Booths and Enclosures – Industrial Facility

The Issue

A customer contacted Acoustical Solutions to assist with designing a soundproof enclosure for their TCO workcell Noise Reduction Project. One of our Booths and Enclosures seemed the perfect solution. A noise mapping study was conducted in late 2018 that showed noise levels at the TCO workcell exceeded OSHA permissible exposure limits.

The TCO workcell consists of a Hautau TCO-60 tube cutoff lathe and a round tube loader station. A significant source of noise at the TCO workcell is from the metal to metal impact of steel tubing at the round tube loader station. The goal was needing to reduce noise levels at the TCO workcell to achieve OSHA compliance regarding satisfactory industrial work environment noise levels.

The Challenge

The area for the TCO workcell was about 31.5 feet long by 22.5 feet wide, with a 30-foot ceiling. This was in an industrial environment. Therefore, the solutions provided would need to be suitable for a manufacturing site and would also need to provide viewing access as well as physical access, without restriction.

Based on those factors, it was decided that a custom industrial blanket soundproof enclosure would be the best fit because we could provide viewing windows as well as Velcro closure for physical access.

The Solution

A floor-mounted curtain soundproof enclosure using PrivacyShield® ABSC-25 Barrier Septum Soundproofing Blankets with custom AB10CV viewing windows for partial viewing sections, in addition to AB10CV strip curtains for full viewing sections was recommended to surround the round tube loader station.

In addition, we also provided AlphaSorb® PVC Plastic Acoustic Panels to lay on the floor sections underneath the tube loader to reduce any echo and sound reflection off the floor.

PrivacyShield^® Dual-Sided Absorptive Soundproofing Blankets surround a TCO workcell to comply with OSHA standards

The Result

The soundproof enclosure around the TCO tube loader station was installed in 2019, resulting in significant noise reduction therefore put the noise level exposure well below the OSHA PEL and has significantly reduced the noise that was affecting employees at nearby stations.