Tag: NIHL

Sound Levels in Your Facility

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

One of the most common and dangerous hazards that occur within a manufacturing and production facility is the noise level within the plant. Noise is measured in units known as decibels. Decibels are a ratio of the power level of the sound compared to a logarithmic scale. If an employee is an exposed for too long to high levels of noise, they can begin to lose their hearing. That is where the OSHA 29 CFR 1910.95 regulation comes into play.

Hearing loss is the best known, but not the only, ill effect of harmful noise exposure. It can also cause physical and psychological stress, impair concentration, and contribute to workplace accidents or injuries.

This OSHA standard doesn’t just provide the protection against noise in the work place but monitoring as well. Companies shall provide at no cost audiometric tests for all employees to ensure that no damage is being to the hearing of all personnel. This program is to be repeated every six months and the results are to be made accessible to all personnel.                

Hearing is very important to our everyday lives and must be protected due to the fact that once it is damaged hearing loss cannot be lost be repaired. The OHSA 29 CFR 1910.95 is there to protect and monitor this dangerous hazard in the workplace so that all employees can go home safe and sound.

Here at EXAIR we design all of our products to safe and quite. Weather it is using one of our mufflers for vortex tubes or E-vac’s or one of our Super air nozzles we strive to meet and exceed the OSHA standard. One could also purchase EXAIR’s Digital Sound Level Meter which can give a accurate and responsive reading of how loud your compressed air sources are.

For more information on EXAIR’s Digital Sound Level Meter and any of EXAIR‘s Intelligent Compressed Air® Product lines, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or any of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

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Managing Pneumatic Sound

Published on by EricKuhnash@EXAIR.comLeave a comment

I recently took my daughter to a basketball game to watch Xavier University’s Lady Musketeers play. Due to Covid the arena felt empty and we could hear the players on the court and also the the coaches from the opposite side. If this was a regular season game we could barely hear ourselves let alone the teams and coaches. The obvious reason why there was not much noise is that there wasn’t much of a crowd and the crowd makes a lot of sound. So, what is sound?

Sound can be defined as “vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person’s or animal’s ear”. Sounds hit our ears at different pressure levels depending on its strength (“loudness” or volume) and is measured in decibels (dB).

When sound travels and comes into contact with a surface, a portion will be absorbed and another portion will be reflected. Manufacturing environments obviously can be the source of a lot of sound and personnel near the sources should be protected as much as possible. One extremely effective way to do this is to substitute a loud noise source with a quieter one or remove the source all together. PPE can be effective but is much less reliable due to people forgetting to use PPE, using PPE improperly or even deciding for themselves they do not need it.

To substitute or eliminate means something like the strategic placement of air compressor which is not near personnel or recognizing the type of product you choose to use is vital to sound management and the health and safety of people working near the point of use. Many EXAIR products can help you reduce the sound level of your current point-of-use compressed air by replacing commercial air nozzles, open pipes and homemade blowoff solutions with our Engineered Air Nozzles, Safety Air Guns, Air Amplifiers, or Super Air Knives. These products are all designed to minimize compressed air noise and can contribute to lowering the overall noise exposure of your personnel. The additional benefit is that you customers will also typically see a reduction in air consumption which saves money on generating compressed air.

EXAIR’s Digital Sound Level Meter is a tool used to identify and quantify the particular noise levels within an area. The source of loud noises can be quickly identified and isolated so corrective measures can be implemented.

Compressed air noise levels often exceed OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) noise level exposure requirements. EXAIR pneumatic products meet or exceed the OSHA Standard 29 CFR-1910.95(a) and can be used to reduce sound levels in your compressed air environment.

EXAIR has has many engineered compressed air products that can help reduce your sound levels. Our Application Engineers are ready and eager to help assist your sound level decrease projects. Please contact us at www.EXAIR.com so we can be a vital part of your successful sound reduction program.

