Skip to main content
Login | Suomeksi | På svenska | In English

Browsing by study line "Elektroniikka ja teollisuusfysiikka"

Sort by: Order: Results:

  • Peterzéns, Kasper (2023)
    Power ultrasound increases production efficiency in the industry, and therefore reduces emissions. This advantage arises from the ability of ultrasound to mitigate fouling. Ultrasound solution requires clamping the transducers onto the external wall of the production equipment, typically made of steel. A challenge then arises, since mechanical loading by the wall hampers the natural resonating of the ultrasonic transducer and therefore reduces power transmission. To overcome this limitation, airgap contact coupling (ACC) is proposed. ACC features an airgap to reduce the mechanical loading and two protruding elements for mechanical contacting and sound delivery. Finite-element method (FEM) simulations are employed to evaluate the physical mechanisms behind ACC. For the comparison, direct traditional contact coupling (TCC) is evaluated. To assess the acoustic power delivery by ACC and TCC, calorimetric measurements were used. A water-filled stainless-steel pipe with a 2 mm thick wall and 136 mm outer diameter was sonicated. To prevent heat transmission to ambient air, it was covered by isolating foam. ACC and TCC were sonicated at their coupled resonance frequencies, respectively at 19.2 kHz and 28.1 kHz. A power delivery ratio was determined by the calorimetric power against the sonication power. ACC resulted in a power delivery ratio of 27.4±6.3 % whereas that for TCC was 6.1±0.6 %. ACC was thereby shown to transmit 6 dB more acoustic power than TCC. In conclusion, a novel contact coupling method is proposed for industrial metal-walled equipment. The proposed new approach enhances the utility of power ultrasound for online cleaning and prevention.
  • Korsimaa, Julius (2024)
    The accumulation of unwanted substances, fouling, is an issue in many industrial processes involving pipes or heat exchangers. Fouling reduces the efficiency of processes, and its removal may require downtime or hazardous chemicals. The use of guided waves has been proven effective in wireless systems for defect detection. However, guided waves have not been used in any low-cost system for fouling detection. Furthermore, the use of helical propagation paths to reduce the number of sensors required has not been demonstrated in low-cost systems. In this thesis, an affordable wireless sensor network for the monitoring of fouling accumulation is presented. The sensor network is based on a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) capable microcontroller supplemented with ultrasound transmission and reception circuits. Real-time wireless triggering is enabled by an ultra-wideband radio frequency transceiver. The information from the helical propagation paths is used to reduce the number of sensors required for monitoring. The sensor network is validated and documented. Topics such as sensor electronics, coupling, network operation are discussed. Finally, the ability to successfully detect fouling is demonstrated on a steel pipe with a network of four sensors. Future directions for the sensor network and its industrial applicability are discussed.
  • Bäckroos, Sami (2021)
    High pressure inside e.g. blood vessels or other biological cavities is a major risk factor for many preventable diseases. Most of the measuring methods require physical contact or other kinds of projected forces. Both variants can be unpleasant for the patient and additionally physical contact might warrant for either continuous disinfecting or single-use probes, depending on the measurement method and the target body part. We have been experimenting with handheld non-contacting pressure measuring devices based on acoustic waves. These excite mechanical waves, whose velocity varies with pressure, on the surface of a biological cavity. The tried excitation methods are nearly unnoticeable for the patient, allowing for more pleasant and waste free measurements. Using the data from the latest clinical trial, a new analysis algorithm was devised to improve the accuracy of the pressure estimates. Instead of the time-of-flight (TOF) of the main mechanical wave (MMW), the new algorithm estimates the pressure using the MMW and a previously unseen feature, improving the R^2 from 0.60 to 0.72.
  • Hyvönen, Jere (2021)
    High-intensity and -amplitude focused ultrasound has been used to induce cavitation for decades. Well known applications are medical (lithotripsy and histotripsy) and industrial ones (particle cleaning, erosion, sonochemistry). These applications often use low frequencies (0.1-5 MHz), which limits the spatial precision of the actuation, and the chaotic nature of inertial cavitation is rarely monitored or compensated for, constituting a source of uncertainty. We demonstrate the use of high-frequency (12 MHz) high-intensity (ISPTA=90 W/cm2 ) focused-ultrasound- induced cavitation to locally remove solid material (pits with a diameter of 20 µm to 200 µm) for non- contact sampling. We demonstrate breaking cohesion (aluminium) and adhesion (thin film on a substrate, i.e. marker ink on microscope glass). The eroded surfaces were analyzed with a scanning acoustic microscope (SAM). We present the assembly and the characterization of a focused ultrasound transducer and show quantification of the effect of different sonication parameters (amplitude, cycle count, burst count, defocus) on the size and shape of the resulting erosion pits. The quantitative precision of this method is achieved by systematic calibration measurements, linking the resulting erosion to acoustic parameters to ensure repeatability (sufficient probability of cavitation), and inertial cavitation monitoring of the focal echoes. We discuss the usability of this method for localized non-contact sampling.
