Vibration Analysis of a Piezoelectric Ultrasonic Atomizer to Control Atomization Rate

In this work, a mechanical vibrational analysis of an ultrasonic atomizer is carried out to control its atomization mass transfer rate. An ultrasonic atomizer is a device constructed with a piezoelectric ring coupled to a metallic circular thin plate with micro-apertures. The mechanism of mass transfer by atomization is a complex phenomenon to model because of the coupling effect between the fluid transfer and dynamic mechanics controlled by a piezoelectric vibrating ring element. Here, the effect of the micro-apertures shape of the meshed thin plate coupled to a piezoelectric ring during vibration, as well as the resonance frequency modes, are numerically studied using a finite element analysis and compared with theoretical and experimental results. Good correlations between the predicted and experimental results of the resonant frequencies and atomization rates were found.