Design guideline for audible warning signal and determination of sound pressure characteristics : Second version

Abstract: Today Atlas Copco Rock Drills AB hasn’t got any method to determine how many warning alarms they need on their machines and how they should be mounted to use their full potential. At the moment a travel alarm is usually placed in the front of the machine and a reverse alarm in the back. Then a measurement of the sound pressure level around the machine is performed to see if it is enough to pass the limit according to different ISO-standards. Otherwise they have to mount some extra alarms and then do the measurements again until the standards are fulfilled. The aim of this thesis work is to develop a method for determine how many alarms Atlas Copco Rock Drills AB need on the machines, and also how they should be mounted to fulfil the different criteria according to ISO-standards in the early phase of construction. From the different divisions within Atlas Copco Rock Drills AB (LHD, SDE and TME) arrived four different alarms, which are used on their machines. Sound pressure level measurements were conducted on these, in the anechoic chamber at audiological research centre at the university hospital in Örebro. In the LMS Test.Lab software a measurement sphere was built around the horns and based on the data obtained at the anechoic chamber sound directivity plots were made. Together with earlier machine measurement data from Atlas Copco Rock Drills AB, an Excel program was made constituting an example of how the horns should be mounted. LHD = Loaders and trucks/underground rock excavation SDE = Surface drilling equipment TME = Tunnelling and mining equipment