Atomization characteristics of 9.6 MHz directional surface acoustic wave for 1-micron spray system.

Surface acoustic wave atomization is also effective for generating microparticles and nanoparticles, because of the small wavelength with the high frequency. In this work, a novel directional surface acoustic wave (SAW) atomizer via a novel 9.6 MHz unidirectional interdigital transducer (U-IDT), a driving interdigital transducer (D-IDT) and a reflector interdigital transducer (R-IDT), is proposed and studied for the 1-micron spray system, such as the pulmonary drug delivery system and high-precision film deposition system. The atomization characteristics of a water drop are evaluated with atomized droplet size, atomizing particle velocity, and atomizing rate. Around 1 µm atomized droplet diameter, 585 mm/s atomizing particle velocity, and 4.2 ml/min atomizing rate are achieved and investigated. Based on the 1-micron atomized droplet diameter and high diffusion velocity, a novel pulmonary drug delivery system with the SAW spray can be excepted as an effective non-intrusive treatment method. It is also suitable for microparticle and nanoparticle spray without the pump and fan systems in the fields of industry, cosmetics, medicine, and medical devices. [Display omitted] • Based on a 128 ̊ y-rotated x-propagation lithium niobate substrate, a U-IDT device with the D-IDT and R-IDT is designed and manufactured. The power ratio of directional SAW is up to 91.5%. • The directional SAW spray at 9.6 MHz presented a good property of atomized droplet diameter for pulmonary drug delivery system. • The atomizing particle velocity and atomizing rate of the water drop atomization are investigated microscopically and macroscopically. 585 mm/s atomizing particle velocity, and 4.2 ml/min atomizing rate are achieved and investigated. The high diffusion velocity can be achieved without the pump and fan system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]