Manufactured in the UK by Caice

Acoustic Ventilator
Brochure
Products
Technical Considerations
Application Guidance
Contents
Acoustic Ventilator 1 Guidance for Dwellings 5

Ventilation Problems and the Solution 1 Design Requirements 5

The Caice Acoustic Ventilator 1 Equivalent Area Requirements 5

Features 1 Dwellings with more than one exposed façade 5

Dwellings with only one exposed façade 5

Technical Considerations 2 Assumptions 5

Ventilation and Acoustics 2 Other conditions 5

Applicable Documentation 2 Example 5

Approved Document F: 1995 Archived Versions 2 Interpretation 5

Approved Document F: 2006 - Current 2

CIBSE Guide B 2 Typical Installation 6

Intrusive Noise 2 Product Specification 6

Product dimensions 6

Ventilator Performance 3

Acoustic Testing 3 Example of Caice Acoustic Ventilator Selections 7

Acoustic Performance 3 General 7

Equivalent Area 3 Information Required 7

Additional Design Considerations 7

Guidance for Hotels 4

Design Requirements 4

Outdoor Air Supply Rate 4

Air Changes per hour 4

Example 4

Interpretation 4

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i Acoustic Ventilator Brochure
Acoustic Ventilator
Ventilation Problems and the Solution
Providing natural ventilation to a room is essential for all modern The acoustic ventilator is not designed to be part of the window,
buildings, however this can often lead to noise issues. but part of the façade and therefore can sit above the window.

Using traditional trickle vents undermines the sound insulation The ventilator dimensions are designed to simply replace a
performance of the façade, and consequently causes a rise in series of brickwork, meaning that installation is straightforward
ambient noise levels within the room. and hassle free.

The Caice Acoustic Ventilator bridges the gap between the Of course not every window in a building will require a ventilator,
necessary ventilation requirements and noise criteria required so matching dummy ventilators can also be supplied to maintain
for comfortable living. a consistently superior look and finish to your building.

The Caice Acoustic Ventilator Features

The Caice Acoustic Ventilator is primarily designed with • High acoustic performance, tested to Dn,e,w 50 dB
residential dwellings and hotel bedrooms in mind, but it can be
adapted to suit almost any other natural ventilation project where
• Meets the ventilation requirements of Approved
background or trickle ventilation is required.
Document F 2006
The ventilator configuration is therefore tailored to provide the
desired ventilation rates and acoustic requirements. Whilst • Unit dimensions can be tailored to suit design
existing designs may sometimes be acceptable for a particular requirements
application, ventilators will generally be bespoke units.
• Choice of front or bottom inlet and discharge

• Flush finish: complements the window design

• Simple design: replaces the brickwork above the

window or can be built into the facade

• Units can be polyester powder painted for matching

aesthetics

• Easy to install: directly below the lintel and above the

window

• Thermal break can be incorporated

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Acoustic Ventilator Brochure 1
Technical Considerations
Ventilation and Acoustics
Ventilator performance is determined by the Building When you introduce a ventilation opening into a structure, you
Regulations Approved Document F and CIBSE Guide B. introduce a potential acoustic weakness. The Caice Acoustic
Ventilator can be used to overcome that weakness.
Approved Document F focuses mainly on dwellings and offices.
It contains a section for other buildings such as hotels and There are numerous ventilation and acoustic requirements that
laboratories. For each of these, there is a cross-reference to can all be addressed using the adaptable Caice Acoustic
another document (for example CIBSE Guide B) although some Ventilator. For bespoke applications, acoustic and aerodynamic
others are also referenced. performance can also be tested and verified.

Applicable Documentation
Approved Document F: 1995 - Archived Version Approved Document F also has an impact on the design of
mechanical ventilation such as supply or extract fans. It is
This older version of Approved Document F details the important not to confuse this with any natural or background
requirements for background ventilators in terms of a free area. ventilation requirements.

