Chiller Rooftop Sound Enclosure –
Case Study
©2003-2009 Unger Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Air cooled chillers are efficient machines but notoriously loud and
can be disruptive to neighbors. Unger Technologies has worked on several
projects to attenuate and remediate noise from air cooled screw chiller
machines.
This case history project involved a roof top Trane Chiller unit. The
unit was installed on a roof to cool a large grocery store. The property
line involved a neighboring condominium. The tenants of the condominium
that faced the chiller were complaining about the sound from the roof
top unit. Neighbor complaints stated such things as “not able to sleep”,
“disrupting noise at night”, and “whining noise from the chiller”.
Unger Technologies was hired to provide property line sound level
readings, acoustic consulting, and generate a feasibility report on our
findings for noise control remedies. Our conclusions were to provide a
full steel sound enclosure to help abate the noise from the chiller fans
and chiller compressors. Airflow was a consideration. Installed into the
enclosure were acoustic louvers and an overhead noise baffle system.
This system allowed for aggressive noise reduction and still allowed the
machine ventilation and heat release. The project was successful in
meeting our reports acoustic goals.
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