Noise level analysis in buffer rod geometries for ultrasonic sensors

This work presents an ultrasonic sensor for on-line batter monitoring with low-noise design considerations. The density and the compressibility of the batter vary as a function of mixing time and are strongly related to the quality of the final product. Traditionally, a batter sample of a fixed volume is removed and weighted in order to determine its density. This is a time consuming process. Benefits to the industry of on-line measuring techniques include better control of product quality, improving processing efficiencies and reduction in wastage. In this paper low-noise design considerations are accounted for an ultrasonic sensor based on a piezoceramic disk mounted between two reference buffer rods of acrylic resin to measure the acoustic impedance of the batter. Measuring the acoustic impedance changes of the batter its compressibility and density can be monitored. Spurious echoes generated at different parts of the buffer rods boundary strongly affect accuracy and reliability of the measurements, and are considered as noise. The influence of buffer rods geometry on noise level is studied using simulations and afterwards justified experimentally. Design aspects such as buffer rods length and radius, piezoceramic disk frequency and radius are discussed and their influence on noise level is shown. Finally, strategies for optimum geometry design of the ultrasonic sensor are given.     

Effect of ultrasound pretreated hydrocolloid batters on quality attributes of fried chicken nuggets during post-fry holding

In this study, batters formulated with different hydrocolloids (i.e., pectin, locust bean gum, xanthan gum, guar gum, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and methylcellulose) were treated with ultrasound as edible coatings for fried chicken nuggets. Quality characteristics (i.e., batter pickup, flow behaviours, thermal properties, moisture loss, color and textural properties) in chicken nuggets coated with ultrasound treated batters were evaluated before and after post frying exposure to heat lamp. Ultrasonication significantly reduced batter pickup, flow behavior and gelatinization enthalpy, revealing its tendency to alter functional properties of batter systems. Rheological evaluation of all batter samples revealed a pseudoplastic (shear thinning) flow characteristic when fitted to power law model, with ultrasonicated (US) samples exhibiting a significant reduction in viscosity over non-ultrasonicated (NUS) samples. Compared to the control NUS, fat content of chicken nuggets coated with US-treated batters decreased by 39.0, 60.9, 62.87, 64.1, 65.7, and 65.0 % for pectin, locust bean gum, xanthan gum, guar gum, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and methylcellulose, respectively. Finally, chicken nuggets coated with US and NUS treated batters exhibited greater cutting force values immediately after frying but declined within the first 10 min of heat lamp exposure and increased subsequently with extended heat lamp holding time. Furthermore, NUS-treated guar gum resulted in chicken nuggets with the most minimal variability in cutting force during post-frying holding, indicating that crispiness was maintained. Overall, application of ultrasound as a batter pretreatment technique can be exploited by the frying food industry as an alternative approach to producing low fat chicken nuggets with appreciable quality attributes.     

Acoustic emission monitoring during laser shock cleaning of silicon wafers

A laser shock cleaning is a new dry cleaning methodology for the effective removal of submicron sized particles from solid surfaces. This technique uses a plasma shock wave produced by laser-induced air breakdown, which has applied to remove nano-scale silica particles from silicon wafer surfaces in this work. In order to characterize the laser shock cleaning process, acoustic waves generated during the shock process are measured in real time by a wide-band microphone and analyzed in the change of process parameters such as laser power density and gas species. It was found that the acoustic intensity is closely correlated with the shock wave intensity. From acoustic analysis, it is seen that acoustic intensity became stronger as incident laser power density increased. In addition, Ar gas has been found to be more effective to enhance the acoustic intensity, which allows higher cleaning performance compared with air or N₂ gas.     

