Hush-hush service
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THE Perkins Engines Group has set up a new Applications Noise Advisory Service available alike to vehicles, forklift trucks, tractors, diggers, generator sets or boats.
Perkins application engineers have always advised customers on noise abatement, but with knowledge gathered from over ten years of noise research, the service has now been formalised.
Perkins says that the engine itself is seldom responsible for more than half the noise created, and sometimes for as little as a fifth.
Attention to other known noise sources in a product, particularly at the design and development stage, can eventually bring substantial reductions in noise levels, Perkins believes.
The Group's UK-based research and development facility includes three specially designed anechoic chambers — or "noise cells" — said to be among the most advanced in the world. Studies are carried out to identify specific engine and installation noise sources and once these are located, Perkins researchers find ways of treating them.
The Service is at its most effective at design and development stages, but advice can also be given to a manufacturer who wants to reduce the noise of an existing product.
Noise standards vary considerably worldwide but are becoming increasingly stringent and trends are monitored continuously by Perkins.
Perkins engineers have already achieved such results as a reduction in noise on a light lorry by 2-3 dBA, to 5dBA on a forklift truck.