Ultrasonics Sonochemistry 17 (2010) 953964

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Ultrasonics Sonochemistry
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ultsonch

Power ultrasonic transducers with extensive radiators for industrial processing

J.A. Gallego-Jurez *, G. Rodriguez, V. Acosta, E. Riera
Power Ultrasonics Group, Instituto de Acstica, CSIC, Serrano 144, Madrid, Spain

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 6 October 2009
Accepted 8 November 2009
Available online 18 November 2009
Keywords:
Power ultrasound
Transducers
Industrial processing

a b s t r a c t
High-power ultrasonics (HPU) is a green emerging technology that offers a great potential for a wide
range of industrial processes. Nevertheless such potential have remained restricted during many years
to a limited number of applications which reached commercial development. The possible major problem
for extending the range of HPU industrial applications has been the lack of power ultrasonic transducers
for large-scale application, adapted to the requirements of each specic problem with high efciency and
power capacity.
A new family of HPU transducers with extensive radiators have been recently introduced. It comprises
a variety of transducer types designed with the radiators adapted to different specic uses in uids and
multi-phase media. Such transducers implement high power capacity, high efciency and radiation pattern control. In addition, their design incorporate strategies to eliminate or reduce modal interactions
produced at high power as a consequence of their nonlinear behaviour. The introduction of such new
transducers has signicantly contributed to the development at semi-industrial and industrial level of
a number of processes in the food and beverage industry, in environment and in manufacturing. This
paper deals with the basic structure and main characteristics of such transducers as well as their performance in the developed application processes.
2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The development of green technologies for industrial processing is at present one of the main scientic and technological
challenges. High-power ultrasonics (HPU) is a green emerging
technology that offers a great potential for a wide range of processes. HPU technology is based on the application of high-intensity elastic waves to cause changes in the treated media by the
adequate exploitation of the nonlinear phenomena associated to
the high amplitudes such as radiation pressure, wave distortion,
streaming, and cavitation in liquids and dislocation in solids. As a
consequence, a series of mechanisms can be activated by the ultrasonic energy such as agitation, diffusion, interface instabilities, friction reduction, localised heating, mechanical rupture, chemical
effects etc. Such mechanisms can be exploited to produce or to enhance industrial processes.
Important features of HPU technology, besides its green and
sustainable character, are its capacity to act synergistically with
other forms of energy in order to promote, accelerate or improve
existing processes as well as its ability to produce different effects
in different media.
The idea of using ultrasonic energy in industry has been explored since the rst half of the 20th century. HPU systems for
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jgallego@ia.cetef.csic.es (J.A. Gallego-Jurez).
1350-4177/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2009.11.006

cleaning, emulsication, welding, machining, forming and cutting

applications date back to the 1950s. Initially the prospect of using
the new technology raised a great expectation among scientists
and industrialists. Nevertheless only a few companies were able
to develop commercial devices and in general the industrial potential of HPU remained restricted during many years to a limited
number of applications. The reasons why HPU technology did not
reach a great and quick development may be mainly attributed
to technical problems that made difcult its implementability in
practical applications. Specically, problems related with the efciency, power capacity and scaling-up of the transducers delayed
the industrial development. Due to the low power capacity of the
single ultrasonic transducers, a great number of units were needed
in large industrial installations, and this did not prove to be practical and economically effective. In addition, the design of HPU
components relied entirely on analytical modelling, thus proving
to be reliable only for systems of basic geometries. In fact, the models of HPU transducers commercially available were very limited
and generally of very simple structure. As a result, and despite
the signicant benets associated with the use of ultrasonic energy
and the broad range of potential uses of HPU, only a restricted
number of applications have been established at industrial level.
In recent years a renewed interest for ultrasonic processing has
occurred, particularly in those applications where the ultrasonic
energy may represent a clean and efcient tool for enhancing or
producing effects. Such seems to be the case of relevant sectors

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such as food industry, environment, pharmaceuticals and chemicals manufacture, machinery, etc. In the last fteen years, the advent of powerful nite element modelling packages, the
development of electronic methods to drive and control tuned
oscillating systems [1] and the need of green technologies for
industrial processing, have all contributed to revive the interest
in HPU.
The recent introduction of a new family of HPU transducers
with extensive radiators, which comprises a variety of types designed for specic uses in uids (especially gases) and multi-phase
media, has strongly contributed to the implementation at semiindustrial and industrial stage of several commercial applications,
in sectors such as food industry, environment and manufacturing.
This article deals with the structure and characteristics of the main
transducer types of this family as well as their performance as an
innovative technology in several industrial processes.

