5th Congress of Alps-Adria

Acoustics Association
12-14 September 2012, Petrane, Croatia
__________________________________________________________________________________________

MEASURING ACOUSTIC PARAMETERS OF AIR-HANDLING UNITS

Antonio Petoi1, Slobodan odolovi1, Tomislav Jaki2,Boko Jaki2, Dubravko Erdeli2, Kristian
Jambroi1, Bojan Ivanevi1
1

University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Department of Electroacoustics,

Unska 3, Zagreb, Croatia
2

PROKLIMA d.o.o., Gradna 78e, HR-10430 Samobor, Croatia

Abstract: In this work acoustic parameters of air handling unit (AHU) have been determined according to international
standards EN ISO 1886 and EN ISO 3744. Acoustic insulation of AHU casing has been measured by using the artificial
sound source method described in EN ISO 11546-2. The artificial source has been designed to prevent vibrations to the
floor of the model box with considered panels and excitating resonant frequencies of box where panels for the AHU
casing are tested. The sound pressure levels in octave bands from 125 Hz to 8 kHz with and without enclosure has been
measured in the surrounding of the model box in the specified microphone positions according to the envelope surface
method described in the standard EN ISO 3744. After the measuring acoustic insulation of casing the inlet in-duct
sound power level, outlet in-duct and airborne sound power levels have been determined with the aim to distinguish
the radiated sound power in the space where air is delivered and where the central unit of AHU is located. The results
of measuring inlet and outlet in-duct sound power levels have been compared with theoretical results knowing the
parameters of the fan in the AHU.
Key words: air handling unit, acoustic insulation of casing, artificial sound source, insertion loss, inlet, outlet and
airborne sound power levels.

1. INTRODUCTION
Modern economy and global market tends to accept
the up-to-date technology with majestic quality of
products and services. PROKLIMA as leading Croatian
air handling unit (AHU) manufacturer tends to establish
the proper and functional R&D activities to be able to
improve technical and scientific knowledge for making
innovations and improvements of whole product range
and services to be competitive in global market.
Considering a lack of scientific knowledge and
funds for own R&D activities, company innovation and
research capacities are stacked between needs and
possibilities. Co-operation with high education institutions
(HEI) were found as needed and welcomed.

Key parameters of AHUs were not always based on

real testing but on numerical models, predictions and
former experience.
Lack of quality data about the real situation in
specific product configuration is the main problem when
developing the new or improving the present products. It
was vital for R&D personal in or company to check some
parameters in a quick and standardized way, getting out
the rough data and possibility to quickly analyse it.
Getting the information out of data is specific task which
should be achieved.
This paper presents measurements of acoustical
parameters of an air handling unit according to HRN EN
1886 standard [1]. Measurements are conducted in
premises of company PRO-KLIMA to determine the real
characteristics of newly developed AHU casing, because
of it classification and finding of weak spots which

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should be eliminated in further development of panels

construction.
1.1. Measurement procedures
Sound produced by AHU can be significant source of
annoying noise. It is very important to measure acoustic
parameters of air-handling units in purpose to reduce the
sound power level radiated from these types of sound
sources. The measured acoustic parameters of AHU in
this research are: acoustic insulation of casing, outlet induct sound power level, inlet in-duct sound power level
and airborne sound power level in octave bands of interest
[2]. The results of measurements carried out are shown
together with analysis of possible measures for
improvements. Project is conceived as incentive for
company PRO-KLIMA on establishing and furnishing
own factory test rig, with intention to collect all necessary,
acoustical data for development and improvement of
AHU construction.
The noise is generated from the fan in the space where the
AHU is situated and it is propagated through ventilation
ducts (acoustic ducts) to the spaces where the hot or cold
air is delivered. In this paper four basic measurement
procedures which determinate all acoustic properties of
AHU are considered. All measurements method
considered here are based on the measurement of sound
power according standard EN ISO 3744 [3].