  • Tommiska, Oskari (2021)
    Työssäni tutkin mahdollisuutta käyttää akustista ajankääntömenetelmää (time-reversal) teollisen ultraäänipuhdistimen puhdistustehon kohdentamiseen. Akustisella ajankääntömenetelmällä pystytään kohdistamaan painekenttä takaisin alkuperäiseen pisteeseen, tallentamalla ko. pisteestä lähetetyt painesignaalit akustisilla antureilla (etusuunta) ja lähettämällä ne takaisin ajassa käännettyinä (takasuunta). Tässä työssä tutkitun kohdentamismenetelmän perusteena toimii elementtimenetelmällä toteutettu simulaatiomalli, jossa sekä ultraäänipuhdistin, että puhdistettava järjestelmä oli mallinnettu tarkasti. Simulaatiomallin avulla voitiin puhdistettavasta alueesta valita mielivaltainen piste johon halutaan kohdentaa puhdistustehoa. Simuloidun etusuuntaisen ajon tuloksena tuotetut signaalit tuotiin ulos mallista ja takasuuntainen ajo suoritettiin kokeellisessa ympäristössä käyttäen simuloituja signaaleja. Työssä esitetään vertailu simuloidun ja kokeellisen ajankääntömenetelmään perustuvan kohdentamisen tuloksista ja osoitetaan, että simuloiduilla signaaleilla on mahdollista kohdentaa akustista tehoa ennalta valittuun mielivaltaiseen pisteeseen. Lisäksi työssä esitetään analyysi anturien määrän vaikutuksesta kohdentamiskykyyn, tarkastellaan ultraäänipuhdistimen avaruudellista kohdentamiskykyä sekä vahvistetaan simulaatioissa tehdyn lineaarisen oletuksen paikkansapitävyys.
  • Mäkinen, Joni (2022)
    Nonlinear acoustic and electric effects for the purposes of fluid and fluid-fluid interface manipulation find many applications in the literature. Some examples include: electrospinning, electrospraying, ultrasonic sonoreactors, acoustic drop sampling and microfluidic particle manipulation via acoustic streaming. Ultrasound-enhanced electrospinning (USES) is one application in which both an acoustic and an electric field deform the surface of an aqueous polymer solution in order to achieve electrospinning of nanofibers. In this thesis, the nonlinear physics involved in USES are reviewed and applied to a finite element method based model of the system. This work builds on my previous publication on acoustic fountain formation and subsequent electrostatic deformation of a liquid-air interface in USES by also considering the effects of acoustic streaming. Results for acoustic streaming near a liquid-air interface in a case where the acoustic field is also focused around the interface are studied with simulations and compared against experiments. The results display an intricate balance of the shape and strength of the acoustic streaming field as the liquid-air interface simultaneously deforms. This even leads to situations where the streaming field could completely change direction. Finally, simulation predictions for acoustic streaming, fountain formation and electrostatic deformation of liquid-air interface in the USES set-up in its standard configuration are given. This simulation predicts a very weak acoustic streaming field and a smaller contribution from the electric field, compared to the acoustic field, on the interface forces. This implies that in the simulated configuration, the electric field serves more as force to pull the acoustic fountain a bit more in order for the acoustic field to find its new balance and exert an even stronger force than it was able to by itself. The simulation also indicates that for the robust and reproducible operation of USES, and possibly for the resulting nanofibers, one needs to have precise control of the process parameters, acoustic field and surface level, due to the complex nature of the fountain formation.