2. New concepts for the design of power ultrasonic transducers

for industrial applications
An important target in the HPU eld is to extend the application
potential by developing adequate systems to full the requirements established by each specic problem. This is particularly
necessary for the industrial applications where the solutions have
to be technical and economically effective.
At present, the main difculty for the industrial extension of the
HPU technology originates in the generation devices. As well
known, the great majority of the existing high-power ultrasonic
transducers are still based on the classical piezoelectric sandwich
transducer which was originally designed by Langevin in 1920
[2] and, even improved [3], has many limitations to cover industrial requirements. The sandwich transducers are limited in power
capacity and in dimensions. They vibrate along its length in thickness extensional mode and to avoid coupling with radial vibration modes, the cross-sectional diameter have to be smaller than
1=
4 of the wavelength of the extensional operating vibration mode.
As a consequence their use in industrial problems requires the
development of multielement assemblies which have many practical difculties for tuning the operation frequency and make difcult to match production quality standards. Nonetheless such
assemblies are almost the sole commercial response presently
available for large-scale applications in liquids.
HPU applications in solids, such as machining, soldering, welding, metal forming, etc., are based upon mechanical effects as a result of vibration amplitude. For these applications, the sandwich
transducer is also used but jointly with a solid horn which ensures
high displacement at the working end [4]. Again the horn are
extensional vibrators and their cross-sectional dimensions have
to be smaller than 1=4 the wavelength. However, as most applications require large working area, horns with wider cross-section
have been developed and to avoid, as much as possible, the coupling of lateral or radial vibrations, they are constructed with slots
running parallel to the direction of the longitudinal motion. Some
methods for modal vibration control of large horns have been proposed [5].
Another problem of the existing power ultrasonic transducers is
related with the limited knowledge about the nonlinear behaviour
of such devices when they work at high driving voltages. As well
known tuned systems, when driven at high power, exhibit a whole
range of nonlinear phenomena, such as frequency shifts, modal
interactions, etc., that affect the performance [6]. Therefore in the
design of power ultrasonic devices, guidelines for eliminating or
reducing their nonlinear behaviour at high power are needed [7].
Hence one of the main targets in the eld of high-power ultrasonics for processing is the development of specic transducer

technology with high power capacity and efciency, extensive

radiating area to cover large volumes and with control of the
acoustic eld to distribute it according to the needs of the specic
application. Such technology should also require the knowledge of
the nonlinear behaviour of the transducers when operated at high
excitation and the development of suitable methods of design to
avoid or palliate modal interactions and other unwanted effects.
Trying to achieve such objectives, a new family of HPU transducers with extensive radiators which implement high power
capacity, high efciency and radiation pattern control has been
developed. The design of such transducers, which are mainly conceived for applications in uid and multi-phase media, incorporate
strategies to reduce their nonlinear behaviour. Such is the family of
extensive radiating area transducers which comprises several versions depending on the shape and/or the prole of the radiator
which is adapted to the specic application. The introduction of
such new transducers has signicantly contributed to the implementation at semi-industrial and industrial level of a number of
processes .in the food and beverage processing industry, in environment and in manufacturing [8].
3. Description and characteristics of the new family of power
transducers with extensive radiators
Fluid and multi-phase media (especially gases) exhibit low specic acoustic impedance and high acoustic absorption. Therefore,
in order to obtain an efcient transmission of energy, it is necessary to achieve good impedance matching between the ultrasonic
radiation source and the medium, large amplitude of vibration,
and high directional or focused beams for energy concentration.
In addition, for large-scale industrial applications, high power
capacity and extensive radiating areas are required. The aim of
the new family of power transducers is to meet all the above
requirements in one device.
The basic structure of such transducers is schematically shown
in Fig. 1. It consists essentially of a piezoelectrically activated
vibrator which drives an extensive radiator. The vibrator itself is
constituted by a piezoelectric element of transduction in a sandwich conguration and a solid horn which acts as a vibration
amplier. The extensional vibration generated by the piezoelectric
element and amplied by the mechanical amplier, drives the
radiator which vibrates exurally in one of its exural modes.
The extensive surface area of the radiator increases the radiation
resistance and offers the vibrating system good impedance matching with the medium. The radiator is generally a circular or rectangular vibrating plate with stepped, grooved or stepped-grooved
prole. If needed such radiator could be of any shape adapted to

Fig. 1. Basic structure of the transducers.

