Noise Reduction Of Air Blower Casing Using Composites

Sound subjectively, what is heard by the ear; objectively, is a mecha nical disturbance from equilibrium in an elastic medium. The noise produced by a rotating component has two main components, the broadband noise and the discrete frequency noise. The broadband noise from a rotor is due to random loading forces on the blades, which are induced by the absorption of atmospheric turbulence. The discrete frequency noise is due to periodic interaction of incoming air with the blades of the rotor. At present the centrifugal blowers, in Naval defense application which is made of steel is generating a noise of 86dB, which causes mental imbalance to the people working near the blower on ship. Therefore in Naval defense applications the reduction of sound level from a source is very important and critical task. Hence the objective of this paper is to reduce the noise level produced by the metal air blower. The noise radiated by the casing of a centrifugal blower can be effectively reduced by the use of (1) Composite Materials, (2) Visco-Elastic material treatment and (3) Stiffness addition. In this paper it is proposed to carry out a study to evaluate the effectiveness of composites in reducing noise levels of the casing. Composite materials are those containing more than one bonded material, each with different struc tural properties. The advantage of composite materials is the potential for a high ratio of stiffness to weight. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of composites over metals, modal analysis (Eigen value analysis) and Static analysis was performed on both composite and metal blowers using FEA package (ANSYS). Modal analysis is performed on both metals (Alluminium and Composite) blower casing to find out the first ten natural frequencies and static analysis is performed for a pressure of 1570 Pa. This paper also describes the experimental setup of the centrifugal blower, the values of the sound levels for both metal and FRP blowers are taken at a distance of 1m from inlet of the blower, and the sound pressure values at different frequencies of both metal and composite blower were compared. This paper also describes numerical approach using SYSNOISE software. Fluid medium, boundary condition and the type of analysis was defined. A boundary mesh of sphere shaped with a radius of 1m was created and a known source was given as input in order to get the sound pressure levels for different frequencies at the boundary mesh. With blower as the noise source and noise that is radiated exterior to the casing is then estimated at various points of interest and the results were correlated with experimental data.