2. M EASURING SOUND POWER OF THE ACOUSTIC

SOURCE

Sound source radiates same sound powers in different

environments,but there is a difference in sound pressure
levels, especially at low frequencies when the wavelength
is comparable to the size of the room. Fortunately this
difference is not very large for most sound sources, in
particular mechanical sources, and we can always use the
sound power radiated in the free field as an approximation
by using connection between intensity and sound pressure
[4]. The sound power is defined by using eq. 1 knowing
intensity and surface where intensity is measured [5].
(1)
,where I = pu is the sound intensity vector and In is the
sound intensity normal to the surface S. The surface
should completely enclose the sound source. Sound power
level in dB is then defined with eq. 2 [4]:

level is very complicated, and one cannot get accurate

estimation of sound power level by using sound pressure
measurements. However, in two ideal cases free field
and a diffuse field, sound power is explicitly related to
the sound pressure. Free field and reverberation room
methods have been developed which can be used to
estimate sound power level rather accurately. Engineering
and survey methods with lower accuracy have also been
developed for other environments and for in situ
measurements.
In a free field there is only direct sound and no reflection
exists. For a progressive wave, there is a unique relation
between the mean-squared sound pressure and the
intensity in the direction of the plane wave propagation
and it is given with eq. 3 [5].
(3)

Assuming plane wave propagation around source and

knowing averaged sound pressure level around the
acoustic source the sound power is given with eq. 4 [6].
(4)
where p0 is the reference sound pressure level (p0=20
Pa), S0 is reference surface (S0=1 m2), is air density
(= 1kg/m3), c is sound velocity in air (c=343 m/s) and
W0 is reference sound power (W0=1 pW).
In a diffuse field the sound pressure level is essentially
independent of the distance to the sound source. Based on
the concept of mean free path, the relation between
sound power (W) radiated from acoustic source knowing
the averaged sound pressure level in the room (p) where
sound pressure is equally distributed in a reverberation
room is given with eq. 5 [7].
(5)

,where
is equivalent absorption coefficient of a
reverberation room calculated from reverberation time T
in frequencybands of interests. In logarithmic form the
sound power level is given with eq. 6 [4,8].
(5)

(2)

where
is averaged sound pressure level and A0 is
reference equivalent absorption surface (A0=1 m2).

is the averaged normal sound intensity level and

where
S is the area of surface enclosing the source. S0 = 1m2 is
the reference surface.
In practical situations, the relation between sound pressure
level and sound power level or normal sound intensity

The acoustic power of the AHU sources in this paper is

determinated over reflecting plane by using ISO 3744
method. In addition sound power of the artificial sound
source used in measurements of acoustic insulation of
casing is also determinated in a diffuse field.

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3. MEASUREMENT PROCEDURES
Three different measurement procedures are considered in
this paper.
3.1 Measuring acoustic insulation of casing
The first t method considered is determination AHU
casing acoustic insulation in octave bands as suggested in
Standard ISO 1886 [1]. The measurement procedure
without and with casing according this standard is shown
in Fig. 1 [2].

a)

b)
Fig 2. Measurement setup with two artificial source
positions in the casing a) and without panels
a)
3.1.1 Design of the artificial sound source according
standard ISO 11546-2

Fig. 1. Measurement setup for measuring acoustic

insulation of casing a) only the source and b) source
within model box
The sound pressure levels at defined positions around
AHU casing is measured in the free acoustic field over
reflecting plane (ISO IEC 3744)[3].
The measurement results for sound pressure levels are
logarithmically averaged (for 15 positions) in each octave
band of interest (from 125 Hz- 8 kHz) and corrected due
to background noise at two different sound source
positions in the casing.
The sound source is made according recommendations in
standard EN-ISO 11546 [9]. First the sound pressure level
around envelope of the source is determinated and in the
second step of the procedure the same measurements are
done with AHU casing panels with two different positions
of artificial sound source in the model box. (Fig. 2 )

The artificial sound source used in measurements is a

stable mechanical broadband noise source in accordance
with the requirements. The sound source consist of a
standard tapping machine tapping on an undamped stell
plate. The dimension of a steel plate are 4 mm 800 mm
300 mm. The distance between steel plate and the tapping
machine correspond to the standard drop length of the
hammers ( 40 mm). The distace between the steel plate
and the supporting surface is 60 mm. It is very important
to avoid the damping of the steel plate [9].
Special attention is aimed toward vibration insulation of
the source due to excitation of sound pressure field in the
model box. If vibration insulation is not made correctly,
the botton panel of model box can be excitated strongly
and the model box start to radiate sound at lower
frequencies (close to the resonant frequencies of the
model box). High damping of the structure borne sound is
insured with appropriate vibration insulation material with
its stiffnes and known mass loading. Tapping machine and
steel plate on the three springs give resonance frequency
of the source around 10 Hz which is much lower than the
first frequency at which the sound insulation is measured
(125 Hz). The artificial sound source and its simplified
equivalnet mechanical model is shown in Fig. 3.