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955

the specic problem such as a cylinder, a shell or any other. The

special shape and prole of the radiator is designed to control
the vibration distribution and the radiation pattern.
Any kind of such transducers is characterized by the specic
radiator and the main types developed are: the stepped-plate,
the grooved-plate, the stepped-grooved-plate, the at-plate with
reectors and the cylindrical radiator.
The basic characteristics and performance of each one of these
types of transducers will be described in the following sections.

in the propagation medium, the radiation produced will be in

phase across the whole beam and a directivity pattern equivalent
to that of the theoretical piston will be obtained (Fig. 2). The effect
is clearly observed by comparing the measured directivity diagrams of a at-plate radiator and a stepped-plate radiator of the
same diameter and frequency (Fig. 3). The latter is coincident with
the computed diagram of a theoretical piston of the same diameter.
In this way we are able to design and construct piston-like radiators of any surface area and for any frequency.

3.1. The stepped-plate transducer

3.1.2. The focusing stepped prole

Following a similar procedure it is possible, with adequate displacements of the different plate zones, to achieve any acoustic
eld conguration. Fig. 4 shows the scheme of the procedure to follow for the design of focusing radiators. Bearing in mind that the
plate zones separated by a nodal line vibrate in counter-phase,
the radiated energy will be focused on a zone around a point P
by modifying the prole of the plate in such a way that the plate
zones comprised between two nodal lines are shifted with respect
to the at prole a height hi which will be determined according to
the following rule:

The stepped-plate transducer has the basic structure previously

described and the radiator is an extensive circular or rectangular
plate of stepped prole vibrating in one of its natural exural
modes. The stepped prole of the plate permits the control of the
radiation in such a way that the pattern can be tailored as needed.
As for HPU the concentration of energy is generally required, high
directional and focusing radiators have been designed and developed in order to produce high-intensity acoustic levels.
3.1.1. The directional stepped prole
The idea behind the design of the directional stepped prole is
as follows. An extensive at-plate radiator driven at ultrasonic frequencies will vibrate in one of its exural modes and, as consequence, will show a poor directivity pattern due to phase
cancellation. Nevertheless, if the surface elements vibrating in
counter-phase on the two side of the nodal lines are alternatively
shifted along the acoustic axis to half a wavelength of the sound

Fig. 2. Phase matching effect by the stepped-plate radiator.

do zo

1
di zo hi r2i 2
di  di1

k
2

where k is the wavelength of the radiation in the medium and the

subscript i = 1,2,3,. . .n, indicates the different inter-nodal zones.
3.1.3. The circular stepped-plate transducer
In the circular stepped-plate transducer, the plate radiator vibrates in one selected axisymmetric exural mode driven at its
centre by a length expander vibrator. Different prototypes of circular stepped-plate directional and focusing transducers have been
developed for the frequency range 1040 kHz and power capacities
up to about 1 kW (Fig. 5). The design of these transducers, initially
made by analytical methods, was further improved by applying nite element methods (FEM).
The main characteristics of the developed air-borne directional
circular stepped-plate transducers are summarized in Table 1.
The directivity pattern of one of these transducers is shown in
Fig. 6.
Following the design scheme of Fig. 4, focusing circular
stepped-plate transducers have been also developed for frequencies in the range 2040 kHz. The efciency and power capacity of

Fig. 3. Comparison between the directivity patterns of a at-plate radiator and a directional stepped-plate radiator.

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Fig. 4. Scheme for the design of focusing radiators.

Fig. 5. Circular stepped-plate directional transducers.

Table 1
Main characteristics of directional circular stepped-plate transducers.
Electroacoustic efciency
Directivity (3 dB beam width)
Power capacity
Frequency range experimented
Maximum intensity levels

7580%
<2
1 kW
1040 kHz
175 dB

these transducers is very similar to that of the directional transducers of the same diameter. Fig. 7 shows the acoustic eld of a
focusing circular plate transducer with a plate radiator of 39 cm
in diameter and an operating frequency of 25.8 kHz. The ultrasonic
energy is concentrated in a focal volume of about 2 cm in diameter
and 17 cm in length (dimensions taken at 3 dB of the maximum value) located at a distance of about 40 cm from the plate radiator.
Intensities of the order of 170 dB are obtained in the focus with a
power applied to the transducer of 200 W.
3.1.4. The rectangular stepped-plate transducer
For specic industrial applications, the stepped-plate transducers with rectangular radiating surface offer technical and practical
advantages over transducers with circular radiators. Rectangular
plate congurations allow a more uniform distribution of vibration
displacements than circular plates. In fact the distribution of displacements of axisymmetric circular plate vibrators, given by Bessel functions, presents high amplitudes in the inner area and much

