3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
professor95 wrote: EDIT ADDED 45/5/2013- When this thread started in March of 2005, I never expected to see it survive this long or amass the quantity of information that has been shared here. In...
Forum Discussion
There have been several discussions on sound abatement enclosures recently. I thought I would revisit the concept and throw out my efforts to achieve sound reduction.
Back in September I got a wild hair and decided to build a sound reduction enclosure for my old(er) ELM3000.
Objective #1 was to use materials I had around the Ranch rather than go out and buy new stuff.
I scrounged up some old Formica covered 3/4" plywood, sound matting that goes under the carpet for a car, a GM heater fan, scrap aluminum sheets, perforated HVAC grills and assorted plywood.
I posted some of the project photos in September but took them back down after several forum members suggested that it was not good thinking on my part. Actually, 5 months later I have lost interest in the project and don't care who copies what.
There are about 50 photos that you can view here.
I am not too good on these photo hosting service things so everything is backwards. If you start at the first photo it won't make any sense at all, thus start with the last photo and move in that direction.
Your first view will be thumbnails. Click on the thumbnails and you will get larger images you can page through.
Now, the essence of the project was to move as much air as I could while baffling sound. The "big" success was isolating the air intake on the engine shroud side from the mechanical noise of the engine. Without that, it would be just a box. Air comes in the bottom, is pulled thru the enclosure by the engine fan and aux fan and out the front. Note that airflow is "normal" across the cylinder fins and is routed over the generator before exiting.
Truth is, I never finished it. I did test it by duct taping on the front and top panels. Overall sound was reduced to a pleasant 59 dB. Temps stayed low. Problem #1 was the aluminum shield I used for the muffler chamber got warm enough to soften the glue on the matting. Maybe in retrospect it would be best not to use the aluminum as a heat sink.
Problem #2 was fuel delivery. I ended up using a 2-4 psi automotive fuel pump pulling from a remote tank. Even that was too much fuel pressure and the float bowl on the engine spilled fuel. I used an available 3 terminal voltage regulator to turn the fuel pump down to 4.5 volts. That worked fine.
The ELM3000 does not have a 12VDC winding. I needed to borrow 120 volts and feed it to a fairly sturdy step down transformer (also Junk) with a full wave bridge using 10 amp diodes to power the heater fan motor.
The assembly is pretty heavy and not really weather resistant. But, it will fit on the rear carrier of my trailer and can be covered with a small BBQ grill cover.
If you have questions, I will be glad to try and respond. Do not be disappointed if I am slow. Right now is extremely busy at the college and time is scarce.
Feel free to borrow, modify and experiment as you wish with these ideas. It is far from perfected and needs more work. Just remember, my goal was NOT to go out and buy new materials. Starting the project from scratch with new stuff could get expensive. (It might be better to buy a quiter Inverter gensetif that is the case. :)
Back in September I got a wild hair and decided to build a sound reduction enclosure for my old(er) ELM3000.
Objective #1 was to use materials I had around the Ranch rather than go out and buy new stuff.
I scrounged up some old Formica covered 3/4" plywood, sound matting that goes under the carpet for a car, a GM heater fan, scrap aluminum sheets, perforated HVAC grills and assorted plywood.
I posted some of the project photos in September but took them back down after several forum members suggested that it was not good thinking on my part. Actually, 5 months later I have lost interest in the project and don't care who copies what.
There are about 50 photos that you can view here.
I am not too good on these photo hosting service things so everything is backwards. If you start at the first photo it won't make any sense at all, thus start with the last photo and move in that direction.
Your first view will be thumbnails. Click on the thumbnails and you will get larger images you can page through.
Now, the essence of the project was to move as much air as I could while baffling sound. The "big" success was isolating the air intake on the engine shroud side from the mechanical noise of the engine. Without that, it would be just a box. Air comes in the bottom, is pulled thru the enclosure by the engine fan and aux fan and out the front. Note that airflow is "normal" across the cylinder fins and is routed over the generator before exiting.
Truth is, I never finished it. I did test it by duct taping on the front and top panels. Overall sound was reduced to a pleasant 59 dB. Temps stayed low. Problem #1 was the aluminum shield I used for the muffler chamber got warm enough to soften the glue on the matting. Maybe in retrospect it would be best not to use the aluminum as a heat sink.
Problem #2 was fuel delivery. I ended up using a 2-4 psi automotive fuel pump pulling from a remote tank. Even that was too much fuel pressure and the float bowl on the engine spilled fuel. I used an available 3 terminal voltage regulator to turn the fuel pump down to 4.5 volts. That worked fine.
The ELM3000 does not have a 12VDC winding. I needed to borrow 120 volts and feed it to a fairly sturdy step down transformer (also Junk) with a full wave bridge using 10 amp diodes to power the heater fan motor.
The assembly is pretty heavy and not really weather resistant. But, it will fit on the rear carrier of my trailer and can be covered with a small BBQ grill cover.
If you have questions, I will be glad to try and respond. Do not be disappointed if I am slow. Right now is extremely busy at the college and time is scarce.
Feel free to borrow, modify and experiment as you wish with these ideas. It is far from perfected and needs more work. Just remember, my goal was NOT to go out and buy new materials. Starting the project from scratch with new stuff could get expensive. (It might be better to buy a quiter Inverter gensetif that is the case. :)