MEA-01 Page 3 of 6

The measurements have been done in the model box

casing shown in the Fig. 4.

a)

Fig. 4. Considered model box in measurements

b)
Fig. 3. Artificial sound source a) and its equivalent
simplified mechanical model b)
The sound power level of the artificial sound source is
determinated in the free acoustic field over reflecting
plane and in the reverberant field (V=50 m3) [8]. The
results are given in the Table 1.

f[Hz]

Lp,AVG [dB]
free-field

Lw,AVG [dB]
free-field

Lp,AVG [dB]
reverberation

125

62.4

80.0

76.0

2.39

76.0

250

69.0

87.5

90.3

1.88

89.4

500

79.4

97.1

95.5

1.68

94.5

1k

81.6

100.1

98.3

1.47

97.9

2k

84.4

102.3

102.1

1.39

101.5

4k

84.9

103.4

101.9

1.15

102.1

8k

78.2

96.7

95.3

0.89

96.6

T[s]

The thickness of panels was 45 mm and they are filled

with the rock wool (density of 50 kg/m3 ).
The averaged results for acoustic insulation of AHU
model box casing (Dp) calculated as difference between
sound pressure levels results with and without panels in
octave bands are given in the Table 2.
f [Hz]
125
250
500
1k
2k
4k
8k

LW [dB]
rev. room

Table 1. Sound power level (Lw) of artificial sound source

in the free and reverberant field (with additional data) in
octave bands of interest
It is evident good agreement between measurement results
of sound power in the free field and in the reverberation
room at higher frequency bands. At lower frequency
bands the problem is with the dimension of the room
which was too small according to the standard [8].
3.1.2 Measurement results for AHU casing acoustic
insulation

Dp [dB]
12.5
15.6
25.6
30.1
34.1
34.2
40.2

Table 2. Results of measured sound insulation in

frequency bands of interests
It is evident worse sound insulation at lower frequencies
due to thickness of panels compared to the wavelength at
these frequencies. This panels are used in construction of
AHU unit from which the airborne sound power is
measured.
3.2 Measuring airborne sound power level
In the second measurement setup (Fig. 5.), the
airborne sound power level in octave bands of AHU is
measured according ISO 3744 Standard. Sound pressure
levels are measured in essentially free-acoustic field over
a reflecting plane[3]. The sound power level is calculated

MEA-01 Page 4 of 6

knowing the measurement surface and assuming known

average sound intensity level (calculated from sound
pressure levels measurements) over measurement surface
(formed from 22 positions around AHU unit with inlet
and outlet ducts).

Fig. 5. Measurement setup for airborne sound power

levels
The airborne sound power level is measured with airflow of 6269 m3/h and results in octave bands are shown
in Table 3.
f[Hz]

LW[dB]

63
125
250
500
1k
2k
4k
8k
A

87.2
80.1
70.9
70.0
67.0
60.7
60.9
51.3
82.4 dBA

Fig. 6. Measuring inlet and outlet in-duct sound power

levels
In these measurement setups the measured sound
power level was much higher than measured background
noise so there was no need for correction.
The measurement results are compared with
calculations obtained with AIRCALC++ program with the
same input parameters [10]. The measured results for the
outlet in-duct sound power levels (Lwm) at two different
air-flows compared with calculated (Lwc) results are shown
in Table 4 and Table 5.
a)

Table 3. Results for airborne sound power levels

A-weighted value of sound power level is shown in
addition to have better subjective feeling about measured
sound power levels in octave bands.
3.3 Measuring inlet and outlet in-duct sound power
levels
In the third step the outlet and inlet in-duct sound power
levels are measured with two different air flows in ducts.
The measurement setups are shown in Fig. 6. The sound
power levels are calculated from averaged sound pressure
levels (10 positions) and known measurements surface
(half sphere of 1m radius).

