Boyd Noise Absorbers and Barriers

Many products will produce unwanted noise and vibration under normal operating conditions. This excessive noise and vibration, also known as NVH, is often interpreted as poor quality and can negatively impact consumer perception. It also negatively affects desired performance of the device through accelerated wear and tear, decreased efficiency, or in extreme cases, shortened product life through mechanical failure. Control of these noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) issues often fall to a variety of add-on treatments applied to a product’s structure with the goal to: absorb or block the transmission of noise, isolate the transmission of vibration between components and damp excessive vibration by reducing the structure’s resonant behavior through solutions like sound absorption, vibration damping and shock absorption. Boyd offers a wide array of custom converted solutions utilizing highly engineered materials that are tailored to the specific application. The treatment design and material selection is made with a detailed understanding of the structure itself, the governing dynamics driving the NVH issue, and the environmental requirements to be met. For conditions involving excessive radiated noise, a common countermeasure is to enclose the noise source with acoustic absorbing materials to reduce noise levels before they are transmitted to the receiver. Often a dense barrier layer is incorporated to reduce the transmission of noise through the enclosure. These absorbers and enclosures are often die-cut treatments cut to shape with pressure sensitive adhesive backing for installation. Design parameters like foam type, thickness and cover films laminated to the foam are adjusted to achieve good acoustic absorption over the needed frequency range. These same materials can be converted to create air flow paths that direct noise to appropriate areas or force it through an extended or a “torturous” path to increase sound absorption or shock absorption.