Fig. 6. Directivity pattern of a circular stepped-plate directional transducer of

20 kHz.

lower and decreasing amplitudes in the outer areas, while the

vibration amplitude distribution of rectangular plates shows more
uniformity between the central and the outer areas (Fig. 8). Therefore, by using rectangular radiators more homogenous acoustic
elds may be reached. At the same time, the more uniform vibration distribution causes smooth stress that improves fatigue resistance and increases power capacity. This is a highly desirable
feature for large-scale industrial applications in which powerful
generators and homogeneous treatments are generally required.
Another important practical factor provided by the rectangular
conguration is due to the easier commercial availability of the
radiator materials (typically titanium alloy) as rolled rectangular
plates rather than as forged discs. Nevertheless, the structure of
rectangular plate transducers, which combines the extensional
vibration of the driving vibrator with the non axisymmetric ex-

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957

ural mode of the plate radiator, together with the high modal density of rectangular vibrating plates, make these transducers more
sensitive to exhibit nonlinear response characteristics when driven
at high power.
The rectangular radiators have been designed to operate in a
resonant mode with 14 nodal lines parallel to its smaller side. Both
faces of the radiator are stepped to obtain directional radiation also
from the back face. The purpose is to use the back radiation in the
forward direction by means of adequate reectors. Prototypes for 7
and 20 kHz have been developed with power capacities up to
2.7 kW (Fig. 9). The main characteristics measured in air are shown
in Table 2. The directivity patterns are shown in Fig. 10.
3.2. The grooved-plate transducer

Fig. 7. Acoustic eld of a focusing circular stepped-plate transducer of 25.8 kHz.

The performance of the industrial transducers very much depends on their behaviour under high strain levels. Amongst the
power limitations of the industrial use of HPU devices, two are
the more important issues to be considered: one is related with

Fig. 8. Comparison of amplitude distribution between circular and rectangular vibrating plates.

Fig. 9. Rectangular stepped-plate transducers.

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Table 2
Main characteristics of the directional rectangular stepped-plate transducers.
Radiating
plate (m2)

Frequency
(kHz)

Bandwidth
(Hz)

1.8  0.8
0.6  0.3

7.6
19.5

1
2.5

Directivity
(3 dB beamwidth)
XZ plane
about 2
about 2

Efciency
(%)

YZ plane
67
75

the difculties to reach very high powers without nonlinear disturbances and the other refers to the distribution and location of the
stresses to maximize the power capacity of the transducers.
HPU transducers reveal a common feature due to their inherent
nonlinear vibration characteristics which frequently hamper the
industrial use of the ultrasonic technology. As well known, tuned
transducers when driven at high power levels exhibit a range of
nonlinear phenomena and their response generally includes harmonics of the driving frequency and, when the amplitude exceeds
a threshold level and under certain conditions, such response may
also contain fractional harmonics, frequency pairs, combination
resonances, frequency modulations, etc. As a result, high-power
operation of complex transducers, designed to resonate in a tuned
mode, may be disturbed by the coupling or excitation of untuned
modes, causing heating, noise, inadequate vibration amplitudes,
low reliability and even component failures [6,7].
The complexity of the structure of the plate transducers, which
are high modal density systems and combine longitudinal and ex-

ural vibrations at the required tuned frequency, makes difcult to

avoid modal interactions at high-power operation. Plate transducers frequently present, over a certain value of applied power, unwanted modes, giving rise to modal interactions, the energy
being channelled from the excitation into other large-amplitude
vibrations impeding power operation [9].
Therefore, the design and development of reliable high-power
ultrasonic transducers requires to detect the possible modal interactions and to implement the design modications needed to avoid
or to palliate such problem. The procedure to follow involves the
experimental investigation of the vibrational behaviour of the
tuned transducer under high-power excitation and the study of design modications to reduce or eliminate the effects of modal participation other than the tuned mode.
The point is to know the mechanism causing the initiation of
undesirable vibration modes in the power transducer. After a long
investigation, by modeling, constructing and experimenting different types of plate transducers, it was concluded that, apart from
the mechanisms of parametric or autoparametric resonances, modal interactions can occur in nonlinear systems when an untuned
mode is too close to the operating driving frequency [9].
Then the design strategy to mitigate such modal interaction was
to separate the operating mode from undesired close modes by
modifying the plate radiator. The methodology consisted in nely
adjusting the balance between the masses of the different zones
of the plate radiator in order to magnicate as much as possible
the response of the operating tuned mode and, at the same time,
to weaken and/or to move away the closer undesired mode. The

Fig. 10. Directivity patterns of a rectangular stepped-plate directional transducer.

