Application of Ultrasound in the Preparation of Cotton and Silk Fabric (Part-2)

Utpal Mondal
Govt. College of Engineering and Textile Technology
Berhampore, Murshidabad, India

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3. Applications
Ultrasound is used in many applications, such as homogenizing, disintegration, sonochemistry, cleaning etc. Even this is used for medical diagnosis and therapy and also as a surgical tool. Now discuss about these in the following.

3.1 Motion sensors and flow measurement:
Ultrasonic sound can be used as motion sensor, i.e. automatic door opener, where an ultrasonic sensor detects a person’s approach and opens the door.

Ultrasonic sensor can control a wide area from a single point. The flow in pipes or open channels can be measured by ultrasonic flow meters, which measure the average velocity of following liquid [5].

3.2 Non-destructive testing:
Ultrasonic testing is a type of non-destructive testing commonly used to find flaws in materials and to measure the thickness of objects. Frequencies of 2 to 10 MHz are common. Lower frequency ultrasound (50–500 kHz) can also be used to inspect less dense materials such as wood, concrete and cement [5].

3.3 Biomedical applications:
Ultrasound also has therapeutic applications, which can be highly beneficial when used with dosage precautions. Relatively high power ultrasound can break up stony deposits or tissue, accelerate the effect of drugs in a targeted area, assist in the measurement of the elastic properties of tissue, and can be used to sort cells or small particles for research [5].

3.4 Ultrasonic range finding:
A common use of ultrasound is in underwater range finding; this use is also called sound navigation and ranging. An ultrasonic pulse is generated in a particular direction. If there is an object in the path of this pulse, part or all of the pulse will be reflected back to the transmitter as an echo and can be detected through the receiver path. By measuring the difference in time between the pulse being transmitted and the echo being received, it is possible to determine the distance [5].

3.5 Ultrasonic Cleaner:

3.6 Sonochemistry:

3.7 Ultrasonic welding:
In ultrasonic welding of plastics, high frequency (15kHz to 40kHz ) low amplitude vibration is used to create heat by way of friction between the materials to be joined. The interface of the two parts is specially designed to concentrate the energy for the maximum weld strength [5].

3.8 Ultrasound identification (USID):

3.9 Acoustic microscopy:
The Acoustic Microscopy method uses a high frequency ultrasound transducer to emit sound waves that are either echoed by or transmitted through a material. The resulting acoustic signature or waveform may be interpreted to determine variations of acoustic impedance within a sample.
Figure. 4: Acoustic Microscopy [7]
3.10 Sonogram of a foetus:


3.11 Veterinary medicine:

Various types of treatment can be done using ultrasonic sound. Ultrasound competes with other forms of medical imaging, such as X-ray techniques and magnetic resonance imaging, it has certain desirable features—for example, Doppler motion study—that the other techniques cannot provide. In addition, among the various modern techniques for the imaging of internal organs, ultrasonic devices are by far the least expensive. Ultrasound is also used for treating joint pains and for treating certain types of tumours for which it is desirable to produce localized heating. A very effective use of ultrasound deriving from its nature as a mechanical vibration is the elimination of kidney and bladder stones [9].

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