Ultrasonic cleaning

  • Thread starter Thread starter Davo
  • Start date Start date
OK. Finally got round to giving it a spin. 2/3 full 3 litre plastic container, warm water with dishwashing detergent in the usual dishwash concentration, unit set at mid power = 5watts = 1 watt/sqcm. Set the timer to max = 10 minutes, dropped in my fuel taps, transducer immersed in the fluid and hit start. 30 minutes later (ie 3 x 10 minute sessions) and the previously immovable grunge and petrol lacquer was falling off when pushed with the special thumbnail tool.

Probably have to bypass the 10 minute timer and fit an external timer at the wall socket so I don't have to keep pushing the button. Lazy bugger me.
 
my tank uses what appears to be a standard size stainless pan used in commercial kitchens
big enough for three dell'ortos or one dcoe
the transducers are external glued to the outside of the bottom surface
they look suspiciously like cheap midrange drivers
"Power of a sound wave is determined by the amplitude of the wave"
so if i put a bigger pan on a boom box with hip hip it will work better? :o

i replaced the timer with a simple on/off switch and use a kitchen timer so i know when to turn it off

cheers,
scott
 
Hi Scott.

  Descrbes my Dawes unit very nicely......Twin tanks and very variable...

      Can someone deacribe the type of "Drivers" and their function as one of my baths is only run 4 of the 8 fitted and I love to repair it....It does run and clean but takes a while to hit a decent speed.

                  Thanks guys

                              Tim

   
 
Scott and Tim

The ultrasonic transducers work on a somewhat similar principle to voice coil drivers, but at a much higher frequency (hence the term "ultrasound"). Voice coil drivers have a magnet/coil system that causes pressure pulses in air as a coil moves in and out in an electric field. About the fastest that this normally happens is around 30kHz, which causes sounds well above the ability of even children and dogs to hear (the "mosquito" mobile phone ring tone is about 26kHz. I sure can't hear it!).
Ultrasonic transducers use a piezoelectric crystal instead of a voice coil. The crystal actually increases in size when an alternating current is passed through it, thus creating a series of pressure waves within the surrounding medium, whether it's air or water. But the frequency is way higher, about 4 MHz is quite common, about 2000 times higher than audible sound.
And because the crystals can't change size much, the amplitude of the sound wave can't change like it can with a voice coil. So
playing hip hop loud through an ultrasonic transducer probably won't have much effect, although who knows? You should try it :D

Ken
 
I wanted to build my own ultrasonic tank last year. Got all the transducers and a nice stainless tank. But I cant find anyone to build me a generator.. (amp)...  Here is some stuff I have found on the interweb. 

Maybe it would help some guys here.... 
 

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