It is not concerned with how much air is exchanged, but instead CIBSE Guide B
assumes that by providing minimum opening areas within a
façade, then satisfactory ventilation rates will be achieved. CIBSE Guide B provides ventilation rates applicable to building
types other than dwellings and specifies various criteria. This
Approved Document F: 2006 - Current document includes the criteria for hotels.

The current version of Approved Document F now details Approved Document F refers to CIBSE Guide B2, rather than
ventilation requirements in terms of “equivalent ventilator area”: CIBSE Guide B. Since the publication of Approved Document F,
CIBSE have consolidated their guides (B1, B2, B3, B4 and B5)
Equivalent area is a property of the ventilator which can be into one version (Guide B), which covers heating, ventilating,
accurately derived by airflow measurement. This is related to the ductwork, refrigeration and noise and vibration.
required geometric free area of the ventilator necessary to
provide a specified ventilation rate at 1Pa pressure differential. Intrusive Noise

This means that Approved Document F now details For any building, the composite sound reduction of all the
requirements based on ventilation rates achievable, rather than associated façade elements will be one of the factors which
making the assumption that a certain geometric free area will influences the level of intrusive noise to the internal spaces.
allow sufficient ventilation.
Guidance on acceptable noise levels can be obtained from such
It should be noted that within Approved Document F, the actual documents as BB93 (Building Bulletin 93 Acoustic Design for
geometric free area (FA) is taken to be approximately 25% Schools), HTM08-01 (NHS Health Technical Memorandum 08-
greater than the equivalent area (A), i.e. FA ≈ 1.25A. However, 01 Acoustics), BS8233 (Sound Insulation and Noise Reduction
two ventilators with the same free area may not necessarily for Buildings).
provide the same ventilation rate.

Approved Document F considers various different building types

and each of these has a different ventilation requirement.
Guidance for residential dwellings and hotels are given later in
this document.

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2 Acoustic Ventilator Brochure
Ventilator Performance
Acoustic Testing Table 1: Ventilator acoustic performance

The normalised element level difference (Dn,e) is the usual test Octave Band Acoustic Performance (dB)
parameter that should be measured. Dn,e tests need to be
conducted in an appropriate laboratory facility capable of testing 125 250 500 1k 2k 4k 8k
to BS EN ISO 140-10: 1992; ISO 140-10: 1991 - Laboratory Dn,e,(dB) 33 40 45 56 67 75 69
measurement of airborne sound insulation of small building
elements. R (dB) 6 12 17 28 41 50 41

The test involves a ventilator being installed in a wall separating

two reverberation rooms. The acoustic performance of the wall Dn,e,w (C;Ctr) = 50 (-1,-5) dB
must be high enough such that the final noise measurements
are representative of the noise passing through the ventilator,
and not from noise flanking around or through the wall itself. Dn,e is the average composite loss of a typical wall structure with
the vent installed, whereas R is the sound reduction index
This test set-up enables a noise level difference to be measured through the vent itself.
across the unit. The results are then normalised to a reference
area of 10m2 so that they can be directly compared with other
ventilators or elements in a structure. Equivalent Area
Equivalent area is assessed in accordance with BS EN 13141-1:
An approximation of the Rw (weighted sound reduction index) of 2004 (Clause 4).
the ventilator can also be derived from the Dn,e providing the wall
performance is known.
The calculation from BS EN 13141-1: 2004 is as per below:

Acoustic Performance A = C.q v

The acoustic ventilator design shown below was tested at an Where:
independent test laboratory in accordance with BS EN 20140-
10, 1992; ISO 140-10, 1991 - Laboratory measurement of air- A is the equivalent area (mm2)
borne sound insulation of small building elements. A measured
performance of Dn,e,w 50 dB was achieved.
qv is the volume flow rate for a certain pressure differential
(l/s)