  • Heikkilä, Jesse (2022)
    Nanoformation of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in controlled expansion of supercritical solution (CESS®) was studied in situ with a schlieren imaging technique in wide range of pre-expansion and expansion conditions, involving pressures up to 1000 bars. The optical methods allowed measurements on solvent state in the first micro and milliseconds of the expansion. Quantitative values on jet shape and solvent thermodynamic state were obtained for different nozzle configurations. These values, combined with mathematical modelling, enabled tracking the nanoparticle formation along the flow. We also report on the importance of solvent phase behavior demonstrated by three fundamentally different expansion schemes: supercritical (SC) to liquid/gas, SC to gas/liquid, and SC to SC. Scanning electron microscope images of the nanosized API are presented. This shows that one can have controlled particle formation by altering the thermodynamic conditions at the nozzle and changing the expansion path. The results guide the in-house process optimization and offer insight into the physics of supercritical fluid processing.
  • Rantamaa, Anton (2024)
    This thesis presents an acoustic microscope that is using coded signals to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) without increasing the voltage applied to the transducer. The operating principle of an acoustic microscope is presented with a detailed description of the coded excitation scanning acoustic microscope (CESAM). Acoustic microscopy is compared to other non-destructive testing (NDT) methods, and developments to improve acoustic imaging with coded signals are presented. Biological sample images from a rabbit femur bone are presented, and issues with surface roughness related to imaging bone structures in general are discussed. The increase of bone content with increased time post operation is calculated. Surface roughness of a rabbit femur bone sample containing a bioactive glass implant is analyzed, and acoustic impedance map of this sample is presented.
  • Schavikin, Johannes (2024)
    There is an unmet need to develop lipid-based substitutes for conventional solid fats, saturated fats, and trans-fats, which are associated with cardiovascular diseases and the onset of obesity and diabetes. Oleogels are structured, semi-solid materials that contain a high fraction (>70%) of edible unsaturated fats, aimed at mimicking the texture, mouthfeel, and overall rheological properties of saturated fats to provide a healthier alternative. Oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids are usually entrapped in a three- dimensional network of micro or macromolecules, known as gelators. Recently, electrospun (ES) fibers have been used to successfully gel various liquid oils. However, previous methods using spun fibers as novel oleogelators have had various drawbacks limiting their wider use, including the use of toxic organic solvents, freeze-drying, and the need to cool the system with liquid nitrogen. This thesis presents oleogelation from three different ES biopolymers, gelatin, dextran, and starch, at room temperature with the direct use of ball milling. The fibers were spun using both traditional, needle-based electrospinning (TES) and a novel needle-free electrospinning method known as ultrasound-enhanced electrospinning (USES). Moreover, this thesis provides an investigation into the factors affecting the formation of oleogels from ES dextran fibers and their emergent rheological properties by varying the milling parameters, fiber thickness, spinning method, the addition of sorbitol and glycerol as a plasticizer, and surface roughness of the spun fiber matrix by incorporating defects. The rheological properties varied based on the used parameters: Thicker fiber diameters increased the storage modulus, critical strain, and the cross-over point.
  • Malinen, Henri (2021)
    Dendrite prevention can be achieved by manipulating the local chemical concentration gradient by ultrasound. An ultrasonic field, which generates acoustic streaming, can manipulate the ionic flux at the electrode surface by altering the local ion concentration gradient at said surface according to the streaming pattern. The pattern is determined by the ultrasonic field and the geometry of the sonication volume. The preventive action can be directed to an arbitrary point on the surface, or be swept across it to achieve a smoother electroplating. Dendritic growth is concentrated to areas of higher concentration gradient. This is because at the electrode surface both the electric and convective fluxes tend to zero. If the reduction of ions into their metallic form is fast enough, the metal layer growth rate is determined by the diffusive flux, which is determined by the ion concentration gradient and the diffusion constant of the ion in the electrolyte. In this study, tin was used as the transported ion instead of lithium for safety reasons. A custom-made battery mockup cell was constructed for the experiments. The anode was imaged with a usb microscope camera to determine the growth of the dendrites during the process. The electroplating current and piezo driving power were varied between 100 mA to 275 mA and 0 to 6.6 W, respectively. With piezo driving electrical power less than 10 W, it was possible to lower the maximum lengths of dendrites. Finite element method simulations were conducted to validate the hypothesis and experimental results. This ultrasonic method could be used to allow rechargeable, lightweight, high capacity lithium metal batteries. The piezos could be integrated into battery chargers.
