Flexible Smart Acoustic Wave Patches for Effective Detection and Elimination of Surface Condensation

In this paper, flexible ZnO/ Al Lamb wave device was used to detect and eliminate surface condensations, commonly occurring in chemical process, agriculture, automobile and pipelines. The flexible and smart patch based on acoustic wave devices can identify dew formation through the change of frequency spectrum and then actuate to remove the condensation through acousto-thermal effect. To distinguish the differences between environmental interference (temperature and humidity) and the real condensation, a specified 3D space was built to quantify the degree of distortion of the transmission spectra. For droplets uniformly distributed on the surface of the device with an input power of ∼0.6 W, the evaporation time was significantly reduced to ∼ 1/13 of the natural evaporation time.