General Motors Reduces Plant Noise with "Good Neighbor" Fan Silencing

The General Motors plant in Janesville, WI, uses a 132,588-acfm industrial fan in an area of the plant where paint fumes are incinerated. To reduce the fan noise, the GM paint department collaborated with Universal on a special absorptive fan silencer, which dissipated the sound energy. An added benefit — additional pressure drop for the fan motor was extremely low, less than 1 inch water gauge.

Universal offers a standard line of rectangular fan silencers with parallel baffles, but was able to adapt the design quickly to the cylindrical configuration needed at GM. The baffles are packed with acoustic material that dissipates the sound energy. This design was well-suited for reducing the middle- to high-frequency noise generated by the fan. The overall sound pressure level of the fan with the silencer installed was less than 55 dB at a distance of 500 feet.

An unexpected benefit of installing the new silencer was improved system performance. The new transition unit and silencer allowed better air flow. As a result, pressure drop across the stack was reduced to less than 1 inch of water gauge, according to measurements of amp draw on the 800 hp electric motor.

Specifications and Additional Details

For detailed specifications and in-depth information about this design, or for information about creative solutions to noise problems, call Universal and ask for Industrial Sales.

Installation of the Universal 86-inch-diameter cylindrical silencer with parallel baffles at the General Motors plant in Janesville, WI. Universal offers a wide range of standard products for a variety of fan applications.