Why HVAC acoustics is changing its material: meta-acoustics with HSA3
For more than ten years, our team has been building acoustic enclosures for heat pumps and chillers: over 500 projects across Europe, the US and as far as Asia. Almost all of them followed the same principle. More attenuation meant more mass, thicker walls and more absorber material.
The problem is that this barely helps where it matters most. The low-frequency hum of compressors and large fans can only be tackled with conventional absorbers by adding a lot of build depth. Every extra centimetre of wall costs space, weight and pressure drop, and pressure drop costs efficiency.
Meta-acoustics turns this logic around
With HSA3, developed by our partner ABSORA, we no longer work with “more material” but with geometry. The sheets are designed to work together with a defined resonance cavity and damp the critical frequencies in a targeted way.
What this means in practice
- Better attenuation in the low-frequency range, where residents perceive noise most
- Slimmer wall build-up and lower pressure drop, so the unit breathes more freely and runs more efficiently
- Non-combustible (A1), a real advantage for rooftop installations and R290 units
- Metal-based: robust, weather-resistant, durable
- Silencers rethought too: HSA3 tubes instead of conventional splitters
Since September, HSA3 has been standard in all ForCoTech acoustic enclosures, not only in projects with especially high requirements.
Our view
The heat transition is bringing more and more large heat pumps into dense urban areas, and noise is becoming the bottleneck for permits. Solving acoustics through mass alone costs space and efficiency. Meta-acoustics is the step from “damping noise” to “engineering silence”.
Planning a heat pump or chiller in a noise-sensitive location? Talk to us early. The right acoustic concept starts at the design stage.