Ferroelectret Sensor for Measurement of Cavitation in Ultrasonic Cleaning Systems

The demand for an increasing efficiency of ultrasonic cleaning in industrial manufacturing can not be satisfied with the current empirical design approaches. This article describes the development of tools for the characterization of cavitation effects, which are the most important mechanisms of cleaning impact. The approach is based on the measurement of cavitation intensity by the assessment of characteristic acoustic spectral components. For this purpose a sensor array using a novel, cellular structured ferroelectret is developed that can be easily applied to component surfaces. From cleaning experiments the correlation between acoustic spectral components and cavitation erosion on the surfaces as well as the dependencies on relevant parameters are deducted.