Two-dimensional noncontact transportation of small objects in air using flexural vibration of a plate

• Published in: IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control Vol. 62; no. 12; pp. 2161 - 2168
• Main Authors: Kashima, Ryota, Koyama, Daisuke, Matsukawa, Mami
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.12.2015; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Acoustics; Fatigue (materials); Horns; Lattices; Phase measurement; Phase shift; Planes; Prototypes; Resonant frequencies; Transducers; Transportation; Two dimensional; Ultrasonic transducers; Vibrations; Wavelengths
• DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2015.006998
• ISSN: 0885-3010

This paper investigates a two-dimensional ultrasonic manipulation technique for small objects in air. The ultrasonic levitation system consists of a rectangular vibrating plate with four ultrasonic transducers and a reflector. The configuration of the vibrator, the resonant frequency, and the positions of the four transducers with step horns were determined from finite element analysis such that an intense acoustic standing-wave field could be generated between the plates. A lattice flexural vibration mode with a wavelength of 28.3 mm was excited on the prototype plate at 24.6 kHz. Small objects could get trapped in air along the horizontal nodal plane of the standing wave. By controlling the driving phase difference between the transducers, trapped objects could be transported without contact in a two-dimensional plane. When the phase difference was changed from 0° to 720°, the distance moved by a small particle in the orthogonal direction was approximately 29 mm, which corresponds with the wavelength of the flexural vibration on the vibrating plate.