32

Powder and Bulk Engineering, October 1993

Case history

C
Active muffler
helps solve
bulk transfer
company3
baffiing
noise
problem
I

When a portablepneumatic
conveyor with a baffled industrial
silencer is too noisy for workers
and neighbors, a bulk transfer
company installsan innovative
noise reductionsystem.

SX Transportation(CSXT) transfers bulk products. Through Total

Distribution System, IncJBulk
Intermodal Distribution Services
(TDSIBIDS) -a CSXT affiliate- and
Bulk Transfer Facilities, CSXT provides
rail transportation and material distribution to customers along an 18,800-mile
route across 20 states, the District of Columbia, and Ontario.
CSXT uses a pneumatic conveyor to unload flour, sugar, plastics, cement, and
many other bulk products from railcars at
each TDSUBIDS terminal. The conveyor transfers the materials into bulk
trailers for storage or local delivery.
The pneumatic conveyor has a 100horsepower diesel engine, a rotary positive-displacement vacuum blower, a
6-inch stainless steel flexible pipe, and a
cyclone separator. During conveying,
vacuum created by the blower draws
bulk material from the railcar through the
flexible piping and into the cyclone sep-

arator, which removes the air from the

material and discharges it into a bulk
trailer.

Portablepneumaticconveyor roars
The pneumatic conveyor is efficient,
loading a 48,000-pound bulk trailer in
less than 1 hour. But the conveyor is also
extremely noisy. According to Roger
Posey, former director of operations for
TDSUBIDS, the operating conveyor
sounds like a jet plane during takeoff.
Though equipped with a traditional baffled industrial silencer, the pneumatic
conveyor produces 123 adjusted decibels
(dBa) of noise 1 meter from the exhaust.
The baffled industrial silencer also restricts exhaust flow, causing back pressure that hampers engine and blower
performance.
The pneumatic conveyors noise created
serious problems for TDSIBIDS, Posey
says, exceeding standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA mandates that

After adding a noise reduction system with an active muffler to its portable
pneumatic conveyor, the bulk imnsfer company reduced the noise level by 80
Dement, immvdna work conditionsand communifv mlations.

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Powder and Bulk Engineering, October 1993

workers cant spend more than 8 hours in

a 90-dBa environment without ear protection, Posey says. Even with a silencer, the conveyor was so loud that
workers could spend only 15 minutes at
the machine every 8 hours while wearing
protective earmuffs. So we constantly
cycled workers to run the conveyor
throughout the day.
Although protective earmuffs reduced
worker noise exposure to 115dBa, workers still experienced health problems
such as headaches, concentration loss,

33

and fatigue. Workers wearing earmuffs

also risked missing spoken communications, including warnings.
In communities surrounding
TDSUBIDS terminals, the low-frequency components of the noise travelled long distances and irritated
residents. In many cases, the noise level
exceeded standards set by local ordinances, Posey says. A terminal in Locust Point, M d . , near Baltimore,
highlights the problem. Local government threatened to shut down our pneu-

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Workers wearing noise-reducing

earmuffs could operate a portable
pneumatic conveyor for only 15
minutes per workday After adding an
engine enclosure and an active muffler,
workers could operate the conveyor for
8 hours without ear protection.

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f i e active muffler consists of three speakers,a microphone, and a computerized

signalprocessor. Thespeaker output collideswih and reduces noise.

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Powder and Bulk Engineering, October 1993

matic conveyor or impose financial

penalties for its continueduse.

local government threatened to shut

,

I,

down a
transfer
noisy
pneumatic conveyor or impose fines for
its continued use. After quieting the
conveyor with active and passive
muffling devices, the company met
local noise ordinance standards.

Company seeks noise reduction

system
To maintain bulk transfer efficiency and
customer satisfaction, CSXT had to quiet
the pneumatic conveyor for its workers
and the community. CSXT considered
enclosing the conveyor in a soundproof
box, but similar enclosures had overheated engines at competitors installations. CSXT also considered a passive
muffler, but that would cause back pressure and reduce the conveyor engines
efficiency.
Then Posey came across an article in the
newspaper that described an active muffler. By chance, honest to goodness, on
a Sunday morning I opened up our Baltimore Sun and saw an article on an active
muffler supplier located only 20 minutes
away. I couldnt believe it. So, I made a
phone call that Monday, and that began
the relationship.
Posey found that active (electronic) noise
reduction technology works with any internal combustion engine, pneumatic
blower, or vacuum pump. The active
muffler supplier has research and development facilities near Baltimore. The
supplier has joint development agreements to design and build noise reduction s y s t e m s f o r cars and trucks;
airplanes and helicopters; compressors,
vacuum pumps, and pneumatic blowers;
diesel engines and generators; and
household appliances. The supplier
hadnt worked with a portable pneumatic
conveyor before and so agreed to work
with CSXT to develop a noise reduction
system.

Noise reductionSystem usesa&e

and passivetechnologies
CSXT and the active muffler supplier
analyzed the pneumatic conveyors
noise characteristics and identified the
equipment components that produced
the most noise. We found that the pneumatic conveyors exhaust system made
the most noise, but the diesel engine
noise was also significant in the operator
area, Posey says. So the active muffler
supplier developed a noise reduction
system using both active and passive
technologies.
The diesel engine noise was treated passively by installing a more effective exhaust muffler and replacing the engine
enclosure with a sound-absorbing closedcell foam enclosure. The noisier blower
exhaust was treated both actively and passively by installing a system with a zeroback-pressure passive silencer that quiets
the higher frequency noise components
and an active (electronic) mufflerthat quiets the blowers dominantlow-frequency
tone andmany tondhmonics.
The active muffler consists of three
speakers, a microphone, and a computerized signal processor. The microphone
senses the unwanted exhaust noise and
relays the signal to the processor for
analysis. The processor predicts the
acoustical waveform of the noise and
creates an equal but opposite sound
wave, called antinoise. The speakers
emit the antinoise wave, which then collides with and reduces the noise.
Noise reduction system takes h e
strain off workers, locals ears
The active muffler supplier installed the
first noise reduction system on a pneumatic conveyor at the Locust Point
TDSUBIDS terminal. The system reduces the pneumatic conveyors overall
exhaust noise level by 80 percent, leaving only suction and vibration sounds audible, Posey says.
The noise reduction system also enables
the pneumatic conveyor to operate faster
and use fuel more efficiently by eliminating engine back pressure in the vacuums
exhaust system. Greater efficiency has
reduced loading time per trailer by up to
10 minutes and fuel consumption by
more than 20 percent.

73

Based on the Locust Point success,

CSXT purchased 20 noise reduction systems to be retrofitted into pneumatic conveyors at TDSUBIDS terminals across
the country.

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According to Posey, the noise reduction

systems offer benefits beyond quieting
pneumatic conveyors. The systems will
pay for themselves in about 2 years because of fuel and time savings.

A safer work environment reduces sick

leave and workers compensation claims
and improves worker productivity. The
reduced noise levels now fall within
OSHA guidelines. Quieter operation has
also improved CSXTs relations with
communities near the TDSIBIDS terminals; complaints and noise ordinance violations are a thing of the past.
With the help of the active muffler supplier, the pneumatic conveyor now
sounds more like an average building air
conditioner than a jet plane, Posey says.
Operators can work a full 8-hour day
safely, without ear protection, and weve
gained operating efficiencies we hadnt
thought possible. In all, the noise reduction systems have been a sound investment thats having a positive impact on
our business around the country. PBE

Noise C a nce I Ia t io n Tech noIog ie s,

Stamford, CT.

203/961-0500

#350

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