Fig. 11. Comparison of amplitude distribution between at and slightly grooved rectangular plates.

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practical procedure was carried out by grooving the back face of

the plate radiator in the proper zones. By following this procedure
using nite element (FE) modeling, it was possible to increase the
separation between the closer modes in the treated cases. Such
grooved-plate transducers can be operated at higher power excitation without modal interactions [9].
The other important requirement for reliable and safe industrial operation of plate transducers is related with the distribution
and location of the stresses in the plate radiator in order to increase their power capacity which directly depends on the maximum stress that the plate is able to withstand without failure of
the material, Therefore, as a rst condition, the plate must be
made of a high fatigue resistance material, generally titanium alloys [10]. In addition, the stresses at the vibrating surface should
be, as much as possible, uniformly distributed. In a exural vibrating plate the objective should be to smooth as much as possible
the stress differences in order to reach a balanced stress distribution. To that purpose the prole of the back face of the plate is
modied by grooving its back face, removing mass from different
plate zones. Such modications are guided by FE modelling and
depend on the vibration mode of each plate radiator. Fig. 11
shows a comparison between the distribution of displacements
in a rectangular at-plate radiator and in a slightly grooved-plate
radiator of the same dimensions vibrating with two nodal lines
parallel to the longer side. As it can be seen, the distribution of
displacements in the grooved-plate is sensitive to the mass removal even if in this simple case the depth of the grooved area
was very thin.
Fig. 12 shows the photograph of one rectangular plate grooved
transducer and the corresponding FE simulation.

959

3.3. The stepped-grooved-plate transducer

As explained before, the idea of the stepped prole is to control
and select the radiation pattern, while the purpose of the grooved
prole is to separate untuned vibration modes in order to avoid or
to mitigate modal interactions, as well as to make more uniform
distribution of the amplitudes and stresses to increase power
capacity. These two objectives are not opposite but complementary. Therefore, transducers with stepped-grooved-plate radiators
have been designed by incorporating the two different proles
on the two faces of the plate. In addition, it has been possible with
some approximations, to combine the grooved prole with the
focusing design. In such a way, prototypes of circular plate transducers with a stepped face for directional radiation and a grooved
face for focusing radiation, have been designed and developed. In
their practical realization, the theoretical stepped proles for directional and focusing radiations have slightly been modied to improve the behaviour of the radiator with respect to modal
interactions and stress distribution. In such a way, plate transducers with high power capacity and two different radiation patterns
are currently constructed. Such kind of transducers for frequencies
of 21 and 26 kHz and power capacities of 300 and 200 W, respectively are presently commercialized and industrially applied [11].
Fig. 13 shows a picture of one of these transducers and its design
by FEM.
3.4. The at-plate transducer with reectors
As known, for the directional stepped-plate radiators the height
of the steps has to be equal to half a wavelength of the radiation in

Fig. 12. Rectangular grooved-plate transducer and FE simulation.

Fig. 13. Circular stepped- grooved-plate transducer and FE simulation.

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the propagation medium. For ultrasonic radiation in air the wavelength is shorter than 23 cm, but for radiation in water the wavelength is ve times longer. The design of directional stepped-plates
for radiation in water results impractical at low ultrasonic frequencies due to the high height required for the steps. Solutions to obtain directional radiation in liquids (or in air at sonic frequencies)
without using steps have been studied. As a result, a new type of
vibrating plate transducer has been designed and constructed.
The objective is to obtain a high directional radiation with a feasible and easily repeatable construction. In addition, the new transducers have the important novelty of using the radiation of both
faces of the vibrating plate. This is a very important point because
it is equivalent to double the efciency of the transducer.
The idea behind the new design is again to put in phase the
radiation which is emitted by plate zones vibrating in counterphase. However, the use of the radiation from both plate faces implies to bear in mind that the emission from one specic plate sector is in counter-phase at both sides of the plate.
The procedure consists of separating the radiation of each internodal sector by means of parallel walls which are perpendicular to
the plate surface and exactly located in the nodal lines, without
touching the plate. These walls constitute a kind of channels which
are closed by a reector forming 45 with the radiating surface
(Fig. 14). The distance from the reector to the surface of the radiating plate differs for the sectors vibrating in counter-phase just in
half a wavelength of the radiation (k/2). In such a way the radiation
generated by the exural vibrating plate and reected by the
reectors placed alternatively at distances l and l + k/2, is emerging
all in phase on a perpendicular plane to the plate. To be noted that
the reectors on both sides of a same plate sector are placed at distances differing in k/2 [12].
Following the above explained procedure, a transducer prototype was constructed with a rectangular plate radiator for operation in air at a frequency of 9.7 kHz. Fig. 15 shows a photograph
of the prototype. The plate is driven at its centre in similar way
to the other plate transducers. The high directional radiation obtained with the prototype (Fig. 16) conrms the good performance
of the new transducer.
3.5. The transducer with cylindrical radiator
For applications where an intense ultrasonic eld inside a treatment chamber is required, the own chamber can be used as ultrasonic radiator. In this way, a transducer with a cylindrical radiator