Effect of dissolved gases in water on acoustic cavitation and bubble growth rate in 0.83 MHz megasonic of interest to wafer cleaning

Changes in the cavitation intensity of gases dissolved in water, including H₂, N₂, and Ar, have been established in studies of acoustic bubble growth rates under ultrasonic fields. Variations in the acoustic properties of dissolved gases in water affect the cavitation intensity at a high frequency (0.83 MHz) due to changes in the rectified diffusion and bubble coalescence rate. It has been proposed that acoustic bubble growth rates rapidly increase when water contains a gas, such as hydrogen faster single bubble growth due to rectified diffusion, and a higher rate of coalescence under Bjerknes forces. The change of acoustic bubble growth rate in rectified diffusion has an effect on the damping constant and diffusivity of gas at the acoustic bubble and liquid interface. It has been suggested that the coalescence reaction of bubbles under Bjerknes forces is a reaction determined by the compressibility and density of dissolved gas in water associated with sound velocity and density in acoustic bubbles. High acoustic bubble growth rates also contribute to enhanced cavitation effects in terms of dissolved gas in water. On the other hand, when Ar gas dissolves into water under ultrasound field, cavitation behavior was reduced remarkably due to its lower acoustic bubble growth rate. It is shown that change of cavitation intensity in various dissolved gases were verified through cleaning experiments in the single type of cleaning tool such as particle removal and pattern damage based on numerically calculated acoustic bubble growth rates.     

气体物理性质对近场超声悬浮特性的影响研究

在利用近场超声悬浮技术搬运晶圆的过程中,为提高近场超声悬浮力,该文研究了气体物理性质与近场超声悬浮力之间的关系。利用声辐射压理论与流体力学理论对不同气体介质下的悬浮力进行建模与求解。搭建了可测量不同气体环境中悬浮力的实验平台。实验发现氩气环境下超声悬浮力平均值相对空气环境下提升24.8%。结合实验与理论计算分析了气体密度、比热容比、声速与动力黏度对悬浮力的影响,推断气体的比热容比为影响近场超声悬浮力的主要参数。该方法为晶圆搬运的环境适用性提供了参考价值。     

Modeling photothermal and acoustical induced microbubble generation and growth

Previous experimental studies showed that powerful heating of nanoparticles by a laser pulse using energy density greater than 100 mJ/cm², could induce vaporization and generate microbubbles. When ultrasound is introduced at the same time as the laser pulse, much less laser power is required. For therapeutic applications, generation of microbubbles on demand at target locations, e.g. cells or bacteria can be used to induce hyperthermia or to facilitate drug delivery. The objective of this work is to develop a method capable of predicting photothermal and acoustic parameters in terms of laser power and acoustic pressure amplitude that are needed to produce stable microbubbles; and investigate the influence of bubble coalescence on the thresholds when the microbubbles are generated around nanoparticles that appear in clusters.

We develop and solve here a combined problem of momentum, heat and mass transfer which is associated with generation and growth of a microbubble, filled with a mixture of non-vaporized gas (air) and water vapor. The microbubble’s size and gas content vary as a result of three mechanisms: gas expansion or compression, evaporation or condensation on the bubble boundary, and diffusion of dissolved air in the surrounding water. The simulations predict that when ultrasound is applied relatively low threshold values of laser and ultrasound power are required to obtain a stable microbubble from a single nanoparticle. Even lower power is required when microbubbles are formed by coalescence around a cluster of 10 nanoparticles. Laser pulse energy density of 21 mJ/cm² is predicted for instance together with acoustic pressure of 0.1 MPa for a cluster of 10 or 62 mJ/cm² for a single nanoparticle. Those values are well within the safety limits, and as such are most appealing for targeted therapeutic purposes.     

多元有机混合液声速特性与非线性声参量B/A的数值计算

根据Jacobson的液体分子自由程理论和液体声速与分子自由程的关系,推导出多元有机混合液声速的温度系数、压力系数和非线性声参量B/A的计算公式,并根据组成多元有机混合液各组分特性参量(密度、自由程、非线性声参量B/A、等压膨胀系数、等温压缩系数等),利用给出的公式对声速的温度系数、压力系数、非线性声参量B/A进行了数值计算,并将计算结果与实验结果进行了比较.     

