Ultrasonic cleaning system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10018113-B2
Application number	US-201514938590-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 11, 2015
Priority date	Nov 11, 2015
Publication date	Jul 10, 2018
Grant date	Jul 10, 2018

Abstract

A cleaning system and method use an ultrasound probe, a coupling mechanism, and a controller to clean equipment of a vehicle system. The ultrasound probe enters into an engine. The ultrasound probe emits ultrasound pulses and the coupling mechanism provides an ultrasound coupling medium between the ultrasound probe and one or more components of the engine. The controller drives the ultrasound probe to deliver the ultrasound pulse through the coupling medium to a surface of the one or more components of the engine. The ultrasound probe delivers the ultrasound pulse to remove deposits from the one or more components of the engine.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
inserting an ultrasound probe into an engine;
delivering an ultrasound coupling medium between the ultrasound probe and one or more components of the engine, the ultrasound coupling medium acoustically coupling the ultrasound probe with the one or more component of the engine;
emitting a focused ultrasound pulse from the ultrasound probe and through the ultrasound coupling medium to deposits on a surface of the one or more components of the engine;
removing the deposits from the one or more components of the engine via the focused ultrasound pulse transmitted to the deposits, through the ultrasound coupling medium, from the ultrasound probe;
wherein the surface of the one or more components of the engine is an external surface and the one or more components include an opposite internal surface, and wherein the ultrasound coupling medium is delivered onto the external surface, and wherein emitting the focused ultrasound pulse includes focusing the ultrasound pulse through the ultrasound coupling medium delivered on the external surface of the one or more components of the engine and onto the internal surface to remove the deposits from the internal surface; and
changing a frequency of the focused ultrasound pulse delivered by the ultrasound probe based on a thickness of the one or more components between the internal surface and the external surface.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein delivering the ultrasound coupling medium includes spraying the ultrasound coupling medium onto the one or more components of the engine.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein delivering the ultrasound coupling medium includes engaging the surface of the one or more components of the engine with a diaphragm that is at least partially filled with the ultrasound coupling medium.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the focused ultrasound pulse removes the deposits from the surface of the one or more components of the engine while preventing removal of a thermal barrier coating on the one or more components of the engine.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining optical data representative of the one or more components of the engine from an optic sensor during removal of the deposits by the focused ultrasound pulse.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the frequency of the focused ultrasound pulse is varied such that the thickness of the one or more components is one half of a wavelength of the focused ultrasound pulse.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the frequency of the focused ultrasound pulse is varied such that the thickness of the one or more components is an odd integer multiple of a wavelength of the focused ultrasound pulse.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasound probe comprises the ultrasound coupling medium disposed on a distal end of the ultrasound probe, the ultrasound coupling medium comprising gallium, gallium-indium alloy, or combinations thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasound probe comprises an inner transducer portion configured to emit a diagnostic pulse and an outer transducer portion configured to emit the focused ultrasound pulse, and wherein the method further comprises emitting a diagnostic pulse from the inner transducer portion at a frequency different from the focused ultrasound pulse, to locate and measure a thickness of the deposits.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Bewlay Bernard Patrick
• Faidi Waseem
• Lorraine Peter William
• Ali Mohamed Ahmed
• Yazdanfar Siavash
• Fan Ying
• Nieters Edward James
• Mills David
• Tibbetts Nicole

Classifications

• H10P72/0478

  the substrates being processed being not semiconductor wafers, e.g. leadframes or chips · CPC title

• H10P72/0416

  with the semiconductor substrates being dipped in baths or vessels · CPC title

• H10P70/30

  Cleaning after the substrates have been singulated · CPC title

• B08B9/0321

  using pressurised, pulsating or purging fluid (E04F17/126 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F02B77/04 Primary

  Cleaning of, preventing corrosion or erosion in, or preventing unwanted deposits in, combustion engines · CPC title