saved was remarkable. After a week, during which the unwanted noise was located and removed through improved construction, the Seven Bel acoustic camera was used once again and documented for the customer to make them sure that everything was green.

In fact, using the acoustic camera the noise source was located, and the problem was solved after less than two weeks. Using conventional methods, it could have taken five times as long!

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