Prototyping and evaluation of ultrasonic particle filter considering water flux and sound propagation direction

The water supply market is growing rapidly worldwide, and low-cost, energy-efficient water purification technology is becoming an important consideration. Filtering using acoustic radiation force (ARF) is a promising method that works without consumables. In the present paper, we propose a novel design for a water filtering apparatus that operates by means of ARF. An ultrasonic transducer was arranged such that the direction of the ultrasound propagation was parallel to the flow of water in the proposed apparatus. Since suspended particles have a higher chance of encountering the nodes in the ultrasonic standing waves, the filtering performance should be enhanced. The efficiency of turbidity reduction using the proposed apparatus reached 80%.