  • Papponen, Joni (2022)
    Imaging done with conventional microscopes is diffraction-limited, which sets a lower limit to the resolution. Features smaller than the resolution cannot be distinguished in images. This limit of the diffraction-limit can be overcome with different setups, such as with imaging through a dielectric microcylinder. With this setup it is possible to reach smaller resolution than with a diffraction-limited system, which is called super-resolution. Propagation of light can be modelled with various simulation methods, such as finite-difference time-domain and ray tracing methods. Finitedifference time-domain method simulates the light as waves which is useful for modelling the propagation of light accurately and take into account the interactions between different waves. Ray tracing method simulates the light as rays which requires approximations to the light’s behaviour. This means that some phenomena cannot be taken into account, which can affect the accuracy of the results. In this thesis the model for simulating super-resolution imaging with microcylinder is studied. The model utilizes the finite-difference timedomain method for modelling the near-field effects of the light propagating through the microcylinder and reflecting back from a sample. The reflected light is recorded on the simulation domain boundaries and a near-field-to-far-field transformation is performed to obtain the far-field corresponding to the recorded fields. The far-field is backward propagated to focus a virtual image of the sample, and the virtual image is then used in ray tracing simulation as a light source to focus it to a real image on a detector.
  • Puranen, Tuomas (2020)
    Acoustic levitation permits non-contacting particle manipulation. The position and orientation of the levitated particle can be controlled by altering the acoustic field. Existing acoustic levitators have employed a single frequency which limits the types of acoustic traps that can be created. The use of multiple frequencies makes it possible to control the forces acting on a particle independently in all directions. I predict theoretically the forces acting on particles placed in the acoustic fields created with multiple coexisting frequencies. I present two traps which demonstrate the benefits of multifrequency acoustic levitation. To realize the traps, I constructed a 450-channel phased array acoustic levitator with individual frequency, phase, and amplitude control for each channel.
  • Helander, Petteri (2020)
    Omnidirectional microscopy (OM) is an emerging technology capable of enhancing the threedimensional (3D) microscopy widely applied in life sciences. In OM, precise position and orientation control are required for the sample. However, the current OM technology relies on destructive, mechanical methods to hold the samples, such as embedding samples in gel or attaching them to a needle to permit orientation control. A non-contacting alternative is the levitation of the sample. But, until now, the levitation methods have lacked orientation control. I enable omnidirectional access to the sample by introducing a method for acoustic levitation that provides precise orientation control. Such control around three axes of rotation permits imaging of the sample from any direction with a fixed camera and subsequent 3D shape reconstruction. The control of non-spherical particles is achieved using an asymmetric acoustic field created with a phase-controlled transducer array. The technology allows 3D imaging of delicate samples and their study in a time-lapse manner. I foresee that the described method is not only limited to microscopy and optical imaging, but is also compatible with automated sample handling, light-sheet microscopy, wall-less chemistry, and noncontacting tomography. I demonstrate the method by performing a surface reconstruction of three test samples and a biological sample. In addition, a simulation study and the levitation of test samples were used to characterize the levitation technique's performance. Both the shape reconstruction and orientation recovery were done by a computer vision based approach where the different images are stitched together. The results show the rotation stability and the wide angle range of the method.
  • Lassila, Petri (2021)
    Lipid-based solid-fat substitutes (such as oleogels) structurally modified using ultrasonic standing waves (USW), have recently been shown to potentially increase oleogel storage-stability. To enable their potential application in food products, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, practical and economical production methods are needed compared to previous work, where USW treated oleogel production was limited to 50-500 µL. The purpose of this work is to improve upon the previous procedure of producing structurally modified oleogels via the use of USW by developing a scaled up and convenient approach. To this aim, three different USW chamber prototypes were designed and developed, with common features in mind to: (i) increase process volumes to 10-100 mL, (ii) make the sample extractable from the treatment chamber, (iii) avoid contact between the sample and the ultrasonic transducer. Imaging of the internal structure of USW treated oleogels was used as the determining factor of successful chamber design. The best design was subsequently used to produce USW treated oleogels, of which the bulk mechanical properties were studied using uniaxial compression tests, along with local mechanical properties, investigated using scanning acoustic microscopy. Results elucidated the mechanical behaviour of oleogels as foam-like. Finally, the stability of treated oleogels was compared to control samples using an automated image analysis oil release test. This work enables the effective mechanical-structural manipulation of oleogels in volumes of 10-100 mL, paving the way to possible large-scale lipid-based materials USW treatments.
