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 Acoustical
Solution’s AB-10
LAG/QFA-3 is a multilayered acoustic lagging wrapped
around the exterior of noisy ductwork.
“Flight 6836 to Fairbanks Alaska now boarding
at gate T2”; “Wheelchair needed at gate
C17 for passenger assistance”; the personal address
(PA) systems at airports convey critical information
all the time. Hearing the announcements clearly is vital.
Airports must go to great lengths to ensure good communication.
Clearly marked gates, informational signs, arrival and
departure boards and easily understood verbal communication
help airports run as smoothly as possible. The hard
reverberant surfaces that are prevalent in airports,
which bounce noises around creating an echo, make verbal
communication extremely difficult. Therefore airport
authorities require that all background noise be at
an absolute minimum, including noise from the HVAC system.
Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport is no different.
It has grown from a regional airport to the fifth busiest
airport in the world. That growth has spurred major
construction including the addition of Terminal 4, which
houses eight concourses in approximately 185,000 square
feet. This additional space allowed airlines to expand
their operations as necessary while offering restaurants,
shops and ATMs among other travel necessities. The 33.5
million passengers that use Sky Harbor International
Airport every year rely on clear communication to help
them navigate throughout this enormous space. In addition
to knowing where they need to go, the 192,000 passengers
and guests that pass through Sky Harbor’s doors
every day must be kept comfortable. Keeping all those
people cool in Phoenix’s hot climate requires
a lot of HVAC systems and even more duct work potentially
creating a huge amount of background noise. Therefore,
the city of Phoenix set specific noise criteria for
the HVAC units, and the associated ductwork that runs
throughout the terminals. To meet these requirements
the architect sought recommendations for a product to
quiet noise radiating through the walls of the ducts.
Sound Transmission Loss
 The
AB-10 LAG/QFA-3
Acoustical Pipe and Duct Lagging material was the
recommended choice. This acoustical composite consists
of a one pound psf foil faced barrier bonded to a one
inch thick quilted fiberglass absorber. Along with the
other products in Acoustical Solution’s lag product
family, the AB-10 LAG/ QFA-3 is specifically designed
for wrapping the exterior of pipes and ducts. The foil
facing allows for easy, time saving installation of
the product by utilizing a matching lag tape to seal
horizontal and vertical seams. The fiberglass absorber/decoupler
allows the flexible noise barrier to achieve optimum
sound attenuation. It also adds significant thermal
insulation.
After seeing how well the lagging product had worked
to help reduce the noise in Terminal 3, the decision
to specify their product again was an easy one. The
AB-10 LAG/QFA-3 was "as easy to install as any
product of that type.”
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