US 12,076,762 B2
Method and apparatus for ultrasonically cleaning industrial components
William Lash Phillips, Medicine Hat (CA); Shawn Smith, Fort McMurray (CA); and Byron Kieser, Beeton (CA)
Assigned to TECH SONIC LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, St. Albert (CA)
Appl. No. 13/518,248
Filed by William Lash Phillips, Medicine Hat (CA); Shawn Smith, Fort McMurray (CA); and Byron Kieser, Beeton (CA)
PCT Filed Dec. 22, 2010, PCT No. PCT/CA2010/002016
§ 371(c)(1), (2), (4) Date Aug. 23, 2012,
PCT Pub. No. WO2011/075831, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 30, 2011.
Claims priority of provisional application 61/289,050, filed on Dec. 22, 2009.
Prior Publication US 2014/0230844 A1, Aug. 21, 2014
Int. Cl. B08B 3/12 (2006.01)
CPC B08B 3/12 (2013.01) 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for cleaning industrial components, comprising:
a liquid container having a sidewall defining a liquid enclosure for containing a cleaning liquid; and
ultrasonic transducers having an operating frequency and a wavelength in the cleaning liquid and secured to at least a portion of the liquid container at a spacing of between 2 and 6 wavelengths between adjacent ultrasonic transducers in a radial direction relative to an axis of the ultrasonic transducers, wherein:
the ultrasonic transducers operate at the same frequency;
the ultrasonic transducers are resonating rod transducers fixedly secured to an inner surface of the liquid container in a two dimensional plane, each ultrasonic transducer being secured by a compliant clamp and a mount device that does not restrict motion along an axis of the resonating rod transducer, the mount device having a compliant restraint gasket that restricts motion of the resonating rod transducer in a direction perpendicular to the axis; and
the liquid container is sized and the ultrasonic transducers are spaced such that, in operation, the power distribution within the cleaning liquid comprises a component-cleaning area separated from the ultrasonic transducers by an area of interference in which ultrasonic waves from adjacent ultrasonic transducers interfere negatively to produce a non-uniform power distribution relative to the component-cleaning area.