Perpindahan Panas Internasional

Hindawi Publishing Corporation
International Journal of Chemical Engineering

Volume 2011, Article ID 670108, 17 pages
doi:10.1155/2011/670108
Review Article
Enhancement of Heat Transfer by Ultrasound:
Review and Recent Advances
Mathieu Legay,1 Nicolas Gondrexon,1, 2 Stéphane Le Person,3

Primius Boldo,4 and André Bontemps3
1 LEPMI, UMR 5279, CNRS, Grenoble INP, Université de Savoie and Université Joseph Fourier BP75,
38402 Saint Martin d’Hères, France
2 Laboratoire de Rhéologie et Procédés, UMR 5520, CNRS, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble I, Grenoble-INP,
BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

3 LEGI, UMR 5519, Domaine Universitaire BP 53,
38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

4 EDYTEM, UMR 5204, Campus Scientifique, Université de Savoie, 73376 Le Bourget du Lac Cedex, France
Correspondence should be addressed to Nicolas Gondrexon, nicolas.gondrexon@ujf-grenoble.fr
Received 30 March 2011; Revised 19 July 2011; Accepted 20 July 2011
Academic Editor: Mostafa Barigou
Copyright © 2011 Mathieu Legay et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This paper summarizes some applications of ultrasonic vibrations regarding heat transfer enhancement techniques. Research
literature is reviewed, with special attention to examples for which ultrasonic technology was used alongside a conventional
heat transfer process in order to enhance it. In several industrial applications, the use of ultrasound is often a way to increase
productivity in the process itself, but also to take advantage of various subsequent phenomena. The relevant example brought
forward here concerns heat exchangers, where it was found that ultrasound not only increases heat transfer rates, but might also
be a solution to fouling reduction.
1. Introduction The objectives of this paper are to provide scientific and

historical backgrounds to the future studies concerning heat
In engineering applications, ultrasound is helpfully used to transfer enhancement by ultrasonic vibrations and to bring
improve systems efficiencies. Intensifying chemical reactions, forward the evolution of this domain with several examples
drying, welding, and cleaning are among the various pos- of applications. The first part describes an overview of ultra-
sible applications of ultrasonic waves [1]. An analogous ob- sound, induced phenomena, and how they positively influ-
servation can be made for heat transfer processes, which are ence heat transfer processes. Then, examples drawn from
omnipresent in the industry: cooling applications, heat ex- various fields of interest are analysed (thermal engineering,
changers, temperature control, and so forth. It is somewhat food industry, experimental and numerical simulations).
logical and natural to wonder what could be the influence of Emphasis is made on the best improvements and results
ultrasound upon heat transfer systems. Strangely, it has not obtained. Finally, recent adaptation of ultrasonic techno-
been a research topic deeply investigated until recently. logies to heat exchanger devices is discussed thoroughly, with
It appears that researches undertaken in the past concer- examples drawn from new patents and current laboratory
ned basic systems, usually with a single fluid, such as heating work.
rods or walls in a volume of water subjected to ultrasonic
vibrations. The tendency goes toward systems getting more 2. Generalities about Ultrasound
complicated (e.g., cooling of tiny components, vibrating
structures for heat exchangers) and models becoming more 2.1. Standard Classification by Power, Frequency, and Use.
accurate with powerful numerical simulations for example. Acoustic waves of which frequencies are higher than the
2 International Journal of Chemical Engineering
phenomena resulting from propagation of ultrasound into

Cleaning a liquid. Figure 2 illustrates some of these important effects
Power ultrasound
(>10 W) that may occur in a liquid.
Cavitation
sonochemistry These phenomena have always been a subject of interest
Power (W)
since their discovery, and even though research is still ongo-

ing, some comprehensive descriptions have been made by
Medical imaging
Low power several authors and are frequently updated [1, 4]. Therefore,
Acoustic sensors
ultrasound this paper focuses only on two significant phenomena:
(<1 W) Acoustic microscopy acoustic streaming and acoustic cavitation, tackled from a
heat transfer point of view.
101 102 103 104 105 106 107
Frequency (kHz)
Figure 1: Utilizations of ultrasound according to frequency and