  • Kekkonen, Tuukka (2021)
    The sub-λ/2 focusing, also known as super resolution, is widely studied in optics, but only few practical realizations are done in acoustics. In this contribution, I show a novel way to produce sub- λ/2 focusing in the acoustic realm. I used an oil-filled cylinder immersed in liquid to focus an incident plane wave into a line focus. Three different immersion liquids were tested: water, olive oil, and pure ethanol. In addition to the practical experiment, we conducted a series of finite element simulations, by courtesy of Joni Mäkinen, to compare to the experimental results.
  • Pudas, Topi (2024)
    This thesis contributes to the ongoing development of a novel, environmentally friendly e-waste recycling technology. We utilize high-intensity focused ultrasound to locally extract gold from the surface of printed circuit boards via cavitation erosion. Acoustic cavitation erosion is the phenomenon in which the acoustically driven violent collapse of gas bubbles in liquid cause damage to nearby solids. Bubble collapse is preceded by its dramatic growth, which is driven by the rarefactive phase of the acoustic wave. In this work, I investigate the effect of ultrasound frequency on the efficiency of gold extraction. Gold extraction experiments were conducted with three custom-built transducers, with different resonant frequencies [4.2, 7.3, 11.8] MHz. The geometries of the transducers are identical, as were the electrical driving parameters. With each transducer, a sequence of gold extraction experiments was conducted with an increasing number of acoustic bursts (ranging from 100k to 1.9M). The results demonstrate that the lowest frequency (4.2 MHz) is 3.8 and 4.5 times more efficient at extracting gold compared to [7.3, 11.8] MHz, respectively. This dramatic improvement is likely due to larger cavitation bubbles associated with lower frequencies. Larger bubbles in the cavitating zone would be expected to undergo more bubble coalescence due to a higher gas volume ratio. Since the energy of bubble collapse increases with bubble size, increased bubble coalescence should augment the energy of bubble collapse. These results provide valuable insights relating to cavitation research and will guide the ongoing development of our novel e-waste recycling technology.
  • Mustonen, Joonas (2021)
    Pipe fouling is a challenging problem in many industrial applications. Established cleaning techniques require that the production is aborted during the cleaning phase. These techniques are unable to focus cleaning power, even though fouling often is localized to certain areas inside the pipeline. This study introduces an effective method to clean fouling inside complex structures. We use finite-element modelling (FEM) -based time-reversed signals to focus ultrasound power onto a predetermined pipe residing inside a Plexiglas container. We compare the cleaning effect obtained by this method with the cleaning obtained with standard ultrasound cleaning when using the same input electric power and cleaning time. Our results indicate that the proposed time-reversal based technique removes more fouling compared to when using the standard technique. Moreover, we demonstrate ability to relocate the focus including changing the target from one pipe to another one inside the container.
  • Järvinen, Miikka (2020)
    Two different bio transfer standards (BTS), composed of fatty acid bilayers, NanoRuler and NanoStar were developed. NanoRuler consists of a nanometer scale staircase with eight steps that are 5 nm tall each and NanoStar is designed to have topological structure with sharp edge and three height planes 5 nm elevated with respect to each other. With NanoRuler nanometer vertical calibration from 5 nm to 40 nm is possible and NanoStar allows the evaluation of the instrument transfer function (ITF). Due to the soft nature of the standards, the topographical stability was researched. Thus, an investigation of the topographical stability of three NanoRulers and one NanoStar across 24 months was done by measuring the surface topography with a custom-built Scanning White Light Interferometer (SWLI). The BTS were measured over 100 times during the experiments and were stored in laboratory conditions. The step heights of the structures were calculated with a histogram method and the surface roughness of the samples was evaluated using the Sq parameter. The step height analysis method was compared to the standard method (ISO 5436-1) where applicable and no notable differences were found. In both roughness and step height data no linear or non-linear trends were found, and the step heights compared well with the literature values. For NanoRuler the step heights were 4.9 nm, 10.1 nm, 15.1 nm, 20.1 nm, 25 nm, 30.1 nm, 35.1 nm and 40.2 nm and the respective stabilities were 0.3 nm, 0.3 nm, 0.6 nm, 0.9 nm, 1.3 nm, 1.6 nm, 2.1 nm, and 2.5 nm. For NanoStar the step heights were -5.1 nm and 5.2 nm with stabilities 0.3 nm and 0.4 nm respectively. The NanoRuler had a surface roughness stability of 0.02 nm whereas NanoStar had a roughness stability of 0.01 nm. After 24 months both BTS types preserved their topographical structure and no issues with surface topographical stability were observed.