Optimal placement of a piezoelectric ring in an ultrasonic powder transport system

Abstract

The transport of powder materials is an important aspect of process engineering. Various industries such as the food, chemical, pharmaceutical, coating, information and telecommunication industries have set a high demand on the performances of existing plants, which are mainly for bulk powder transfer. Modern systems demand powder transport systems which have a high quantitative accuracy. Therefore, the ultrasonic material transport process technology has in the last few years developed into an attractive alternative compared to the classical technologies. This technology involves transfer of powder through a pipe in which the ultrasonic waves are transmitted. However, this technology is not refined. In this paper, the optimal placement of the piezoelectric transducer on the pipe in order to produce traveling ultrasonic waves is investigated. A given length of the pipe is considered for transmission of the ultrasonic waves.