Practical Industrial Noise Reduction Examples

Noise at Work Solutions

We have provided practical noise control solutions for a very wide variety of industrial machinery, equipment, companies and types of factory throughout the UK. We are a specialist industrial noise reduction company, and noise control in industry represents the majority of our work. Below are just a few examples of the industrial noise reduction solutions we have provided for some of the most common types of industrial machine. We have also solved noise problems for many other types of machine, company, industry and equipment not listed below. Contact our company for details of our other types of industrial noise reduction solution.

There are more examples on other pages of this web site, many illustrating the large savings in noise reduction costs that our company often achieves for customers in industry. By providing access to a much wider range of industrial noise reduction solutions than normal and using advanced technology, we are often able to help our customers save thousands of pounds on the cost of noise control. Click on the Industrial Noise Reduction, Industrial Noise Control - Noise at Work and Industrial Noise Control - Noise Nuisance pages for details.

Examples of Noise Reduction in Industry

Air Knife. 11 dBA noise reduction achieved on an air knife using a purpose designed silencer and air flow modifications. The noise at the nearest worker fell from 93 dBA to 82 dBA.

Belt noise. Technique used: engineer the noise out at source. Result: 10 - 12 dBA noise reduction on a range of different machinery drives where belt noise was the problem.

Blower. Reductions of 13 - 15 dBA achieved on a variety of different industrial blowers.

Blow mould machine. The diagnostic tests carried out by our engineer showed that most of the noise was generated by compressed air jet nozzles used for cooling. Treating these cooling air jet nozzles gave a noise reduction of 7 - 9 dBA on a range of different blow mould machines. Air jets are a very common cause of high noise levels in UK industry, and their noise can normally be reduced at very low cost.

Cardboard slitter & cutter. Guard modifications provided a 9 dBA noise reduction on a slitter and cutter machine used in the cardboard industry.

Compressed air. Numerous compressed air noise problems have been solved successfully. For example, treating compressed air jet nozzles on a can drier in the drinks industry provided a 15 dBA noise reduction at very low cost.

Compressor. Noise reductions of 6 - 10 dBA achieved on various types of compressor by purpose-designing a silencer. Our silencers are all designed to have a very low resistance to air flow. In contrast, most commercial high performance types of silencer have high resistance, which can impair fan performance and cause overheating.

Cyclone. Minor engineering modifications provided a 21 dBA noise reduction on several types of cyclone at very low cost.

Drier. 10 - 11 dBA noise reduction achieved on several different driers by purpose-designing a high performance silencer. Each silencer was designed to have low resistance to air flow, and so cause no significant loss of fan performance or drier performance.

Drink industry filling machine impacts. Practical engineering modifications were fitted to a filling machine in the drink industry, reducing the impact noise generated by the filler by 7 - 11 dBA at low cost.

Electric motor. Noise reductions of about 10 dBA achieved on a many different types of electric motor by purpose-designing a silencer.

Fan noise. We have developed solutions for most types of industrial fan noise problem. A few examples are given on this page. See noise nuisance pages for more.

Food chopper. A purpose designed silencer for each of the material infeed and outfeed ports reduced the noise on a food chopper machine by 22 dBA. Our company offers various types of practical noise control solution that are suitable for the stringent hygiene requirements within the food, drink and pharmaceutical industries. Much of our noise reduction work is for food companies. We also carry out a substantial amount of work for drink and pharmaceutical companies.

Hydraulic noise. Minor engineering modifications were designed for the hydraulic drive on a mixer, reducing the noise by 7 dBA at very low cost. This practical noise control solution can be applied to most types of hydraulic noise problem and a wide range of hydraulic machinery & equipment.

Impact noise problems. Reductions of 7 - 10 dBA have been achieved on a wide variety of machinery, equipment and types of chute, using a highly durable and practical noise control solution to suppress impact noise. Because it incorporates a steel impact surface, our solution avoids the problems of the soft rubber like materials that are commonly used to reduce impact noise. Soft materials can quickly wear completely away, whereupon the high impact noise level returns. As they wear, these soft rubber-like materials can also contaminate the product. This can be a major problem on chute and other types of impact surface in a hygienic industry such as the food, drinks and pharmaceutical industries.

Lathe. 7 - 8 dBA reduction achieved on various types of multi-spindle automatic lathe.

Mixer. 6 -7 dBA noise reduction on various types of mixer.

Paint booth supply and extract fan. Altering the air flow on several types of supply and extract fan reduced the noise inside a paint spray booth by 3 - 6 dBA at very low cost.

Pipe noise. A supplier and installer of gas compressors and pipework was spending large sums of money on acoustic lagging to reduce the noise radiated by the pipes used to carry gas around the plant. We provided an alternative solution that achieved a much higher noise reduction at considerably lower cost. This avoided the need to fit acoustic pipe lagging. The savings amounted to about £5000 per site on average.

Plastic extruder. A high performance engineering vibration damping treatment provided a 5 dBA noise reduction on a plastic extruder. Our engineer carried out the work directly for the manufacturer (who was our customer), and they applied the solution to all their machines of that type.