2.2.1. Acoustic Streaming. Acoustic streaming can be consid-
power. ered as a well-known phenomenon since its comprehensive
mathematical description by Lighthill in 1978 [5]. He ex-
plained that acoustic streaming ensues from the dissipation
of acoustic energy which permits the gradients in momen-
upper limit of the human hearing range, usually around 16 or tum, and thereby the fluid currents. Riley [6] also makes the
20 kHz, are called ultrasound. These waves are often classified distinction between the quartz wind streaming happening
according to their frequency or power. in the fluid bulk, and the Rayleigh streaming located at
Between 20 and about 100 kHz, waves are defined as the boundary layers and solid-liquid interfaces. The speed
“low frequency ultrasound” or “power ultrasound”. Indeed, gained by the fluid allows a better convection heat transfer
it is usually transferred at a high power level (a few tens coefficient near the solid boundaries, sometimes leading to
of Watts), and therefore, ultrasound is able to modify the turbulence and promoting heat transfer rate (Figure 3).
medium where it propagates. Power ultrasound can disrupt Fand and Kave [7] foresaw in 1960 the possible effect of
a fluid bulk to create cavitation or acoustic streaming, acoustic streaming on heat transfer intensification and stud-
two phenomena with powerful macroscopic effects for heat ied what was named “thermoacoustic streaming”, a stronger
transfer enhancement. Therefore, power ultrasound finds flow phenomenon than isothermal acoustic streaming.
uses in various processes like cleaning, plastic welding, sono- Acoustic streaming (forced air current) was created in the
chemistry [1], and so forth. It is also generally used for heat air above a vibrating beam [8, 9]. It was sufficient to levitate
and mass transfer processes intensification. small objects and make them spin around themselves, and
Further in the frequency spectrum, above 1 MHz, is thereby computing the flow velocity. The temperature of the
found “low power ultrasound” (usually less than 10 W), at object above the beam was decreased sensitively, and the
a “very high frequency” which does not affect the medium of convection heat transfer coefficient around it was increased
propagation. Consequently, it is especially used for medical proportionally to the stream velocity. This is an interesting
diagnosis or nondestructive material control, and references first example of how acoustic streaming can modify heat
regarding heat transfer enhancement are very scarce in the transfer coefficients.
literature. Acoustic streaming is also a factor that reduces the melt-
In the intermediate range 100 kHz–1 MHz, “high fre- ing time of paraffin [10]. Its influence was studied apart and
quency ultrasound” is found. It is less used than power ultra- described as analogous to forced convection, whatever the
sound to promote heat transfer. Figure 1 shows some typi- profile of the standing waves field is. Nakagawa [11] even
cal uses of ultrasound according to frequency and power. managed to simulate and control a streaming flow caused by
Thorough description of the development of ultrasonic tech- 4 vibrators, allowing the selection of a zone that needs to be
nologies can be found in the literature [1, 2]. cooled down by the acoustic jet.
A type of configuration often studied is heat transfer oc-
2.2. Ultrasound Propagation and Induced Effects. Many phe- curring in a channel made by two plates or beams at dif-
nomena may ensue from propagation of an ultrasonic wave ferent temperatures with vibrations applied either to the fluid
into a fluid and more particularly into a liquid medium. Two between or to one of the walls [12–14].
of them, of major importance for heat transfer enhancement, The typical order of magnitude of acoustic streaming
are acoustic cavitation and acoustic streaming. There exist velocity is usually a few centimetres per second (between 1
other subsequent effects such as heating of the medium due and 100 cm s−1 ) [9, 15], but it also appears to vary slightly
to dissipation of the mechanical energy. This phenomenon is with ultrasonic power and frequency [16].
used for the determination of the ultrasonic energy supplied
to the medium in an ultrasonic reactor, well-known as the
calorimetric method [1]. With high-frequency ultrasound, 2.2.2. Acoustic Cavitation. Acoustic cavitation is the major
an acoustic fountain at the liquid-gas interface may also phenomenon that may arise from the propagation of ultra-
