Design strategies to mitigate the nonlinear vibration behaviour of piezoelectric power ultrasonic transducers

Power ultrasonics finds an increasing range of industrial, environmental and medical uses. Among the applications involving fluids and multiphase media (fluids with suspended particles, drops or bubblels), ultrasonic plate-transducers play a key role. In these devices, which were recently commercialised, the flexural excitation of opportunely tailored plate radiators allows high-directional, or focalized, sound wave radiations. In the first part of this paper, various applications in the environmental and food sectors possible by this novel family of ultrasonic transducers are described.