748392
research-article2018
NVW0010.1177/0957456517748392Noise & Vibration WorldwideReducing noise from fans
Reducing noise from fans
by NVW editorial staff
Although the noise from a cooling fan has no effect on
cooling, it is very annoying to the system end user. Most
designs target minimal fan noise for satisfying their user’s
demands for quiet systems. However, additional desire for
smaller and higher system performance compounds this
challenge, as both serve to increase the need for airflow,
thereby increasing the noise produced. As fans are cru-
cial systems, noise seems to be a necessary by-product.
Additionally, dealing with fan noise has brought us several
advancements in technology.
Origin of fan noise
Audible noise can originate from several sources. For
instance, turbulence caused by the blades of a rotating fan
can give rise to aerodynamic noise. Increasing the rota-
tional speed of a cooling fan can increase the frequency
and magnitude of the noise generated proportionately.
Vibrations can cause mechanical noise from unbalanced
rotating elements, or from the bearings of the fan. Noise
can reach intolerable or destructive levels through ampli-
fication if its frequency matches some resonant frequency
of the enclosure. Although the motor of a fan may also
contribute to the overall noise, in general, it contributes
only a small part to the total noise generated by the cool-
ing system.
Noise generated by several components is inherent in
the design of the fan. Most of them are almost beyond the
control of the enclosure designer. Efforts for significantly
reducing the noise levels may result in reducing the effec-
tiveness of a fan, rendering it useless.
Nevertheless, enclosure designers must pay attention to
some details for minimizing noise:
•• Move the fan farther away from obstacles in front
and behind the fan, if they exist.
•• Generally, obstacles on the intake side of the fan
increase the noise level more than those on its
exhaust side.
•• Reduce the revolutions per min of the fan, although
this may also lower the airflow.
•• Mount the fan on the interior of the enclosure rather
than on its exterior.
Noise & Vibration Worldwide
2018, Vol. 49(1) 11­–13
© The Author(s) 2018
Reprints and permissions:
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DOI: 10.1177/0957456517748392
https://doi.org/10.1177/0957456517748392
journals.sagepub.com/home/nvw
Easy methods of reducing fan noise
Sound Reduction Systems1 offers 10 simple methods of
reducing noise from fans:
1. Using damping—layer damping and constrained
layer damping;
2. Proper installation of fans;
3. Lining ductworks with foam or fiberglass;
4. Changing fan speed controllers to reduce speed for
axial or centrifugal flow fans;
5. Using silencers to pneumatic exhausts;
6. Fitting quiet, high-efficiency pneumatic nozzles in
place of regular ones;
7. Using vibration isolation pads under fan
installations;
8. Using flexible seals to reduce the open gap area of
openings;
9. Using quieter timing belts and chains with differ-
ent tooth profiles;
10. Using general-duty motors in place of speed con-
trolled electric motors.
According to Sound Reduction Systems,1 damping is
usually of two types. The first is layer damping, where the
layer of bitumastic damping material is stuck on to a sur-
face. The other is constrained layer damping, involving the
construction of a laminate, which is more rugged.
Fans are at their quietest when operating at peak effi-
ciency. Bends and dampers close to the fan are common
noise-reduction features. Simple methods such as using
2–3 duct diameters of straight duct between any feature
that is disturbing the flow and the fan itself can cut down
the noise by up to 12 dB.
Ductwork is the opening for the fan in walls and enclo-
sures, and typically extraction, ventilation, and cooling sys-
tems use them. Simply lining the last bend in the ductwork
with fiberglass or foam may be enough to achieve a 10–20 dB
reduction in airborne noise from the duct. Constructing a
lined right-angled bend or an absorbent to fit on the opening
may also produce the same effect. Multi-purpose acoustic
barriers used for ceiling voids or within partition walls can
reduce room-to-room noise by as much as 46 dB.
12 Noise & Vibration Worldwide 49(1)
Axial or centrifugal flow fans are known to produce
less noise simply by changing their speed controller sys-
tems, pulley sizes, and or resetting dampers. Fitting silenc-
ers on pneumatic exhausts reduces noise by as much as
30 dB. Replacing normal pneumatic nozzles with quiet,
high-efficiency units can cut down fan noise from coolers,
dryers, and blowers by about 10 dB.