Fig. 15. Flat-plate transducer with reectors.

has been conceived and developed. The transducer has the same
general structure showed in Fig. 1 but the radiator is a cylinder instead of a plate. The cylinder is driven in one of its exural modes.
In the prototype shown in Fig. 17 the cylindrical radiator vibrates
with twelve nodal lines at a frequency of 21 kHz. The vibration
modes of the cylindrical chamber were studied by using nite element (FE) simulation.
The acoustic eld inside the tube was also computed by FE and
experimentally validated. For a power applied to the transducer of
about 75 W, an average sound pressure level of about 153 dB is obtained inside the cylindrical chamber (Fig. 18). Therefore, a high level acoustic eld is generated with a relatively low power applied
[13].
4. The use of the transducers in industrial processes
The introduction of the new family of transducers with extensive radiators has signicantly contributed to the implementation
at semi-industrial and industrial level of a number of processes
in food industry, in environment and in manufacturing. The different types of transducers previously described were conceived and
designed bearing in mind the needs of specic applications. This is
an important feature to be considered for the right development of
the HPU industrial applications.
This section deals with a summary of such HPU processes,
underlining the role of the type of transducer employed.
4.1. HPU transducers in food industry

Fig. 14. Scheme for the design of a at-plate radiator with reectors.

In the food and beverage processing industry, which is one of

the most promising elds of application of HPU, the new transduc-

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Fig. 16. Directivity pattern of a at-plate transducer with reectors.

Fig. 17. Transducer with cylindrical radiator and FE simulation.

ers have been successfully used for defoaming, and dehydration

applications.
4.1.1. Ultrasonic defoaming [11,14]
Classical methods for controlling foams, frequently produced in
the manufacture of food and beverages, employ chemical antifoaming agents which may be responsible for product contamination. Conversely, high-intensity ultrasonic waves represent a clean
and effective manner to break foam bubbles. In particular, steppedgrooved-plate focusing transducers for air-borne ultrasound, have
been proven to efciently control the excess of foam produced in
fermenting vessels and in other reactors of great dimensions as
well as on high-speed canning and bottling lines during the lling
operation. Ultrasonic defoaming systems operating at frequencies
of 21 and 26 kHz, to be used statically or dynamically by means
of rotational or scanning devices, are currently manufactured by
the specialised Spanish company PUSONICS S.L. and worldwide
commercialized by CAVITUS Pty Ltd [15]. The high-intensity focus
area generated by the transducer is able to destroy the foam in
fractions of second. By using one or two xed transducers placed

in a canning or bottling line is possible to control the excess of

foam produced in the cans or bottles at speeds as high as
20 cans/s. For the foam control in reactors, the working area is extended by displacing the transducer with a rotary or scanning drive
mechanism.
Just to give some examples of the efciency and commercial/
industrial appeal of this novel technology, it is to be mentioned
that a worlds leading food company has estimated that a continuous use of the ultrasonic defoamer over a six week period is sufcient to pay back its cost! [16]. In other application to large-scale
fermenters in USA, by applying one rotary transducer the amount
of antifoam chemicals was diminished in 25%. It means a daily saving of about 375 l of antifoam agent which represents a cost saving
of about 3000 $/day. Again the HPU technology pays back the cost
in a very short time.
4.1.2. Ultrasonic drying [1719]
Dehydration is a method to preserve food, conventionally performed either through hot-air, which can produce deteriorative
changes in products, or via freeze-drying that preserves food qual-