appear. Temperatures up to 250◦ C can be reached pre- sonic waves into a liquid. Many authors have described
cisely at this interface [3]. Laborde et al. [4] provided a cavitation process thoroughly but not always appearing in
general description and mathematical modelling of some an oscillating pressure field, in which particular case is called
International Journal of Chemical Engineering 3
Heating Acoustic cavitation Acoustic streaming Nebulization
Progressive heating Formation, growth, Global fluid flow and Acoustic fountain
by dissipation of the and collapse of possible formation of (only at high
acoustic energy vapor/gas bubbles convection cells frequency ultrasound)
Figure 2: Four effects resulting from ultrasound propagation in a liquid.
Fluid tank (T1 ) Wall (T2 ) in chemistry, biology, engineering, [25] and so forth. It
Piezoelectric also explains why acoustic cavitation is believed to be the
transmitter major effect of ultrasonic heat transfer enhancement. Indeed,
Convection a bubble implosion near a solid-liquid interface disrupts
heat transfer thermal and velocity boundary layers, reducing thermal
enhancement
resistance and creating microturbulence, as schematically
Direction of the acoustic stream explained in Figure 4.
Usually the bubble implosion is assumed to be of the
Figure 3: Acoustic streaming—enhancement of convection heat
order of the microsecond, and the bubble size is about
transfer.
10−4 m (but also depending on frequency) [1]. So, the order
of magnitude of particles displacement velocity during bub-
ble implosion can be estimated at about 100 m s−1 . There
acoustic cavitation [17, 18]. It is the formation, growth, oscil- are approximately between 2 or 3 orders of magnitude
lations, and powerful collapse of gas bubbles into a liquid. between the acoustic streaming and the microturbulence
When defining acoustic cavitation, one must also describe velocities. This is one of the reasons why acoustic cavitation
precisely the experimental conditions at which it occurs (gas is often considered as the main reason for heat transfer en-
dissolution, temperature, pressure, etc.), because it depends hancement by ultrasound. It can also be used as a way to
on several parameters. When the local pressure is decreased promote or control turbulence, which already suggests some
sufficiently below the vapour pressure during the rarefaction possible use in heat exchange devices. Flow friction near the
period of the sound wave, the static pressure and the cohesive boundaries could be reduced [26].
forces are overcome and gas bubbles are formed. They will
generally oscillate, grow, and then collapse violently [19, 20].
There are many other ways to create cavitation into a 3. Influence of Ultrasound on Heat Transfer
liquid, for instance, hydrodynamic cavitation using micro-
channels which can also promote cooling heat transfer [21]. 3.1. History. It is necessary to go back to the 60s to find
Comprehensive details about acoustic cavitation in pure the first reported studies dealing with heat transfer intensi-
water can be found in [22]. fication involving ultrasonic vibrations. These very pioneer
There exist two types of acoustic cavitation: stable and studies (see also Section 3.3.1) often gave interesting results
transient [18, 23, 24]. When bubbles oscillate around an but unfortunately, not promising enough to lead to deeper
equilibrium size, this is called stable cavitation. When they enquiries. Completely different techniques have probably
exist for less than one cycle, they are transient cavities. Ano- been developed at the meantime (e.g., channel size reduc-
ther important fact is that the implosion of a vaporous cavity tion). Therefore, the subject was quite forgotten until the
is more violent than a gas-filled one because when vapour 90s, where it regained interest with the growing ten-dency
is turned into liquid, there is no residual gas to cushion to make more and more efficient devices for energy mana-
the collapse of the bubble. Some experimental results and gement. The graph proposed in Figure 5 shows the number
photographic studies showed that the impact of a collapsing of publications dealing with heat transfer enhancement
cavitation bubble could last 10−7 s, reaching a local pressure using ultrasound, found in bibliographic databases such as
up to 193 MPa [23]. This explains many phenomena involved Scopus and Google Scholar for 10-year periods since 1960.
Laminar fluid Fluid flow (T1 )