Vibration isolation pads, usually made of rubber or
bonded cork, are very useful for reducing vibration and
noise pollution. Machine feet, pumps, and mezzanine
installations typically use them to improve the sound-
insulation performance of timber floors. Users can simply
replace conventional carpet underlay with vibration isola-
tion pads or place them under most floor finishes.
Using flexible seals to reduce the openings of machine
guards can be useful in reducing noise. The flexibility of
such seals allows forming them easily around penetrations
or contours.
Replacing noisy chain drives with quieter timing belts
using different tooth profiles can limit noise. For instance,
a chevron tooth pattern can cut noise by nearly 20 dB.
Electric motors with speed control that drive fans and
pumps produce more noise than general-duty motors.
Phasing then into the system over a period helps reducing
the overall noise produced.
Industrial fan noise reduction
Reducing fan noise in the industry involves something
more than the simple methods outlined above. In the
industry, one encounters much higher levels of noise, inca-
pable of effective reduction by common methods such as
the use of acoustic enclosures, sound barriers, silencers, or
screens. For instance, Advanced Noise Solutions2 had to
design an advanced noise-canceling solution for reducing
the noise from dust extractor fans.
According to Advanced Noise Solutions,2 attenuating
silencers perform poorly at low frequencies. As industrial
fans and blowers mainly produce a loud low-frequency
drone or hum, attenuating silencers are usually not effec-
tive. Moreover, the human ear is especially sensitive to
drones, hums, and whines, and therefore, such noise is a
common cause of nuisance. Advanced fan noise-canceling
methods are useful at all frequencies and effectively reduce
low-frequency droning, humming, and high-frequency
whining from fans by about 20–30 dB.
Companies often incur wasteful expenditure when
choosing random ineffective solutions for reducing fan
noise, or when applying noise-reduction measures to all
the equipment when treating only one item at much lower
cost would have sufficed. According to Advanced Noise
Solutions,2 it is necessary to carry out a diagnostic noise
survey first and establish the fan, blower, machine, or equip-
ment precisely as the main noise source without any doubt.
This method also fixes the amount of sound reduction
needed and the tailoring necessary for noise suppression
treatment that will provide considerable cost savings.
For large fans producing considerable amount of noise in
industries such as power, steel, cement, and more, Industrial
Noise & Vibration Centre3 has several solutions. They pre-
fer not to use attenuators, silencers, acoustic enclosures, or
reduce the efficiency of the industrial fans for the purpose.
The alternative technologies they have developed reduce
the noise, but without the associated loss in efficiency, but
by reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint.
According to Industrial Noise & Vibration Centre,3 noise
from fans is the sum of the pressure fluctuations gener-
ated by turbulence in the air shed by the blades. They have
developed a range of aerodynamic inserts that fit inside the
fan casing and smooth the flow. This reduces the pressure
fluctuations—and hence the noise—at source without intro-
ducing any backpressure often associated with silencers.
This not only reduces the noise traveling down the intake
and exhaust ductwork but also noise traveling that passing
through the fan casing, which may not only eliminate the
need for silencers but also the need for acoustic enclosures.
They call this the Quiet Fan Technology (QFT)—industrial
fan noise reduction without silencers.
Reducing automotive fan noise
There is an increasing requirement for reducing auto-
motive radiator cooling fan noise. According to Atsushi
Suzuki et al.,4 it is necessary to reduce the system’s blade
passing frequency (BPF), a periodical noise unpleasant
to the ear, in addition to an overall noise reduction. Their
technique consists of a computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) and sound wave propagation analysis prior to trial.
They optimize the geometric parameters influencing the
BPF noise by applying quality engineering for evaluating
the effect of noise reduction.
Manufacturers usually integrate the fan components
into a compact module such as a condenser radiator fan
module (CRFM). According to Atsushi Suzuki et al.,4 it is
necessary to predict and reduce the BPF noise from the
CRFM, which they claim originates from the following:
1. Spatial transfer of pressure distribution generated
on the blade surface by the fan rotation.
2. Time fluctuation of pressure distributions on the
blade surface by non-uniform velocity distribu-
tions upstream of the fan.
3. Time fluctuation of pressure distributions on the
blade surface by the potential interaction with
engine components downstream of the fan.
For application to the noise reduction, Atsushi Suzuki
et al.4 have developed a prediction technique using the
unsteady CFD results for the BPF noise generated from
the CRFM fan. They obtained effective data on the CRFM
Reducing noise from fans 13
shroud casing by a minimization study using the Taguchi
method on the BPF noise derived from the BPF noise pre-
diction technique.
