Acoustic Performance
Case Study: Wyman Gordon
Kimpton sounding out the mole
The Client
Wyman Gordon is the global leader in the design, manufacture, assembly and integration of complex metal components and products. With more than 118 years’ experience, the company uses forged processes to serve numerous sectors including aerospace, power generation, oil & gas exploration, medical, automotive, food processing and nuclear.
The Challenge
Wyman Gordon produces metal pipes of up to 12 metres in length and 1000mm in diameter for a range of industries.
The cleaning of these pipes is undertaken using a grinding wheel ‘mole’ which runs the full length of the pipe removing residual mill scale. This process is inherently noisy as the pipe resonates just as a tuning fork would while the grinding mole travels up and down the pipe.
The Solution
To reduce the noise level, Kimpton undertook the design and manufacture of an acoustic enclosure measuring 26m long x 3.50m wide x 3m high to house the grinding mole rig and steel pipes. The enclosure needed to provide excellent acoustic performance to ensure operator safety and hearing protection, access into the enclosure was provided by a mechanically driven sliding roof providing a minimum opening 14.5m long for access of pipes by an over head gantry crane.