flow (T1 )
Breaking of the boundary
layer by cavitation and
fluid mixing
Increase of the convection
heat transfer coefficient
Important thermal
resistance
Wall (T2 ) Wall (T2 )
Typical velocity boundary layer Cavitation and microagitation Modified boundary layer profile
Figure 4: Explanation of heat transfer enhancement by acoustic cavitation.
50 cavitation intensity, they measured the mass loss rate of a

Number of published papers dealing
with heat transfer and ultrasound
45 15 µm thick aluminium foil. Microjets induced by cavitation

40 increased the apparent thermal conductivity but they were
35 so powerful that erosion would be a problem (e.g., for
30 microelectronic components cooling). On a very narrow
25 surface, conduction was always dominating over convection.
20
15
3.2. Heat Transfer with Phase Change
10
5 3.2.1. Melting and Solidification. Power ultrasound is a
0 method to reduce the size of ice crystals on the frozen prod-
1960–69 1970–79 1980–89 1990–99 2000–10 ucts and gain in quality [28]. This leads to finest ice crystals
Decades and shortens the time between the onset of crystallization
Figure 5: Evolution of the number of published papers per decade and the complete formation of ice, mainly due to acoustic
dealing with heat transfer enhancement by ultrasound. cavitation. Birth of nucleation sites, microstreaming, and
some cleaning action of heat exchangers are among the sub-
sequent advantages. Besides, ultrasound is a nonintrusive
technique. Comprehensive reviews of the uses of ultrasound
in food technology exist [29, 30], with many examples of pro-
References taken into account are those reported in all the
cessing, crystallization, and freezing.
tables of this document. Earlier than this date, they are hard
The freezing temperature of supercooled water can also
to find even if some may exist.
be controlled by ultrasonic vibrations to make ice slurry, a
Very few works were published in the 70s–80s but an
solid-liquid mixture very interesting to store and transport
important increase has taken place since the 90s. According
cold thermal energy. The probability of phase change is in-
to this tendency, one can expect that in the forthcoming
creased with the total number of cavitation bubbles, acting
years, this subject is likely to know a substantial development.
as nuclei for solidification inception [31, 32]. Conversely, to
Among the three heat transfer modes, conduction and
store warm thermal energy, ultrasound allows a melting time
radiation assisted by ultrasound are the less studied. Strange-
reduction (e.g., to take advantage of the sunlight period)
ly, only a few authors have investigated them although
without excessive electricity consumption [10]. Table 1 sums
promising results were already reported in 1979 by Fairbanks
up some references where ultrasound was used for phase
[27]. He found that the combination of radiation (artificial
change applications.
or natural) and ultrasound to heat a flowing liquid led to
better results than the sum of each process taken separately;
besides, metal conduction could be enhanced between 2.25 3.2.2. Boiling. Boiling heat transfer in the presence of an
and 5.55 times. Conversely, during melting of paraffin, when ultrasonic field is described apart for being a very active re-
conduction was dominating over convection, Oh et al. found search field. Ultrasound allows improvement of boiling heat
little influence of ultrasound [10]. This difference may be due transfer almost systematically. The first bubbles appearing in
to the nature of the materials (paraffin and metals) that have the nucleation sites are swept away by the vibrations, and the
a completely different response to the vibrations. Nomura apparition of film boiling is therefore delayed so that higher
and Nakagawa [15] studied heat transfer enhancement with heat fluxes are reached (see Figure 6).
cavitation and acoustic streaming on a narrow surface According to several authors, this is still due to acous-
where conduction had also a great importance. To quantify tic cavitation, which helps the creation and growth of
Fluid tank (T1 ) Fluid tank (T1 ) Fluid tank (T1 )
Nucleate boiling Enhancement of Delaying film boiling

without vibrations nucleation rate onset, higher critical
heat flux reached
Heating Vibrating Vibrating