Press. Engineering solutions have produced noise reductions of between 7 and 11 dBA on a many different presses at low cost. Power press noise is a common industrial problem. The common solution is to fit an acoustic enclosure around each press. This is a very costly solution. It also restricts access, so can impair productivity. Engineering types of solution avoid this, and they cost considerably less.

Stitching machine. 5 - 7 dBA reduction achieved on numerous stitching machines at very low cost, reducing workers' noise to below 80 dBA.

Trim extract fan. 8 dBA reduction provided on a side trim extract fan in the cardboard industry at very low cost, reducing the noise to 81 dBA at the nearest worker.

Vacuum pump. 7 - 8 dBA noise reduction achieved on many different types of vacuum pump.

Vibratory bowl feeder. Minor engineering modifications to the product feed guides reduced the noise on various types of vibrating bowl feeder by 12 dBA at very low cost.

Vibratory deburrer. Noise reduction of 7 dBA on vibrating deburrer machines, reducing nearest worker's noise to 83 dBA.

Vibratory conveyor, separator, weigher, feeder. Noise reductions of 10 - 11 dBA achieved on a variety of vibrating and deburring machinery & equipment including various types of separator, weigher, conveyor, vibrator and feeder for powder & other product.

Waste extract fan. 5 dBA noise reduction produced on various types of waste extract fan.

Wood planer & thicknesser. 8 -13 dBA reductions achieved on a variety of wood planer & thicknesser machines using minor, low cost engineering modifications and other practical noise control solutions.

Wood saw. 5 - 8 dBA noise reduction on many types of wood saw at very low cost using various types of practical noise control solution.

Industry & Machine Type

The current Control of Noise at Work regulations strongly emphasise that each UK company must implement noise control at source to reduce deafness risks, instead of relying on ear protectors. So, noise control is an essential element of any programme to comply with the regulation in all factory and industrial environments where the noise level is high.

We have solved many types of noise control problem for numerous companies, across a very diverse and wide range of industrial sectors throughout the UK. Below are some examples of manufacturing industries and types of machine for which we have carried out noise control work to help the company comply with the UK Control of Noise at Work regulation:-

Chemical industry: vibrator, feeders, fan, classifier, pulveriser, hopper, furnace.

Component / Product manufacture: coater, printer, slitter, test machine, assembly machine, bowl feeders, compressed air gun, labelling machine, product conveying.

Drinks industry - Brewery / Distillery: cask and keg line, filler, washer, labeller, bottling line, can dryer, air knives.

Food industry - General: label machine, frozen and chilled food production line, freezer, dryer, fan, manufacturing line, production and packing machine, can making machine, pie line, desert production line, filling line, capper, vibrator; Vegetable factory equipment - splitter, washing, cleaning, dicing, slicer, peeler, and puree machine, food processing machine, processor and packaging machine.

Food industry - Bakery: divider, pan shaker, depanner, packing machine, tray wash, conveyor, pan cleaner, dough mixer, pneumatic exhaust, compressed air jet, vibrators, bread line, bread slicer, bun plant, mixers, cooler, crumpet line, day goods manufacture, packaging machine, divider, vacuum hood, pan stop, pan turner, stacker, pan cleaner, dolly loader.

Food industry - Sweet Manufacture: vibrating feeder, fan, multi head weigher, bagging machine, wrapper, hopper.

Food tray manufacture: tray presses, trim press, extruder.

Industrial products: packer, laminating machine, trim extract, mixers, grinder, driers, fans, hydraulic drive, impact noise sources, industrial boiler, fillers.

Metalworking / Engineering industries: assembly machine, pump, press, auto lathe, ultrasonic welder, CNC machine, mill, guillotine, manufacturing machine, production machines, lid making machine.

Non industrial products: brick manufacturing machine, tile cutter, tile production machine, packer

Packaging industry: Packaging machine, wrapper, gluer, box maker, printing press, cut and crease machine, fork lift truck, case maker, Bobst die press, corrugated cardboard slitter, shredder, corrugator, cutter, chopper fan, vacuum pump.

Pharmaceutical industry: wide range of production and packaging machines, fans, assembly machine, bowl feeders, fillers, tablet compression machine, boiler.

Plastics industry: blow mould machine, extruder, cyclones, granulator, coating machines, injection moulding machine, grinder, ultrasonic welder.

Printing industry: binding line, trimmer, stitcher, feeder, cutter, printer, binder.

Water industry: blower, pipe noise

Woodworking / Furniture industry: belt sander, drum sander, saw, edgebander, CNC router, compressor, extraction fans, motor, planer, thicknesser, shaper, pneumatic exhaust, bandsaw, circular saw.

Some more examples of our noise control experience in the above and other industrial sectors are shown on other pages of this web site, with details of cost. To find out how we can help you find a solution to a specific industrial noise control problem, or to receive our company brochure or a quotation, please click on contact us about industrial noise reduction.