Generator Sound Attenuator- How It Works

By Author: Henry Janice
Total Articles: 135
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One of the biggest developments in engineering and construction over the last 3-4 decades is noise levels. Specifically, the noise levels of engine oriented equipment.
This may be perplexing, but it’s true. Workers like civil engineers and builders frequently depend on diesel generators for comfortable, steady and cheap electrical power, both to run the electrical equipment that makes contemporary construction possible and to empower the lights, signs and safety equipment that have turned construction from one of the US’s deadliest industries into what it is today. None of that would be feasible without the humble diesel generator, and they themselves have changed radically over the years. Not only are the engines much serene and more effective, developments in sound attenuating design and housings have made them much more pleasant to work around.
The most commonly used attenuation systems depend on isolating the generator from the public and the workers in the same way with a sound attenuator ...
... or enclosure, a housing which enables the generator to get the air it requires to run and to carry off its filtered exhaust, but which also deadens the huge majority of the sound the equipment makes in operation.
The way the sound is attenuated
The secret is in the generator enclosure that lines the insides of housing. Most are tender yet very thick material, and boast an open-pore surface that is highly effective at directing sound waves deep into the interior of the dampening material.
Different kinds of dampening materials have different levels of efficiencies absorbing sound in this way. This is known as the sound absorption coefficient of the materials, which is a number between 0 and 1. A material with a coefficient 0 would transmit sound seamlessly and even better than air. A material with coefficient 1 would block all kind of sounds completely, though we have not been able to develop anything quite that effective till now. An effective absorption material comes with a coefficient of 0.75 or above.
Contemporary sound attenuation housings utilize a layered approach, with the sound initially moving through a porous dampening material, a perforated lining which is meat to absorb and reflect back the specific sound frequencies that particular generator creates at peak effectiveness. This is followed by a weatherproof, hard shell on the exterior to safeguard the dampening material and obviously the generator itself.     
Customized generator noise reduction
One vital thing to realize is that every generator engine creates a unique sound. One may be higher while another has a low pitch. Most are intricate blends of different kinds of pitches. A contemporary, well designed sound attenuation and air compressor cover system will be mindfully tined to be the most effective against the sound of a specific model of generator, and might not necessarily be as effective if used with a different engine.