Data centers / Sound & Community
Sound is a community constraint.
Cooling equipment operates alongside the people who live and work around a data center. Its sound deserves a place in site planning from the start, with a clear operating basis and a clear view of what reaches the neighbors.
Single 1 MW air-cooled module basis: 16 Samsung AG015DSVAJG/AA cells on a 52 ft × 8 ft skid. These are calculated module levels, not field measurements or a whole-campus noise guarantee.
Distance & orientation
Sound at the receiver
At 50 feet, the rated model gives 63 dBA broadside and 60 dBA off the end. Silent Level 3 lowers the broadside estimate to 51 dBA.
Broadside distances start at the skid centerline. End-on distances start at the skid end. The table describes one module under the stated model assumptions.
The 95 dBA module sound-power value describes the source. The table gives sound pressure at a distance. They describe different quantities.
| Distance | Rated broadside | Rated off end | Silent 3 broadside |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 ft | 68 | 65 | 56 |
| 50 ft | 63 | 60 | 51 |
| 100 ft | 57 | 55 | 45 |
| 200 ft | 51 | 50 | 39 |
| 300 ft | 47 | 46 | 35 |
| 500 ft | 42 | 42 | 30 |
| 1,000 ft | 35 | 35 | 23 |
HydroCore 1 MW module
The acoustic basis
The original slide includes the octave-band spectrum, distance calculations and operating assumptions. Open the PDF to read the full engineering detail.
Operating conditions
Quiet operation has a capacity basis.
Rated cooling with all cells operating remains the design basis. The supplied report models Silent Levels 1, 2 and 3 as reductions of 4, 8 and 12 dB respectively.
At 95°F, Levels 1 and 2 retain full capacity with 27–36% higher power input. Level 3 delivers 70% capacity at 90% power input. The report also states 81% available capacity at 80°F for Level 3. Silent Level 3 is a night or low-load mitigation case, and its available cooling capacity must be checked against the site load.
Calculation assumptions
The report sums incoherent sources at their skid positions, with hemispherical spreading over hard ground (Q = 2) and ISO 9613-2 air absorption at 68°F / 70% relative humidity. It includes no barriers and gives no directivity credit for vertical fan discharge.
Per-cell sound power is 83 dBA, referenced to Samsung technical data using ISO 3741. Sixteen cells sum to approximately 95 dBA module sound power. The rated spectrum uses TDB page 20, adjusted +2 dB to the tabulated overall value, with the 63 Hz band inferred from page 19. The Silent Level 3 spectrum applies the tabulated 12 dB reduction to the rated spectrum; no part-load sound-power spectrum is published in the cited source.
From a module to a community
Module count, spacing, orientation and receiver distance must be evaluated together. Doubling equal sound contributions adds approximately 3 dB; four equal contributions add approximately 6 dB. A campus assessment must calculate each module's contribution at the receiver rather than apply the single-module table to the whole installation.
Use this module basis with the site layout, operating schedule, other equipment and applicable sound criteria to evaluate neighboring properties. Actual site conditions require a project-specific acoustic assessment.
Bring sound into the site conversation.
Send the layout, receiver locations, cooling load and sound criteria. We can review the module operating basis with your design team.