FACADE VIEW
C is given in the table below.
59

Table 2: Equivalent area constants

910
FRONT DISCHARGE
VIEW ∆P (Pa)

UNDERSIDE VIEW 1 2 4 8 10 20
BOTTOM DISCHARGE C 1272.5 899.7 636.2 449.9 402.4 284.5
VIEW
700
338

910

INTERNAL VIEW
55

500

910

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Acoustic Ventilator Brochure 3
Guidance for Hotels
Design requirements Example

Guidance is from CIBSE Guide B: Heating, Ventilating, Air A hotel room has a volume of 75m3, and is designated as a non-
Conditioning and Refrigeration. smoking room with 2 person occupancy.. Natural ventilators are
to be provided in the external façade based on a differential
There are two requirements to consider: pressure design of 10Pa.

1. An outdoor air supply rate per person

2. A minimum number of Air Changes per Hour (ACH) - Interpretation

(potentially mechanical ventilation)
The room must incorporate natural ventilators capable of
Outdoor Air Supply Rate providing an outdoor air quantity of 8 litres/second per person,
i.e. a total ventilation rate of 16 litres/second.
This is taken from CIBSE Guide B2, Table 3.3. This is based on
the likely level of smoking as shown in the table below. The equivalent area calculation results in a requirement for
ventilators with an effective area of .6438mm2. This could be
Table 3: Recommended outdoor air supply rates for provided as either a single or multiple ventilator units.
sedentary occupants
Assuming an ACH target of 10, the mechanical ventilation rate
Outdoor air supply rate (l/s for the room would be 208 l/s. The system designer must
Level of Smoking therefore determine the route for the air path in mechanical
per person)
ventilation mode.
No smoking 8
In mechanical ventilation mode, it may be appropriate to utilise
Some smoking 16 the façade ventilators to handle some or all of the air
requirement. In this instance, the ventilator air pressure drop
Heavy smoking 24
needs to be considered.
Very heavy smoking 36

Fresh air rate (l/s) = Fresh air rate per person (l/s/p) x no. of occupants

Air Changes per Hour

The requirement from section 3.14 is that 10 - 15 ACH (air

changes per hour) are required as a minimum for guest rooms
with en-suite bathrooms, albeit this is aimed predominantly at
mechanical ventilation.

The ventilation rate in l/s is calculated as follows:

Air Change Rate (ACH) x Room Volume (m3) / 3.6

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Guidance for Dwellings
Design Requirements
Equivalent Area Requirements
Other conditions
The equivalent area requirements are given per dwelling, and
are based on the number or bedrooms and assumed levels of The minimum equivalent area per room is 5000mm2 with an
occupancy. external wall.

Dwellings with more than one exposed façade The minimum equivalent area for a wet room (i.e. a room with
significant airborne moisture) is 2500mm2.
• For multi-storey dwellings and single storey dwellings
more than 4 storey’s above ground level, see table 4 Example
below.
A single storey ground-floor dwelling has a total of 36m2 floor
area.
• For single storey dwellings up to 4 storey’s above ground
level, take the total equivalent free area from table 4
below and add 5000mm2. Interpretation

Dwellings with only one exposed facade From Table 4 , the equivalent background ventilator free area is
25,000mm2.
For a dwelling with only one exposed façade, cross ventilation is
not possible so background ventilators should be located at both However, because it is a single storey dwelling lower than the
high level (1.7m above floor level) and low level (at least 1m 4th floor, an additional 5000mm2 should be added.
below the high ventilators). The equivalent areas given in the
following table, should be achieved for both the high and low Therefore the total equivalent area required is 30,000mm2.
ventilators.
To maximise airflow through the dwelling by encouraging cross
Table 4: 2
Equivalent ventilator area for dwellings (mm ) ventilation, it is best to locate similar equivalent areas of
background ventilators on opposite sides of the dwelling.
Total Number of bedrooms
Floor Even where background ventilators are required, mechanical
Area ventilation may also be required to meet minimum mandatory
1 2 3 4 5 ventilation requirements. Designers should therefore refer to
(m2)
Approved Document F for guidance.
≤ 50 25,000 35,000 45,000
51 - 60 25,000 30,000 40,000
61 - 70 30,000 30,000 30,000
45,000 55,000
71 - 80 35,000 35,000 35,000
81 - 90 40,000 40,000 40,000
91 - 100 45,000 45,000 45,000
> 100 Add 5000mm for every additional 10m2 floor area
2

