Core–Shell Droplet Generation Device Using a Flexural Bolt-Clamped Langevin-Type Ultrasonic Transducer

Research on the Machinability of Micro-Tapered Hole Group in Piezoelectric Atomizer and the Improvement Method

A metal atomizing sheet with a group of micro-tapered holes is the core constituent of a piezoelectric atomizer. However, the diameters of large-end and small-end micro-tapered holes in industrial applications deviate from the design values by 15.25% and 15.83%, respectively, which adversely impacts the effect of atomizers. In this study, two main factors that influence the machining quality of tapered holes, the external vibration disturbance and the internal system errors inside the laser processor, were explored; consequently, the vibration model of the machining device and the laser drilling model were established, respectively. Based on the models and the experimental results, it was found that the errors in diameter caused by these two factors accounted for 20% and 67.87% of the total deviation, respectively. Finally, an improved method was proposed, where a damping system was added to the machining device, and the diameter of the initial laser spot was corrected. The measurement results of tapered holes machined by the improved method showed that the deviation of the large diameters and the small diameters from the design values declined to 4.85% and 4.83%, respectively. This study lays a foundation for the high-precision and large-scale industry of atomizing sheets, and provides a new research direction for enhancing the performance of atomizers.

A Battery-Powered Fluid Manipulation System Actuated by Mechanical Vibrations

Miniaturized fluid manipulation systems are an important component of lab-on-a-chip platforms implemented in resourced-limited environments and point-of-care applications. This work aims to design, fabricate, and test a low-cost and battery-operated microfluidic diffuser/nozzle type pump to enable an alternative fluid manipulation solution for field applications. For this, CNC laser cutting and 3D printing are used to fabricate the fluidic unit and casing of the driving module of the system, respectively. This system only required 3.5-V input power and can generate flow rates up to 58 µL/min for water. In addition, this portable pump can manipulate higher viscosity fluids with kinematic viscosities up to 24 mPa·s resembling biological fluids such as sputum and saliva. The demonstrated system is a low-cost, battery-powered, and highly versatile fluid pump that can be adopted in various lab-on-a-chip applications for field deployment and remote applications.

Mechanism and Experiment Study of Non-Contact Ultrasonic Assisted Grinding

Ultrasonic-assisted grinding processing can effectively reduce the surface roughness and enhance the processing efficiency in the processing of hard and brittle materials. However, the most common ultrasonic assisted grinding is a type of contact ultrasonic grinding where the grinding tool directly contacts the workpiece, which means that it is necessary to accurately control the pre-pressure of the grinding tool on the workpiece. The control of pre-pressure will inevitably increase the complexity of the grinding device, and it is easy to wear the workpiece because of improper pre-pressure control. In this paper, a non-contact ultrasonic grinding method is proposed and the machining mechanism of non-contact ultrasonic grinding is revealed. The resonant frequency of the ultrasonic vibration system and vibration amplitude of the grinding tool working face were simulated and experimentally tested, respectively. Then, the experiment of non-contact ultrasonic grinding of a sapphire wafer was carried out. The result showed that non-contact ultrasonic grinding of the sapphire wafer could reduce the surface roughness by 48.6%. Compared with traditional contact grinding of sapphire wafer under certain pre-pressure conditions, the experimental results show that non-contact ultrasonic grinding has better effects in reducing surface roughness, improving processing efficiency, and improving the quality uniformity of the workpiece machining surface.