Airborne ultrasound for the precipitation of smokes and powders and the destruction of foams

Sonochemistry is generally associated with the use of power ultrasound in liquid media. Under such circumstances acoustic cavitation can drive a range of reactions and processes. The use of airborne ultrasound in processing is less familiar because of the difficulties that relate to the use of ultrasound in gaseous systems. Firstly there is a greater attenuation (power loss) in the transmission of sound through air compared with that through liquid. Secondly the transfer of acoustic energy generated in air into a liquid or solid material is inefficient due to the mismatch between acoustic impedances of gases and solids or liquids. Despite this, applications do exist for airborne ultrasound but the source must be very powerful and efficient. In this way one can obtain levels of intensities at which it is possible to use ultrasound for specific applications such as to agglomerate fine dusts and to break down foams.     

Numerical modelling of ultrasonic waves in a bubbly Newtonian liquid using a high-order acoustic cavitation model

To address difficulties in treating large volumes of liquid metal with ultrasound, a fundamental study of acoustic cavitation in liquid aluminium, expressed in an experimentally validated numerical model, is presented in this paper. To improve the understanding of the cavitation process, a non-linear acoustic model is validated against reference water pressure measurements from acoustic waves produced by an immersed horn. A high-order method is used to discretize the wave equation in both space and time. These discretized equations are coupled to the Rayleigh-Plesset equation using two different time scales to couple the bubble and flow scales, resulting in a stable, fast, and reasonably accurate method for the prediction of acoustic pressures in cavitating liquids. This method is then applied to the context of treatment of liquid aluminium, where it predicts that the most intense cavitation activity is localised below the vibrating horn and estimates the acoustic decay below the sonotrode with reasonable qualitative agreement with experimental data.     

A full vectorial contrast source inversion scheme for three-dimensional acoustic imaging of both compressibility and density profiles

Imaging the two acoustic medium parameters density and compressibility requires the use of both the acoustic pressure and velocity wave fields, described via integral equations. Imaging is based on solving for the unknown medium parameters using known measured scattered wave fields, and it is difficult to solve this ill-posed inverse problem directly using a conjugate gradient inversion scheme. Here, a contrast source inversion method is used in which the contrast sources, defined via the product of changes in compressibility and density with the pressure and velocity wave fields, respectively, are computed iteratively. After each update of the contrast sources, an update of the medium parameters is obtained. Total variation as multiplicative regularization is used to minimize blurring in the reconstructed contrasts. The method successfully reconstructed three-dimensional contrast profiles based on changes in both density and compressibility, using synthetic data both with and without 50% white noise. The results were compared with imaging based only on the pressure wave field, where speed of sound profiles were solely based on changes in compressibility. It was found that the results improved significantly by using the full vectorial method when changes in speed of sound depended on changes in both compressibility and density.     

On the metrology of the speed of sound in liquids

Decentralization of the standards base in measuring the speed of sound in liquids by expressing the speed of sound in fractions of the speed of light in vacuum is considered. A method to take into account the diffraction effects by measuring the speed of sound in the case of a constant acoustic wavelength and binding the absolute speed of sound values to the calculated thermodynamic values obtained by the nonacoustical method when the adiabatic compressibility is equal to the isothermal one is proposed. Errors of the reproducibility of the unit of the speed of sound in water using the proposed method are estimated.     

Self-action of ultrasonic beams for biological applications.

Theoretical and experimental investigations of powerful ultrasonic beams self-focusing in liquids are described. Calculations of the conditions to observe self-action as a result of sound-induced heating of liquids are reported. The effects of controlled self-action of ultrasonic waves in high-viscosity liquids are demonstrated in experiments. A hydrodynamic mechanism of the acoustic dispersion technique is developed. The rate of this process, as a function of ultrasound intensity, including the effects of self-focusing and self-transparency, is evaluated.     

