Silent running for noise reduction

Too much noise can make you ill - a common issue at the workplace. Excessive noise emissions can damage your hearing and your autonomic nervous system. A number of measures can help mitigate these issues, like using quiet wheels and casters on transport trolleys in industrial and commercial settings. We provide a number of different versions with special tread specifically for this purpose.

According to the Federal Environment Agency, “[t]he right to life and physical integrity guaranteed in the German constitution applies without restriction in all situations - that includes employees at work.” However, this doesn’t quite reflect the situation in the real world: According to a report published by the Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs, there were around 13,000 reported cases of noise-induced hearing loss in Germany in 2017. 6,849 of these cases were determined to be work-related.

The Federal Environment Agency recommends implementing a variety of different measures for the purpose of noise reduction. These include “technical measures at the source and quieter working methods.” The latter can be achieved using solutions which at first glance seem to have no direct connection to noise reduction - like using wheels and casters with particularly low noise treads on transport trolleys. “Users frequently use loud casters with a hard tread because they think that softer treads have a lower load capacity and higher running resistances,” explains Matthias Hellstern, Product Manager at Blickle. This is actually not the case, as demonstrated by the special materials in the company’s portfolio, all of which have proven their worth in a number of different applications. “People frequently underestimate the impact of wheels and casters. But they actually have a significant influence on noise emissions when goods are being transported,” says Hellstern. Depending on the trolley and the goods which are being transported, the noise produced by the wheels can be increased many times over.

The Blickle “SoftMotion” soft rubber series is perfectly suited for applications where operational comfort, shock absorption and significant noise reduction are required. The special tread made of high-quality elastic solid rubber glides over the floor softly and quietly. This can be particularly helpful when using service trolleys or when transporting components which are sensitive to shock. When combined with a hardness 55 Shore A tread, the thick tread layer made of high-quality elastic solid rubber and a specially adapted contour ensure low levels of rolling resistance and quiet operation. The ALBS series can also be used to reduce noise levels and ensure extremely high levels of operational comfort. The extra thick tread and the crowned surface with a Blickle Besthane® Soft tread enable employees to move transport trolleys smoothly and quietly. The wheels in the ALBS series are resistant to heat buildup under dynamic load and are particularly suitable for high-speed applications.

Hard and loud wheels are frequently used in the food and hygiene sector. Our POTHS and POBS series, on the other hand, can handle heavy loads in sensitive hygienic areas while reducing noise levels and providing exceptionally high operational comfort.

The Blickle POTHS wheel series consists of a heavy and stable nylon wheel center and a tread made of thermoplastic polyurethane. The soft tread has a hardness of 80 Shore A, has good shock absorption properties and provides low levels of rolling resistance. This reduces the noise levels produced during transport and ensures pleasant operation with low vibrations. The chemically bonded connection between the tread and the wheel center provides a high load capacity and significant room for compression. POTHS is non-marking and preserves the floor.

Blickle’s POBS wheel series is a premium solution for hygienic applications. These wheels have a particularly thick tread cushion made of the soft, reaction-injected premium Blickle Besthane® Soft polyurethane, which is moulded onto a nylon wheel center. This provides low levels of rolling resistance, excellent operational comfort with quiet operation and good floor preservation, even in a sensitive environment. These wheels are also hydrolysis-resistant and corrosion-resistant. Plus, they have an extremely high level of chemical resistance to a wide variety of aggressive substances.

The quiet wheels have already proven their worth in a number of different scenarios - such as the one faced by a traditional German bakery. The scenario: One of the bakery’s city center branches was causing a lot of noise by rolling catering trolleys over cobblestones at 4:30 in the morning. Management contacted us to find an alternative for the light-duty casters with an expander fitting which they previously used in order to reduce noise emissions.
To the Success Story

Our solutions also proved popular with the world’s largest glass manufacturer, which is based in France. Every day, the group produces more than 4.3 million high-quality crystal and glass items in five factories across the world. They use 250 loading platforms on casters to transfer the products from the furnaces to a variety of storage locations for finishing and for shipping. Each of these platforms is capable of transporting up to 1.5 tons of goods. However, there are a number of obstacles: The floor has broken glass and plastic film remnants in some areas. High noise emissions were caused as a result of various points of friction between the casters as well as the film remnants, which often wrapped around the wheel axle. The customer also had problems with breakages due to the products falling down or hitting each other during transport. The French company turned to us in their search for an alternative.

One of the manufacturer’s requirements was that the mounting height of the transport units needed to be retained. We made some minor changes to the design of the trolley and recommended spring-loaded heavy duty casters. The elastic solid rubber tires with "Blickle EasyRoll" smooth rolling quality combined with the extremely robust spring-loaded rig in the LSFN series dealt with all of the challenges facing the glass manufacturer. The heavy-duty casters effectively dampen any shocks which occur and significantly reduce noise levels. An additional thread guard prevents film remnants that may be lying around from wrapping around the wheel axle and consequently causing it to lock up.