Pump noise

Pumps are used in all areas of human activity. They are present in our domestic environment with central heating circulators, washing machine pumps, fuel pumps and so on. In this field, they must be particularly silent and vibration-free, otherwise our quality of life will be impaired.

Legislators have set standards limiting noise levels to acceptable values; however, manufacturers of domestic equipment often go beyond these standards, and make silence their primary selling point, so great is the need for silence.

In the industrial sector, we encounter similar concerns, but to which other needs are added. Pressure fluctuations generate vibrations, which can lead to the progressive deterioration of pipe supports or the joints connecting the various pipe sections. More generally, pressure fluctuations are responsible for fatigue phenomena that can be dangerous in the long term.

The need for acoustic discretion has now extended to the military field, as a result of the remarkable development of listening devices. Today, it's no exaggeration to say that the need for quiet operation has extended to almost all areas of pump application.

Finally, it should be pointed out that the following applies only to rotodynamic pumps (centrifugal, axial and helical-centrifugal pumps). The noise-generating mechanisms of positive-displacement pumps, in particular reciprocating pumps with discontinuous flow, are of a totally different nature.