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Fig. 18. Acoustic eld inside the cylindrical radiator.

ity, but is expensive. Ultrasonic dehydration performed by applying the new transducers via air-borne radiation or in direct contact
with food products, has been proven to be an attractive alternative
for separating moisture from food.
The drying procedure by air-borne ultrasound together with
forced-air has been developed in two different techniques: (a) by
applying the directional stepped-plate ultrasonic transducer and
(b) by applying the transducer with cylindrical radiator as a uidized bed dryer.
In the drying system with the stepped-plate directional transducer, a high-intensity standing wave eld is generated with the
sample holder acting as a reector and it is combined with
forced-air at different temperatures. The high directivity of the
transducer allows the proper formation of the standing wave eld
and consequently high pressure levels (155160 dB) are obtained.
The effect of the ultrasonic radiation with forced-air is signicant
at air temperatures up to about 60 C and diminishes when temperature increases. Hence the application of air-borne ultrasound
is useful to increase the efciency of forced-air drying processes
at temperatures under about 80 C.
In the application of the cylindrical radiator transducer as a uidized bed dryer, the conventional uidized bed drying chamber is
replaced by the vibrating cylinder which constitutes the radiator of
the transducer generating a high-intensity ultrasonic eld in its inside. The uidized bed dryer assisted by ultrasound has shown to
be effective, especially with particulate material.
Ultrasonic dehydration by applying high-intensity ultrasonic
vibration in direct contact with the food material is implemented
by using grooved-plate transducers of rectangular shape. The good
acoustic impedance matching between the vibrating at face of the
plate transducer and the food material signicantly increases the
energy transfer and consequently the effectiveness of the drying
process. The procedure has shown to be commercially interesting
both for its high efciency and for the good preservation of the
food quality. It has been implemented in a full drying system currently at semi-industrial stage.
4.2. HPU transducers in environmental processes
Power ultrasound is a technology that offers several important
possibilities to act as an efcient tool in processes for preventing
or removing pollution. Air cleaning and sludge ltration are two
processes developed by using the new power transducers.

4.2.1. Air cleaning: ne particle removal [20,21]

The presence of suspended air-borne very ne particles in the
environment is generally undesirable and dangerous. Such tiny
particles constitute a major health hazard because their ability of
penetrating through lungs and their long stay in suspension. Environment protection agencies of the world have been setting new
standards, supported by scientic ndings, governing the emission
of ne particulate matter. The new regulations strengthen the air
quality standards for particle pollution reducing the allowable levels for particles smaller than the 2.5 microns in diameter (PM 2.5).
Directional stepped-plate transducers have been shown to successfully agglomerate air-borne tiny particles to facilitate their removal. A multifrequency (10 and 20 kHz) acoustic agglomerator of
rectangular section was developed at semi-industrial scale in
which four stepped-plate transducers, with an applied input power
of 400 W per transducer, generate a high-intensity standing wave
eld where the acoustic pressure levels ranged between 150 and
165 dB. The agglomerator acts as a preconditioning system placed
upstream of a conventional electrostatic lter. The important
objective for this combination is to remove micron and submicron-sized particles which usually cannot be retained by the electrostatic lters alone. These ne particles can be normally found in
exhaust fumes, industrial emissions, etc.
Reductions of about 40% in the submicron size particles over the
efciency of the electrostatic lter were obtained in the treatment
of fumes at ow rates of about 1600 m3/h. This can be considered a
signicant improvement particularly bearing in mind the very
small size of the particles, the narrow gain margin let by the electrostatic lter, the low level of energy applied and the very short
treatment time.
This system has been tested at industrial scale and can be applied to any industrial process where agglomeration and precipitation of air-borne particles is required.

4.2.2. Sludge ltration [22,23]

One of the present requirements in sewage treatment is the
dewatering of sludge. To that purpose conventional ltration techniques are not satisfactory because the phenomenon of fouling or
blocking the pores is frequently produced resulting in slow processing rates or in ux decline. As a consequence the residual moisture in the lter cake always remains high, and it is very difcult to
remove.

