Patent ID: 7703698

Claim:
An ultrasonic treatment chamber for ultrasonically treating a liquid, said treatment chamber comprising: an elongate housing having an upper end, a longitudinally spaced lower end and an interior space, the housing being generally closed at said ends and having an inlet port for receiving liquid into the interior space of the housing and an outlet port through which liquid is exhausted from the housing following ultrasonic treatment of the liquid, the inlet port being disposed at the lower end of the housing and the outlet port being spaced longitudinally from the inlet port such that liquid flows longitudinally upward within the interior space of the housing from the inlet port to the outlet port, and an elongate ultrasonic waveguide assembly extending longitudinally within the interior space of the housing and being operable at a predetermined ultrasonic frequency to ultrasonically energize liquid flowing within the housing, the waveguide assembly comprising an elongate ultrasonic horn disposed at least in part intermediate the inlet port and the outlet port of the housing and having an outer surface located for contact with liquid flowing within the housing from the inlet port to the outlet port, and a plurality of discrete agitating members in contact with and extending transversely outward from the outer surface of the horn intermediate the inlet port and the outlet port in longitudinally spaced relationship with each other, the agitating members and the horn being constructed and arranged for dynamic motion of the agitating members relative to the horn upon ultrasonic vibration of the horn at said predetermined frequency and to operate in an ultrasonic cavitation mode of the agitating members corresponding to the predetermined frequency and the liquid being treated in the chamber, and wherein the horn has a terminal end within the interior space of the housing and substantially spaced longitudinally from the outlet port to define a buffer zone therebetween within the interior space of the housing, the ratio of the buffer zone void volume to the void volume of the remainder of the interior space of the housing upstream from the terminal end of the waveguide being about 1:1.