Sound Physics – Nodes and Antinodes – Part I

I’ve made reference in the blog before to the fact that some surfaces are good candidates for ultrasonic cleaning while others are either difficult or impossible to clean.  In general, surfaces that are hard (metal, glass) are easily cleaned using ultrasonics while softer surfaces (rubber, soft plastic) resist ultrasonic cleaning.  The reason has to do …

Heat – A Balancing Act

We all know that temperature is an important parameter in cleaning and cleaning-related processes.  Too little and cleaning will be ineffective.  Too much can lead to possible chemical separation, part degradation and loss of ultrasonic cavitation.  So providing the proper temperature is mandatory for the best cleaning result.  Sounds easy?  Well, yes and no – consider …

Ultrasonics – Ultrasonic Power Density vs. Tank Size

As a leading ultrasonic manufacturer, we are often asked to manufacture large, industrial ultrasonic cleaning systems producing a particular ultrasonic power density based on laboratory trials.  In fact, it may not be appropriate to base the watts per gallon requirement for a large industrial application on those found effective on a laboratory scale.  A paper at the following …

Sounds of Silence – Pulse Period and Duration

Today we are, again, going to bring ultrasonic sounds into the realm of human audibility by lowering the frequency to ones that most people with normal hearing can hear.  Several preceding blogs have discussed the effects of varying the pulse width and pulse period of an ultrasonic generator in an ultrasonic cleaning system.  If you’ve …

Ultrasonics – Pulse – More About Pulsed Ultrasonics

“Pulse” in ultrasonic terms simply means turning the ultrasonic energy on and off repeatedly in either a fixed or random pattern.  At first it seems this would would be counter-productive to the goal of maximizing the ultrasonic cleaning effect.  In fact, the blogs Ultrasonics – Ultrasonic Generators – What Is “Pulse” and Ultrasonics – Ultrasonic …