聚焦区域高声强声场分布的测量方法研究

常用的声场分布测量是采用水听器扫描声场的方法,该方法对于声能量密度较大的声场难以测量,因为在这种情况下声振幅比较大,水听器在这种声场中呈现非线性或遭到破坏。设计了一种用辐射压力测量高声强声场分布的方法,该方法利用一根微细管,直接测量声场的冲流压力,通过对声场进行扫描测量可以得到高声强声场压力分布。从理论上分析了这种测量方法的可行性,对测量基本要求及实验装置做了阐述。实验结果证实:该方法可以用来测量高声能密度声场压力分布;测量结果与水听器测量结果基本吻合;测量方法存在测量盲区。     

Realization of a multipath ultrasonic gas flowmeter based on transit-time technique

A microcomputer-based ultrasonic gas flowmeter with transit-time method is presented. Modules of the flowmeter are designed systematically, including the acoustic path arrangement, ultrasound emission and reception module, transit-time measurement module, the software and so on. Four 200 kHz transducers forming two acoustic paths are used to send and receive ultrasound simultaneously. The synchronization of the transducers can eliminate the influence caused by the inherent switch time in simple chord flowmeter. The distribution of the acoustic paths on the mechanical apparatus follows the Tailored integration, which could reduce the inherent error by 2–3% compared with the Gaussian integration commonly used in the ultrasonic flowmeter now. This work also develops timing modules to determine the flight time of the acoustic signal. The timing mechanism is different from the traditional method. The timing circuit here adopts high capability chip TDC-GP2, with the typical resolution of 50 ps. The software of Labview is used to receive data from the circuit and calculate the gas flow value. Finally, the two paths flowmeter has been calibrated and validated on the test facilities for air flow in Shaanxi Institute of Measurement & Testing.     

三坐标激光非接触测量技术在武器系统测量领域的应用

为实现某武器系统核心部件的自动精确测量,依据通用三坐标测量系统设计原理,研制了一套激光扫描自动测量系统。本文首先介绍了测量系统的组成;然后从激光测量头测量原理、电路原理和气路原理等三方面介绍了系统的工作原理;通过建立理想测量模型和实际测量模型,给出了测量坐标系与用户坐标系的转换关系及利用标准件进行系统参数标定的方法;最后,通过建立准刚体误差数学模型,对系统误差进行了分析、计算。测量结果表明,该系统单点测量精度优于7μm,球面度测量精度优于22μm。     

Ultrasonic sensor properties characterized by a PC-controlled scanning measuring system

The use of ultrasonic sensors for process control is currently widespread for flow, level or distance measurements. Recently, interest has increased, too in the application of ultrasonic sensors to concentration measurements in complex liquids. In this application there are high demands for a defined and stable quality of the properties of both the sensor transfer function and the sound field characteristic. For a detailed investigation and characterization of ultrasonic sensor propertiess, an efficient PC-controlled measuring system was developed by the Institut fur Automation und Kommunikation (IFAK). In this contribution, this high performance approach is presented to make visible the vibrating ultrasonic sensor surface as well as the sound field in front of acoustic sensors in liquids.     

Ultrasonic investigation of magnetic nanoparticles suspension with PEG biocompatible coating

Water suspension of nanoparticles was studied by ultrasound spectroscopy. Nanoparticles have a core-shell structure with magnetic core Fe₃O₄ and surfactant shells. The surface of magnetic particles was coated with oleate sodium as the primary layer and polyethylene glycol as the secondary layer. The acoustic properties of suspensions, such as velocity and attenuation of ultrasonic waves, have been measured. From experimental data mechanical properties have been determined. Adiabatic compressibility of nanoparticles suspension decreased with increase of temperature. The changes of ultrasonic wave attenuation under the influence of the external magnetic field, show that magnetic liquids with high concentration of magnetic material (despite two surfactant shells) show tendency to aggregate.     

Modeling of interaction between therapeutic ultrasound propagation and cavitation bubbles

In medical applications of high intense focused ultrasound the mechanism of interaction between ultrasound waves and cavitation bubbles is responsible for several therapeutic effects as well as for undesired side effects. Based on a two-phase continuum approach for bubbly liquids, in this paper a numerical model is presented to simulate these interactions. The numerical results demonstrate the influence of the cavitation bubble cloud on ultrasound propagation. In the case of a lithotripter pulse an increased bubble density leads to significant changes in the tensile part of the pressure waveform. The calculations are verified by measurements with a fiber optical hydrophone and by experimental results of the bubble cloud dynamics.