Assumptions

These are based on an occupancy of 2 people in the main

bedroom and 1 person in any other bedroom. For a greater
level of occupancy, assume an extra bedroom per person. For
more than 5 bedrooms, add an additional 10,000mm2 per
bedroom.

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Acoustic Ventilator Brochure 5
Physical Details
Typical Installation

The ventilator is typically installed between

the lintel at the head of the opening and the
top of the window frame

Internal plasterboard finish to walls

The air path is indicated by the

arrows.

Air flows through a small gap

between the ventilator and the
window frame. The air then
Grille or slot within internal plasterboard
travels through the ventilators
bulkhead.
attenuated slot, and out into
the room
Window This allows for a traditional internal finish
Unit with minimal disruption due to the
inclusion of the ventilator. This is far less
intrusive and aesthetically far more
pleasing than many of the alternatives.

Product Specification Product Dimensions

The outer casing shall be constructed with galvanised sheet Width: typically from 400mm up to 2200mm in a single piece
steel. The acoustic media within the ventilator shall have a class
“0” fire rating in accordance with BS 476 Part 24. Height: nominally 55mm

Equivalent Area will be marked on each unit. Length: nominally 338mm, but shorter units can be
manufactured if required,
The ventilators shall be delivered to site suitably protected to
prevent the ingress of dirt whilst on site, and shall be provided
with labels detailing a description of the unit.

The manufacturer shall ensure that the ventilators will fit easily
and correctly above the window and in the facade.

Polyester powder paints can be used to present the units in a

manner that reflects the particular window design and colour
scheme.

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Example of Caice Acoustic Ventilator selection
General Information required
The Caice acoustic ventilator was used on a project at Plough To enable Caice to select acoustic ventilators for any given
Lane in London, and had a geometric free area of 8000mm2. development situation, the following minimum information will be
required:
The estimated equivalent free area was therefore 6400mm2.
1. Required equivalent free area
The estimated ventilation rate at 1Pa was estimated as 5 l/s.
2. Required ventilation rate (if applicable)

FACADE VIEW 3. Dimensional constraints.

59

4. Acoustic requirements
910
FRONT DISCHARGE
VIEW

UNDERSIDE VIEW The equivalent areas and ventilation rates should be determined
BOTTOM DISCHARGE
by the client based on the guidance given in the applicable
VIEW documentation.
700
338

Additional Design Considerations

910
Increasing the width of the ventilator will increase the equivalent
free area and help achieve higher ventilation rates, however this
INTERNAL VIEW needs to be offset against potentially reduced acoustic
performance.
55

500 The acoustic performance parameters shown here were tested

910
for a specific application. Where this basic design can be used
on other projects, this will result in a similar performance being
achieved.
This ventilator achieved the following laboratory measured
acoustic performance: However, where acoustic design is critical to any particular
project and this standard product design is not suitable, then the
client should consider acoustic testing. This work can be
arranged through our acoustic consultancy division Lee
Table 5: Laboratory tested ventilator acoustic performance
Cunningham Partnership.
Octave Band Acoustic Performance (dB)

125 250 500 1k 2k 4k 8k

Dn,e,(dB) 33 40 45 56 67 75 69

R (dB) 6 12 17 28 41 50 41

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Acoustic Ventilator Brochure 7
Telephone CAICE Acoustic Air Movement Ltd.
0844 847 5370 Riverside House
Facsimile 3 Winnersh Fields
0844 847 5371 Gazelle Close
Winnersh
enquiries@caice.co.uk Wokingham
www.caice.co.uk RG41 5QS