Professional Documents
Culture Documents
to help HVAC
engineers
perform a rough-
cut acoustical
analysis during
the design phase
of a project
F dissipates—but, sometimes, not before demonstrate a technique, one that can be applied to
escaping to places it is not wanted. Noise- any set of criteria curves.
sensitive applications, such as theaters and worship
spaces, often dictate the retention of an acoustical UNDERSTANDING THE DECIBEL
consultant, while other applications, such as small Acoustical calculations utilize the decibel. A
rooftop units serving retail shops, decibel simply is 10 times the log
rarely justify the additional By KENNETH M. ELOVITZ, PE, ESQ. of a power ratio. Strictly speak-
expense. This article presents Energy Economics Inc. ing, the word “decibel” is mean-
basic techniques to help HVAC Foxboro, Mass. ingless unless the reference power
engineers perform a rough-cut level is specified.
acoustical analysis during the design phase of a For sound-power level (Lw, PWL, or the amount
project. The goal is to determine whether a noise of noise a machine produces), the reference power
problem is likely to exist and whether the services of is 10-12 w (or 1 pw).
an acoustical consultant are warranted. For sound-pressure level (Lp, SPL, or the noise
Plotting results on a standard octave-band chart people hear), the reference power is 20 µN/m2
(Figure 1) helps engineers visualize those results. (sometimes expressed as 2 x 10-5 N/m2 and for-
Also, it shows which measures have the greatest merly called 0.0002 microbar). The reference level
impact and aids identification of octave bands of 20 µN/m2 was chosen because it is considered
where additional attenuation is needed. The octave- the minimum perceptible level of hearing.
band chart in this article has noise-criteria (NC) Sound pressure is a cyclical wave, with variations
curves superimposed on calculated data. The debate that fluctuate above and below atmospheric pres-
over which acoustical-design or acceptance criteria sure. Because the variations are mirror images above
(noise, room, balanced noise, etc.) to use is a topic and below atmospheric pressure, the arithmetic
Kenneth M. Elovitz, PE, Esq., is an engineering consultant focusing on the function and performance of
energy systems. He received a bachelor’s degree in metallurgy and materials science with highest honors from
Lehigh University and a juris-doctor degree from Suffolk University Law School. He is a member of HPAC
Engineering’s Editorial Advisory Board, as well as the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-
Conditioning Engineers; the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; and the National Fire Protection
Association.
100
Power split
90
Octave-band sound-pressure level, dB re 0.0002 microbar
Fan sound
power
80 Fourth-floor
Breakout loss duct
70 NC 70
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18 August 2003 • HPAC Engineering
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Hertz 63 125 250 500 1,000 2,000 4,000 analysis this article illustrates. Before
selecting that size, however, consider that
Breakout loss 20 23 26 29 32 37 43
duct breakout loss is a function of duct-
TABLE 3. Duct-breakout-loss estimate for 24-in.-by-24-in. rectangular duct. wall stiffness. For the same construction
or SMACNA pressure class, wider panels
of the air (and, presumably, two-thirds of ASHRAE Applications Handbook lists are less stiff and, therefore, have more
the sound energy) down the duct to the breakout-loss data for various rectangu- breakout than smaller panels. To avoid
lower floors, and still have 89 dB-A in the lar-duct sizes. overstating breakout loss, use the data
fourth-floor duct. The numbers seem to The supply duct in our example build- for the 24-in.-by-24-in. duct shown
in Table 3, and plot the results on the
Hertz 63 125 250 500 1,000 2,000 4,000 8,000 octave-band chart (Figure 1).
