Vibroacoustics of the heat pump housing and sound propagation through the surrounding area

Acoustics is a discipline that has been discussed in more and more sectors over the years. This trend is very closely linked to the current trends in the manufacturing industry to lighten materials, which has a negative impact on the ability to dampen sound [1]. Noise requirements come from the customer and are reflected in the various noise regulations that manufacturers try to meet with their products. Of particular importance are devices which perform reciprocating or rotary motion and are located in the protected space of buildings. A good example is an air-to-water/air-to-air heat pump, which is a device that operates for a significant part of the day. This paper discusses the individual stages of the analysis leading to the determination of the noise at the listener's location and addressing the effect of structure-born noise on the overall sound of the device. A simple model of a heat pump housing was used as an example.