As one could expect, a vibratory feeder is not quietest piece of equipment around. Sound waves are produced with vibration, parts colliding, and metal-to-metal contact. These sounds echo off the steel and conical walls of the bowl which can amplify across a wide area. This kind of interference makes things difficult for production managers and operators that must work around the equipment.

That is why implementing some sound reduction features may be usefully on your next feeding system. The average vibratory feeder system includes polyurethane liner inside the bowl which does help to alleviate the metal contact of the parts from the hopper loading tray and bowl tooling. If the bowl does not have poly-u, then it is bare stainless-steel bead blasted. This type of finish creates the loudest noises you will see from a feeder. To take preventive measures you can look at (3) options to reduce the sound of your system:

1. Add an aluminum sound enclosure with sound proof foam and hinged roof access.
2. Add poly-urethane liner to the bowl for sound reduction.
3. Add sound curtains around the entire machine to contain the sound waves.

Some additional sound may be the root cause of a poorly tuned drive unit also. Drive units that have broken springs or hammering coils can cause a loud banging noise. To fix this issue the unit must be retuned properly so it is a resonant “hum” you would hear from a typical feeder drive unit.

Nobody likes a noisy system in the plant and it’s no fun working around those types of systems either.

Please ask us about our sound reduction options if you feel it may be needed on your next project.