Converting the octave-band analysis
Factor -26 -16 -9 -3 0 +1 +1 -1
to dB-A is a convenient way to compare
TABLE 4. A-weighting adjustment factors. sound-energy levels. DB-A is a weighted
average that recognizes that the human
defy the law of conservation of energy. ing passes through a roof curb and into a ear is less sensitive to low frequencies
They make more sense when you remem- shaft. Noise that breaks out of the duct than to high frequencies. To convert a
ber that decibels are a logarithmic func- wall inside the roof curb and shaft sound spectrum to dB-A, first apply
tion. Using the rules for combining deci- reduces the sound-power level in the the adjustment factors in Table 4. Then
bels (Table 2), the 89-dB-A sound-power fourth-floor branch duct. The difference add decibels using the rules from Table 2.
level in the fourth-floor duct and the
93 dB-A remaining in the main going
Hertz 80 73 66 59 49 41 33
down the shaft (a difference of 4 dB)
produce the 94.5-dB-A fan sound-power Fourth-floor
80 73 66 59 49 41 33
duct dB
level (1.5 is added to the higher level).
Stated more scientifically, the 94.5-dB-A dB-A factor -26 -16 -9 -3 0 +1 +1
fan sound power represents 109.45 pw, or db-A 54 57 57 56 49 42 34
2.8 x 10-3 w, of sound power, while the
89 dB-A of fan sound power in the 54+57 59 57+56 58.5 49+42 50
fourth-floor duct represents 108.9 pw, or 59+58.5 62 50+34 50
0.79 x 10-3 w, of sound power. The num-
62+50 62 dB-A
bers confirm that the sound power in
the fourth-floor duct is approximately How the A-weighting technique applies to the sound level in the fourth-floor branch duct.
one-third of the total fan sound power.
in breakout loss from one duct size to After the breakout loss (the noise lost
NOISE PASSING THROUGH DUCT WALLS another is only a few decibels. Therefore, to the shaft) is deducted, the sound-
(BREAKOUT) data for the 24-in.-by-48-in. duct in power level in the fourth-floor branch
Rectangular sheet-metal ductwork Table 20, which is the closest in size to the duct drops from 89 dB-A to 62 dB-A.
does not contain sound very well. This 44-in.-by-38-in. main supply duct in our That 27-dB-A reduction sounds big—
can be a blessing or a curse. It can be example, are suitable for the preliminary and is. It represents a reduction from
a blessing when the duct passes through
an area where noise is not a concern, as Hertz 63 125 250 500 1,000 2,000 4,000
any sound energy that escapes through
the duct walls is sound energy no longer 5 log V 21 21 21 21 21 21 21
available to create problems in an occu- 3 log f 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
pied space. It can be a curse, obviously, 10 log r 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
when the duct passes through, or the
sound energy that escapes otherwise Room effect 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
reaches, a sensitive area. Example: In the 250-Hz octave band, room-effect factor is -5 log V - 3 log f - 10 log r + 25, which is
Acoustical engineers call noise that -21 - 7 - 7 + 25 = -10 dB. The resulting sound level in the room, Lp, is Lw - room effect, which is
66 dB in the fourth-floor duct - 10 = 56 in the 250-Hz octave band.
escapes through duct walls breakout loss.
Table 20 on Page 46.19 of the 1999 TABLE 5. Room-effect-factor calculation.
where:
Lp = room sound-pressure level, dB re 20 µPa
Lw = source sound-power level, dB re 10-12 w (in this case,
duct sound power)
V = room volume, cubic feet
f = octave-band center frequency, Hz
r = distance from source to receiver, feet
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AVOIDING PROBLEMS
When the rough-cut analysis described in this article
predicts a noise problem, acoustical remediation likely will
be appropriate. Even when the analysis predicts no noise
problem, the HVAC engineer might be well-advised to
incorporate prophylactic measures into his or her design, as
it always is easier and less expensive to make these part of
an original installation than to add them as a retrofit. Such
measures, distilled from acoustical engineers’ recommenda-
tions to remedy noise problems, include:
• Constructing the ductwork from the rooftop unit
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HPAC Engineering • August 2003 23
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REFERENCES
1) ASHRAE. (1999). 1999 ASHRAE applications handbook
(p. 46.4). Atlanta, GA: American Society of Heating, Refriger-
ating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.
2) Culham, R.G. (2001). Fans reference guide (4th ed.).
Canada: Ontario Power Generation.
3) SMACNA. (1990). HVAC systems—duct design (3rd ed.).
Chantilly, VA: Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’
National Association.
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HPAC Engineering • August 2003 25