Patent ID: 9718708
Date: 2017-08-01
CPC Classifications: B01D,C02F,H04R

Claim:
1. A method of accelerating separation in a tank or vessel, the method comprising: placing a submersible acoustophoretic separator in the tank or vessel, the acoustophoretic separator having (i) a housing having (a) a transducer on a transducer face, (b) a reflector on a reflector face opposite the transducer face, (c) a support joining the transducer face and the reflector face, and (d) at least one exposed face that allows fluid to enter a separation area located between the transducer face and the reflector face; providing a fluid in the tank or vessel, the fluid having a first density and containing particles or droplets having a different density; applying acoustic energy to the fluid with the transducer to create a multimode acoustic standing wave between the transducer and the reflector, wherein the fluid is separated from the particles or droplets by the multimode acoustic standing wave, and wherein the multimode acoustic standing wave results in an acoustic radiation force having an axial force component and a lateral force component that are of the same order of magnitude.