A study of the effect of floor mobility on isolation efficiency of vibration isolators

Despite the benefits of HVAC equipment, this can produce structure-borne sound as well as air-borne sound. This sometimes causes vibration of the electrical and mechanical services (E&M) roof or floor that is high enough to make the spaces they serve unusable. Therefore, good acoustical design plays an important role in the design of HVAC systems. Although vibration isolators are usually employed to reduce the vibrational power transmitted from the machine to the E&M floor, the effect of floor mobility on the isolation efficiency is usually ignored by engineers. A great deal of vibrational energy can sometimes be transmitted to the E&M floor and emitted as noise to the room below. The aim of this paper is therefore to clarify the effect of floor mobility on the isolation efficiency of vibration isolators for HVAC equipment.