Abstract
It is known and experimentally proven many times that ultrasonic vibrations in the gas phase contribute to the appearance of stationary acoustic flows. Since the flows are caused by energy losses during absorption of oscillations, and they do work against the frictional forces that cause this absorption, then these flows have a vortex character. According to numerous studies and developments in the field of inertial dust separation, at a centripetal acceleration of 10 m/s2 or more, local compaction of particles is observed near the periphery of the vortex flow. Due to this, particles are captured in existing devices based on the inertial dust separation principle. In this regard, the article presents the results of theoretical studies of the potential for the use of acoustic flows for a local increase in the concentration of particles and, consequently, an increase in the efficiency of agglomeration. A model of the influence of vortex acoustic flows on the efficiency of agglomeration is proposed. As a result of the numerical analysis of the model, the fundamental possibility of a significant (more than 4 times) increase in the efficiency of ultrasonic agglomeration of submicron particles due to the formation of vortex acoustic flows in the resonant intervals was revealed.