MEA-01 Page 5 of 6

Air-flow : 6269 m3/h

f[Hz]

LWm[dB]

LWc[dB]

63

97.6

98.4

125

93.8

96.4

250

88.6

90.2

500

92.0

86.9

1000

87.6

85.4

2000

86.9

82.7

4000

80.5

77.6

8000

73.2

71.7

93.6 dBA

91.8dBA

b)
3

Air-flow: 3769 m /s
f[Hz]

LWm[dB]

LWc[dB]

63

97.6

98.4

125

93.8

96.4

250

88.6

90.2

500

92.0

86.9

1000

87.6

85.4

2000

86.9

82.7

4000

80.5

77.6

8000

73.2

71.7

93.6 dBA

91.8dBA

Table 4. Comparison between measured and calculated

outlet in-duct sound power levels at a) Q=6269m3/h and
b) Q=3769 m3/h
a)

noise at low frequencies. If it is situated in the area where

people live, very good acoustic insulation of the space
where AHU is located is needed. The acoustic insulation
of casing is difficult to improve at lower frequencies due
to large wavelength compared with the panel width. In the
future research the acoustic parameters of AHU unit will
be improved with new materials used in construction. In
these measurements the sound power levels are calculated
from averaged sound pressure levels over measurement
surface assuming simple mathematical connections
between pressure and intensity. In future measurement
procedures the sound intensity will be measured directly
by using sound intensity probes.

Air-flow : 6269 m3/h

f[Hz]

LWm[dB]

LWc[dB]

63

88.2

92.2

125

93.3

92.6

250

87.1

87.3

500

88.9

87.6

1000

76.6

81.8

2000

74.4

77.6

4000

75.5

75.7

8000

69.5

70.8

86.5 dBA

88.4 dBA

REFERENCES

b)
Air-flow : 3769 m3/h
f[Hz]

LWm[dB]

LWc[dB]

63

82.9

83.3

125

77.1

78.9

250

69.9

77.8

500

66.1

72.3

1000

66.5

68.6

2000

64.8

66.5

4000

72.2

61.8

8000

67.6

57.4

75.9 dBA

75.5 dBA

Table 5. Comparison between measured and

calculated inlet in-duct sound power levels with two
different air flows a) Q=6269m3/h and b) Q=3769 m3/h
It is evident good agreement with the results obtained with
AIRCALC++ program when this results are compared
with measurement results at the same air flow. The results
of measurement are also questionable because it is
assumed simplified connection between sound pressure
and intensity valid only for plane wave propagation [11].

[1] European Standard EN 1886: Ventilation for

buildings - Air handling units Mechanical
performance (EN ISO 1886).
[2] K. V. Haperen: European Standards Eurovent
Certification AHU, training course, 2009.
[3] Acoustics Determination of sound power levels
and sound energy levels of noise sources using sound
pressure Engineering methods for an essentially free
field over a reflecting plane (ISO 3744:2010; EN ISO
3744:2010)
[4] I. Vr, L. Beranek: Noise and Vibration Control,
Principles and applications, John Wiley & Sons, 2006.
[5] Mser: Engineering Acoustics - An Introduction to
Noise Control, Springer, 2009.
[6] B. Jobling, D. Simmons, R. Payne: Measurement
uncertainties
associated
with
sound
power
determination due to source operating conditions, NPL
Report DQL-AC 006, August 2004.
[7] R. V. Waterhouse: Output of a Sound Source in a
Reverberation Chamber and Other Reflecting
Environments, Journal of Acoustical Society of America,
Volume 30, Number 1, 1956.
[8] Acoustics -- Determination of sound power levels
and sound energy levels of noise sources using sound
pressure -- Precision methods for reverberation test
rooms (ISO 3741).
[9] Acoustics -- Determination of sound insulation
performances of enclosures -- Part 2: Measurements in
situ (for acceptance and verification purposes), ISO
11546-2.
[10] Users Guide, AIRCALC++, Proklima, 2010.
[11] M. Ambrosini: The uncertainty in standardised
sound power measurements: complying with ISO
17025, Ph. D. Thesis, University of Bologna, 2009.

4. CONCLUSION
In described procedures, is shown that the sound power
level radiated from AHU can be significant source of

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