Ultrasonics – Transducers – Piezoelectric Hardware

Preceding blogs have described the workings and principles of ultrasonic transducers.  Today’s blog will summarize the information on piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers and give readers a view of what the real hardware looks like.  An upcoming blog will concentrate on magnetostrictive hardware. Piezoelectric Transducers – Piezoelectric transducers, which may also be called electrostrictive transducers, nearly all …

Ultrasonics – Transducers – Resonance

The piezoelectric and magnetostrictive effects which drive ultrasonic transducers are capable of creating considerable force but only minimal displacement.  In order to produce sound waves of sufficient amplitude (displacement) to cause cavitation in a liquid, some means must be used to increase the displacement produced by the primary piezoelectric or magnetostrictive effect.  In both cases, the key to doing …

Ultrasonics – Transducers – Magnetostrictive Effect

At the heart of any ultrasonic transducer is a means to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy.  The use of piezoelectric materials to do this was discussed in a previous blog.  Today’s blog will describe how magnetostrictive materials can also be used to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy. Ultrasonic transducers using magnetostriction as a source of …

Ultrasonics – Transducers – Piezoelectric Effect

Today, the vast majority of transducers used for ultrasonic cleaning applications utilize the “piezoelectric” effect to transform electrical energy to mechanical motion.  These devices are sometimes called “piezos” because they are driven by piezoelectric elements which are integral to the transducer.  Piezoelectricity was discovered by Maria and Pierre Curie who also experimented with radioactivity and …

Ultrasonics – Effect of Frequency Removing Particles

A previous blog revealed that ultrasonic frequency has an effect on the removal of soluble contaminants.  In general, lower frequency will be more effective in the removal of soluble contaminants.  Today’s blog will discuss the effect of frequency on the removal of insoluble contaminants – ie. particles. As ultrasonic frequency is increased, two things happen.  First, the …

Ultrasonics – Effect of Frequency Removing Soluble Contaminants

Earlier blogs have explained the effect of frequency on the size of cavitation bubbles and where they are formed.  Today’s will explain the effect of bubble size and location on removing soluble contaminants. Soluble Contaminants – The removal of soluble contaminants requires that solvent saturated with the contaminant being removed must be displaced from the solvent/contaminant …

Ultrasonics – Number and Size of Cavitation Bubbles

The size of cavitation bubbles produced in an ultrasonic cleaning bath depends primarily on the ultrasonic frequency.  The number of cavitation bubbles depends on both the ultrasonic frequency and the ultrasonic power being introduced into the cleaning tank. Frequency – Higher ultrasonic frequencies produce smaller cavitation bubbles than lower frequencies.  This is at least partially due …

Ultrasonics – Frequency – Barrier Layer

The concept of a barrier layer in ultrasonic cleaning can be a little difficult to understand – in fact, a lot of people don’t even know what “barrier layer” means.  In this blog, I’ll attempt to describe what the barrier layer is and how the thickness of the barrier layer is affected by changing ultrasonic frequency. The …