Techniques of Ultrasound Cavitation Control

The control methods of ultrasonic cavitation applied now within the range from 20 kHz to 80 kHz use either control of ultrasound source parameters (amplitude, acoustic power, etc.) or control of one of the cavitation effects (erosion of materials, sonoluminescence, power of acoustic noise, etc.). These methods provide effective management of technological processes, however, make it impossible to relate the estimated effect with parameters of pulsations of cavitation bubbles. This is, mainly, due to influence of a number of uncontrollable parameters, in particular, such as temperature, composition of liquid, gas content, etc. as well as because of the difficulty to establish interrelation between the estimated effect and parameters of pulsations. As a result, in most cases it is difficult to compare controlled parameters of ultrasonic cavitation among themselves, and quantitative characteristics of processes become depending on the type of ultrasonic installation and conditions of their measurement.In this regard, methods to determine parameters of bubble pulsations through sounding a cavitation area by low-intensity laser radiation or to record cavitation noise sub-harmonics reflecting dynamics of changing radius of cavitation bubbles are of interest. The method of optical sounding, via the analysis of spectral components of a scattered signal recorded by a photo-detector, allows us to define a phase of the bubbles collapse with respect to the sound wave and a moving speed of the bubbles wall, as well as to estimate a cavitation index within the light beam section.The method to record sub-harmonicas of cavitation noise allows us to define parameters of pulsations, average for cavitation areas.The above methods allow us both to study mechanisms of cavitation action and to form quantitative criteria of its efficiency based on the physical processes, rather than their consequences and are convenient for arranging a feedback in the units using ultrasonic cavitation