A Collaborative Approach to R&D: Ventac

IRDG members Ventac and Sulzer collaborated to leverage their respective areas of expertise across different sectors.

Ventac develop, design and manufacture customised noise control solutions for industrial equipment, facilities and commercial vehicle manufacturers. Headquartered in Blessington, Ventac draw upon an in-house team of acousticians, design engineers and installation specialists to provide domain expertise in noise and heat insulation treatments, as well as noise abatement installations.

As a trusted development partner to international OEMs, Ventac collaborate closely with client R&D teams throughout the development cycle. Ventac is home to Ireland’s only Innovation and Acoustic Laboratory, which is used to innovate new noise control products, develop client component performance and as a consultative R&D service to component and system manufacturers.

Ventac & Sulzer R&D Collaboration

A recent strategic project saw Ventac & Sulzer of Wexford collaborate on the technical development of Sulzer’s innovative, next generation wastewater aeration unit, BCX5. This market-first system features long life, energy efficient aeration and with its low noise signature, can be deployed without additional noise mitigation measures. The existing industry standard had recommended indoor only deployment, which was not compatible with Sulzer’s vision for their product.

Working in a very compact design space, Ventac delivered this vision by working closely with Sulzer R&D. An early prototype was evaluated and then characterised using acoustic camera technology. An iterative design process followed that combined component-wise development within Ventac’s Acoustic Laboratory with full system evaluations at Sulzer. A substantial audible reduction in the unit’s sound signature was achieved, whereupon Sulzer and Ventac engineering teams set about validating and delivering the specification to be ready for production.

This collaborative arrangement was a win-win for both businesses and given its success, Sulzer have awarded Ventac the supply contract for the series manufacture of noise attenuation on this innovative new Sulzer product.