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High-power ultrasonic processing may be effective in the release of the residual moisture. Ultrasonic energy directly coupled
to the sludge causes alternating stresses that make an effective
deliquoring by creating a kind of sponge effect and channels
for moisture migration.
A power ultrasonic transducer with a rectangular grooved-plate
radiator has been associated to a conventional rotary vacuum ceramic lter for sludge ltration. The transducer is applied directly
coupled to the cake formed into the lter surface during the process. The effect of the application of ultrasonic energy has shown
that an additional dewatering of about 25% of the residual interstitial moisture can be obtained with a short treatment time (2 s) and
a relatively low power applied (60 W). Such result represents a signicant improvement because the conventional lters are not able
to remove such moisture.
4.3. HPU transducers in manufacturing processes
The versatility of the ultrasonic energy allows it to be used in
many different manufacturing processes usually as an additional
tool to improve either the manufactured product or the process.
By using the new transducers, three different manufacturing processes have been developed.
4.3.1. Ultrasonic washing in textile manufacture [24,25]
Fabric processing in textile manufacturing is a wet processing
that usually requires washing the fabric. The use of ultrasonic energy in such operations may help in speeding up the process and in
improving the quality of the nal product.
A new procedure has been developed by applying rectangular
grooved-plate transducers. The textiles are submerged in a layer
of liquid of a few millimeters in thickness and conveyed in a at
format at a continuous speed through the ultrasonic radiator by
means of a roller-type system. The plate radiator is designed to vibrate with one of its simpler exural vibration modes to avoid
great differences in the vibration amplitudes of the different areas
of the plate and, consequently, to produce as much as possible a
homogeneous cavitation eld in front of the surface of the plate
radiator. The washing performance achieved at a speed of about
2 cm/s and relatively moderate acoustic intensities is clearly much
higher and quicker than that obtained with a conventional washing machine and the energy consumption is very low (of the order
of 0.1 kWh/ kg of textile). Such process has been implemented at
semi-industrial stage.
4.3.2. Ultrasonic debubbling of liquid coating layers [26,27]
Industrial coatings applied at high speed often contain bubbles
from air entrapped during operation. Such bubbles will produce
permanent surface defects after drying and, consequently, piece
rejections in the production line. Chemical additives are generally
used to alleviate the problem, but they are difcult to dose and, if
not properly handled, can create problems which may be even
worse than the air retention.
High-intensity air-borne ultrasound represents an adequate
contact-less method to break the bubbles. A new process based
on the direct application of air-borne ultrasound by using directional stepped-plate transducers has been developed to break the
bubbles which are semi-submerged within the coating layer. Such
process has been implemented at laboratory and semi-industrial
stages.
4.3.3. Ultrasonic enhancement of pigment dispersion in paint
manufacture [28]
Paint is a dispersion of small, coloured, insoluble particles (pigments) in a liquid medium composed of solvent and binder. Pigments are very ne powders that provide colour and the ability

963

to hide the underline surface. Most of the paint properties are enhanced when the pigment particles are the smallest possible. Good
pigment dispersion is a critical factor in the manufacture of paint
because it is a complicated and cost-intensive operation. The
objective of dispersion is to incorporate homogeneously particles
into a liquid system, to disagglomerate the pigment powder, to stabilize this dispersion and to assure that it remains stable during
drying.
The application to this processing problem of a new technology
based on power ultrasound offers a potential of innovation which
is required in the paint industry. In fact, ultrasonic energy is a powerful dispersion tool as it can disagglomerate by cavitation pigment
clusters at the microscopic scale, a scale which is impossible to
reach with the conventional industrial equipment.
By using rectangular grooved-plate power ultrasonic transducers, an ultrasonic reactor to enhance pigment dispersion in paints,
pastes and inks at semi- industrial scale has been developed. In
such reactor the generation of ultrasound is provided by three
transducers, mounted in line and in a closed chamber. They produce strong cavitation in a volume around the plate radiators
which are placed inside a chamber where the paint ows.
Trials performed with the prototype of ultrasound machine,
sonicating with applied powers to the transducers in the range of
400600 W and treating paint ows of 50100 kg/h, proved the
pigment disagglomeration effect and that better pigment dispersion can be obtained than with classical grinding machines. Industrial equipments for paint manufacture will require further
development by applying transducers with higher power capacity.
5. Conclusion
The new family of power transducers with extensive radiators
presented in this paper represent an efcient group of ultrasonic
generators for industrial processing in uids and multi-phase media. The technological versatility and effectiveness of such devices
have been proven in a wide range of processes at semi-industrial
and/or industrial scale. Hence, their extended use for large-scale
industrial applications will signify a major breakthrough in HPU
technology.
Acknowledgments
The authors are very grateful to Alberto Pinto and Ignacio Martinez for their technical assistance in many of the developments
presented in this article and to Florence Buisson for her help in
the preparation of this manuscript.
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