Integral pump for high frequency atomizer

• US 6,837,445 B1
• Filed: 12/29/2003
• Issued: 01/04/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shirley Cheng Tsai
• Original Assignee: Shirley Cheng Tsai
• Inventors: Tsai, Shirley Cheng
• Primary Examiner(s): EVANS, ROBIN OCTAVIA
• Application Number:
  US10/747,666
• Time in Patent Office: 372 Days
• Field of Search: 239/101, 239/102.1, 239/102.2, 239/337, 239/338, 239/533.12, 239/583, 239/585.1, 310/323, 310/325, 310/328
• US Class Current: 239/102.2
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 17/0623 coupled with a vibrating horn
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 17/063 having an internal channel for supplying the liquid or other fluent material

Abstract

The present invention comprises a nozzle type atomizer with two or more aligned “horn” stages. The definition of a “horn” stage is well known in the prior art as an effectively half wavelength length and a tapering shape with a central conduit. The present invention uses two to five, or more, horn stages integrally attached end to end. The dramatic improvement in amplitude of the vibration at the tip of the nozzle is without precedence in the prior art. The present invention makes application of transducer vibration at greater than 200 kHz possible. The present invention reduces the required applied energy for generating the necessary amplitude at the tip by the discovery of amplitude multiplication with two or more horn stages.

Claims

1. A nozzle type device with an integral pump, where the nozzle type device is adapted to atomize liquids at a nozzle tip surface by capillary waves generated in a liquid layer thereon by application of a frequency above about 200 kHz in transducers attached distal to the nozzle tip comprising:

(a) two or more horn stages, each having a central channel defined within a body of the horn stage extending from a base and a horn tip, each horn stage being further adapted to have a length of about one half of the acoustic wavelength at the frequency;

(b) a driver section of about one half of the acoustic wavelength at the frequency with the transducers rigidly attached therein and having a central channel defined within a body of the driver stage extending from a forward end to a rearward end;

(c) a forward horn stage section comprising one or more sequentially connected forward horn stages, with a first base of a first forward horn stage integral with the forward end; and

(d) a pump horn stage section comprising one or more sequentially connected pump horn stages, with a first base of a first pump horn stage integral with the rearward end;

(e) the central channels of all the horn stages and the driver section form a continuous channel extending from an inlet opening defined in a free end of the pump horn stage section to an outlet opening defined in a free end of the forward horn stage section.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the horn stages are Fourier horns.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the forward horn stage section comprises at least three horn stages.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein the pump horn stage section comprises at least two horn stages.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein a cross section shape of the horn stages is conical.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein a cross section shape of the horn stages is rectangular.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein the horn stages are comprised of two planar halves formed by silicon wafer manufacturing and joined to define the central channel.

8. The device of claim 1 wherein a cross section shape of the central channel is oval, square, rectangular, diamond, or circular.

9. The device of claim 1 wherein the horn stages comprise substantially only silicon, silica compounds or silica composites.