An activated fluid stream – New techniques for cold water cleaning

Abstract

Electrochemical, acoustic and imaging techniques are used to characterise surface cleaning with particular emphasis on the understanding of the key phenomena relevant to surface cleaning. A range of novel techniques designed to enhance and monitor the effective cleaning of a solid/liquid interface is presented. Among the techniques presented, mass transfer of material to a sensor embedded in a surface is demonstrated to be useful in the further exploration of ultrasonic cleaning of high aspect ratio micropores. In addition the effect of micropore size on the cleaning efficacy is demonstrated. The design and performance of a new cleaning system reliant on the activation of bubbles within a free flowing stream is presented. This device utilised acoustic activation of bubbles within the stream and at a variety of substrates. Finally, a controlled bubble swarm is generated in the stream using electrolysis, and its effect on both acoustic output and cleaning performance are compared to the case when no bubbles are added. This will demonstrate the active role that the electrochemically generated bubble swarm can have in extending the spatial zone over which cleaning is achieved.

Acoustic radiation force on a parametrically distorted bubble

“…Interest in Faraday waves has increased in recent years because of a range of applications, including ultrasonic foggers [28] and, hypothetically, in the generation of the alligator 'water dance' [29]. This theoretical study was designed to support a new ultrasonic cleaning technique, the Ultrasonically Activated Stream (UAS) [30,31]. UAS achieves cleaning with cold water streams at flow rates of ∼ 1 litre min −1 , generating zero-to-peak acoustic pressure at the surface to be cleaned of less than 100 kPa.…”

Ultrasound‐mediated therapies for the treatment of biofilms in chronic wounds: a review of present knowledge

“…This would then have the potential to either prevent or limit biofilm development, in addition to dispersing and treating any adherent cells already present in the wound bed. The transmission of US via a fluid stream to biotic and abiotic surfaces for the purpose of biological decontamination has recently demonstrated that clinical translation and utility in this field are achievable (Birkin et al ., , ). In order to achieve fundamental change in healthcare practices such as the treatment of chronic wounds, we believe this review exemplifies the need for collaborative and interdisciplinary research to potentiate existing therapies and develop novel treatment modalities.…”

The acoustic bubble: Oceanic bubble acoustics and ultrasonic cleaning

“…The design, construction and operation of the UAS device are detailed elsewhere [44,45], but the basic principle is that cold water is fed into a hollow horn that contains an ultrasonic transducer operating in excess of 100 kHz. The ultrasound and microbubbles in the flow both travel down the stream of water to the target that is to be cleaned.…”