Reducing fan noise in grow rooms
An indoor grow room has noise generated by exhausts,
extracting tube vents, air pumps, and other electric compo-
nents, which may be an inconvenient nuisance. According
to the RQS Blog,5 silencing the grow room is easy, and
accomplishing this may not be expensive if the user follows
their tips. Some techniques they suggest are as follows:
•• Suspend fan in an enclosure.
•• Put pump on vibration absorption rubber mat.
•• Use insulated ducting.
•• Soundproof the room.
•• Add a muffler to the exhaust duct.
According to the RQS Blog,5 noise from vibrating fans
usually travels through the ground, ceilings, and walls.
Isolating the fans from any surface by mounting them
in enclosures such as within a simple wooden box helps
reduce this conducted transfer.
Placing water pumps on the floor, a shelf, or a table
usually amplifies the vibrations and transmits the noise
beyond the grow room. RQS Blog5 suggests placing high-
density rubber foam between the ground and the pump
reduces this transmission drastically.
Rigid metallic ducting usually causes severe vibration
and noise. RQS Blog5 suggests using ducting containing
fiberglass insulation, as this offers a superb compromise
and vastly reduces the noise created by air movements.
Simultaneously, as more bends and turns in the ducting
increase vibrations, it helps to minimize the bends when
planning ducting for the grow room.
Soundproofing the grow room can be accomplished with-
out resorting to a major structural rework. RQS Blog5 sug-
gests simple options such as hanging several heavy vinyl
curtains, which can effectively block noise and vibrations. If
the grow room is still in the planning stages, RQS Blog5 sug-
gest considering laying soundproofing underlay on the floor.
The main exhaust duct from the grow room can be the
biggest source of noise. RQS Blog5 suggests combating
this by adding a muffler to the exhaust duct. They recom-
mend building this muffler from commonly available parts
such as mainly a large plastic trash bin with a lid and some
fiberglass insulation. The process is very simple and it
takes very little time to build one.
Using quieter fans
Instead of trying to add material to reduce the noise gener-
ated by fans, there have been several attempts to develop
fans that generate lower amounts of noise when operating
and fans that do not have any blades—for instance, bladeless
fans from Dyson, as mentioned by the WIRED UK Blog.6
According to the WIRED UK Blog,6 as blades moving
through air generate the maximum amount of noise from
a fan, the simple process of having no blades should stop
any noise from being generated. In fact, Dyson claims its
bladeless fans are 75% quieter than regular fans. They
generate the airflow via a motor and impeller embedded
within the base of the device. The air pushes up through
the circular head, where it exits out from slits.
By smoothing the area and improving the airflow, Dyson
was able to reduce the stress on the motor, so the fan was
able to produce the same amount of air with half the energy
it used before. According to the WIRED UK Blog,6 Dyson
also built a Helmholtz cavity for placing the motor and the
impeller. This allowed them to tune the cavity to trap most
of the noise generated from the fan and make it quieter.
Conclusion
Although noise is unavoidable when fans are used, this
can be reduced largely by following simple rules. On the
industrial scale, it is more effective to employ noise-cance-
ling methods. Using more efficient fans or bladeless fans
may be more welcome in specific cases.
References
1. Sound Reduction Systems. Top-ten noise reduction meth-
ods, https://www.soundreduction.co.uk/about-us/news/the-
top-ten-noise-reduction-methods/
2. Advanced Noise Solutions Ltd. Industrial noise control,
http://www.advanced-noise-solutions.co.uk/reduce-fan-
noise.html
3. Industrial Noise & Vibration Centre. Industrial fan noise
reduction: low frequency—tones—hums, http://www.invc.
com/noise/noise-control/fan-noise-reduction/
4. Suzuki A, Tominaga T, Eguchi T, et al. Study of fan noise
reduction for automotive radiator cooling fans. Tech Rev
2006; 43(3), https://www.mhi.co.jp/technology/review/pdf/
e433/e433023.pdf
5. Royal Queen Seeds (RQS). Tips for silencing your grow
room. In: RQS Blog, 27 May 2016, https://www.royalqueen-
seeds.com/blog-tips-for-silencing-your-grow-room-n278
6. WIRED UK. How Dyson made its bladeless fan 75 per
cent quieter. In: WIRED, 16 April 2014, http://www.wired.
co.uk/article/dyson-fans