Eric Kuhnash
Application Engineer
E-mail: EricKuhnash@exair.com
Twitter: Twitter: @EXAIR_EK

Reduce Sound Levels In Less Than A Minute

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Okay, I will admit, the title may be a tad bit leading.  The fact is, it can be done.  I speak to customers almost daily who are struggling with the noise levels produced from open pipe blowoffs.  With Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) a significant problem among manufacturing workers, reducing the noise form compressed air can be a simple solution and contribute toward reducing overall noise exposure levels. Many of these calls and emails revolve around reducing these exact noise levels, sometimes the open pipes have existing threads on them to install the solution immediately.

To reduce these noise levels, we need to simply reduce the amount of energy that is being expelled through the pipe. How do we do this you might ask?  The use of an air nozzle will reduce the energy being dispersed from an open pipe.  This will result in lower air consumption as well as lower sound levels while actually increasing velocity as the pipe will maintain higher operating pressures. Be cautious about the air nozzle you choose, however, they are not all created equal. EXAIR’s engineered air nozzles are among the quietest and most efficient air nozzles available.

Family of Nozzles

What size pipes can we fit nozzles to?  That’s a great question.  We have nozzles that range from a 4mm straight thread all the way up to 1-1/4″ NPT thread.  This also includes nearly any size in between especially the standard compressed air piping sizes.  For instance, a 1/4″ Sched. 40 pipe that has 1/4″ MNPT threads on it can easily produce over a 100 dBA noise level from 3 feet away.  This can easily be reduced to below 80 dBA from 3′ away by utilizing one of our model 1100 Super Air Nozzles.  All it takes is a deep well socket and ratchet with some thread sealant.

This doesn’t just lower the sound level though, it reduces the amount of compressed air expelled through that open pipe by creating a restriction on the exit point.  This permits the compressed air to reach a higher line pressure causing a higher exit velocity and due to the engineering within the nozzle, this will also eliminate dangerous dead-end pressure and complies with OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.242(b).

Easy Install

All in all, a 30-second install can make an operator’s work station considerably quieter and potentially remove the need for hearing protection.  If you would like to discuss how to lower noise levels in your facility, contact us.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

How Lowering Sound Levels Produces ROI

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Sound levels and ROI don’t immediately link together in a quick thought. Unless you are me and things seem to link up that don’t always go together, like peanut butter and a cheese burger. (Trust me, just try it, or if you are near West Lafayette, Indiana just go try the Purvis Burger across the street from Purdue University.) The truth behind tying sound levels being reduced and ROI together is actually pretty simple.

For this example, I am going to stay fairly high level as we could get into some pretty deep measurements of what exactly could be a cost savings.  If we reduce the sound level being generated by point of use compressed air products that is easiest to do by implementing engineered blow off products as well as reducing the operating pressure. Let’s use this example: A 1/4″ copper tube that is being used as a blow off will give off a noise level of over 100 dBA from 3′ away.  The table below shows that at an 80 psig inlet pressure the same tube will also consume 33 SCFM of compressed air.

By installing a model 1100 1/4″ FNPT Super Air Nozzle on the end of this copper tube, we  reduce the noise level generated by the blow off to 74 dBA. This measurement is at the same 80 psig inlet pressure and from 3′ away, which is well below the OSHA standard for allowable noise level exposure.  This also gives a broader more defined pattern to the air stream which may permit a reduction in compressed air pressure.

The other factor this changes is that the air consumption is reduced by 19 SCFM of compressed air which then results in energy savings.  This ultimately ends in a simple ROI equation where we are simply using the compressed air reduction as the only variable for the return.

 

By reducing the air consumption of a process that operates 24/7, 250 days a year that equates to  a savings of 6,840,000 SCFM per year and that equates to $1,710.00 USD. This does not account for any reduction in paying for hearing protection that may no longer be needed, or increase in production because the application functions better.

So you see, reducing noise levels in a facility can easily amount to a sizable cost savings in energy going towards compressed air consumption.  If you would like to walk through any potential applications, please contact us. 

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF