Acoustic cavitation detection during ultrasonic atomization process

Abstract

An assembly was carried out to experimentally determine the absence of acoustic cavitation during free surface ultrasonic atomization, which occurs when a liquid is gradually deposited on a surface that vibrates with an amplitude greater than the atomization threshold.The detection system developed, capable of detecting incipient cavitation during the process, is based on the digital processing of a PVDF piezoelectric transducer signal, attached to the surface of the tip of an ultrasonic atomizer.During the experiments carried out, it was not possible to detect acoustic cavitation during free surface ultrasonic atomization. Therefore the hypothesis about the influence of acoustic cavitation in the atomization process described has not been confirmed.The experimental system developed could be used to monitor free surface acoustic atomization processes, to keep the system in optimal operation. When these atomization systems are over the liquid flux limit, can cause accumulation at the tip, which could generate fountain-type atomization, which has different atomization characteristics.