rod (T2 ) rod (T2 ) rod (T2 )
Figure 6: Enhancement of boiling heat transfer by ultrasonic vibrations.
the bubbles, whereas their oscillations enable to create micro- parameter to take into account before applying ultrasonic
streaming and local agitation near the surfaces to sweep them waves.
away [20, 33–36]. But part of this explanation was called Power ultrasound mainly affects the external thermal
into question [37] because heat transfer was not enhanced resistance. If the transducer is not in contact with the
at saturated liquid temperature as it should have been. material and ultrasound is air-borne, it is reported that high
Heat transfer enhancement of saturated pool nucleate air flow rate may introduce modifications in the acoustic
boiling was studied using a combined method: ultrasonic field, decreasing also the acoustic energy transmitted to the
vibrations and glass beads (49 µm mean diameter, 120 ppm) medium. Power ultrasound increases the effective moisture
mixed into distilled water [38]. The convection heat transfer diffusivities at low air velocities but the improvement be-
coefficient was found up to 4 times greater. comes negligible at high air velocities [58]. A prototype of an
It was reported several times that the distributions of the ultrasonic dehydration system has been built and studied in
sound pressure and of the local heat transfer enhancement [59]. An impedance matching unit was added to the vibrator
were in phase [39–43]. to be in direct contact with the food. Applying a sufficiently
The critical heat flux of subcooled boiling in water in the high acoustic intensity, this technology would permit to save
presence of ultrasound is influenced by several parameters thermal energy in drying processes and to pre-serve the food
[44, 45]. The effect of plate inclination is reported and the quality.
optimum parameters are a surface facing the incident acous- With the aim of sterilizing food, the influence of particle
tic wave, an elevated ultrasonic power delivered and a low size and power input on heat transfer between fluid and food
subcooling temperature. The critical heat flux enhancement size particles was investigated [60]. These parameters had lit-
was closely related to bubble departure from the surface, tle influence since the convection heat transfer coefficient was
either by acoustic streaming or by microstreaming caused already approximately doubled every time in the presence of
by cavitation. In [46], the same observation about water ultrasound. Comprehensive review of the uses of ultrasonic
subcooling was made (increase of critical heat flux when technology in the food industry can be found in the literature
subcooling temperature decreases) but a different one for [29, 30]. A summary of some studies regarding the use of
the plate inclination. Park and Bergles [47] found very small ultrasound in food industry can be found in Table 3.
increases in burnout heat flux compared to the literature with
only 10 and 5%, respectively, for saturated and subcooled
pool boiling. Vibrations, though not ultrasonic but induced 3.3. Intensification of Convection. Convection, like boiling, is
by the flow, also allow a shifting of the critical heat flux, one of the most studied modes of heat transfer under the
which strengthens the results obtained with ultrasonic vibra- influence of ultrasonic vibrations. Increases in heat transfer
tions [48, 49]. coefficients up to 25 times are reported [61]. Some years ago,
Table 2 summarizes some studies concerning boiling heat a negligible influence of ultrasonic waves on heat transfer had
transfer enhancement with ultrasonic vibrations. been described [48, 62, 63]. But more recently, interest in this
way of intensification is regained and some authors began
to analyze the influence of properties of the environment
3.2.3. Food Industry/Drying. For being particularly adequate of propagation (gas dissolution, temperature, flow, etc.) and
(nonintrusive, nonchemical, etc.), ultrasonic technologies characteristics of the wave itself (amplitude, frequency, etc.)
are intensively developing in food industry. Food drying is [37, 38, 64]. Others examined geometries to discover new
one of the best examples. If there is a good acoustic match possible uses [65–67], or as in [68], studied the effect of
between the transducer and the food material, ultrasonic vibrations (not ultrasonic) on the transition to turbulence
vibrations can be directly applied to the material to be dried and buckling flow theory. Researches undertaken in this field
[55, 56]. This can produce a sponge effect, as illustrated are summarized thereafter. When dealing with convection,
by Figure 7: contraction and expansion cycles, leading to a it is crucial to observe that ultrasound can be considered as
better drying result. The effect is much more pronounced an “external help” to heat transfer. Therefore, it is interesting
for very porous products, as explained in [57], which is to wonder if it is not more appropriate to speak of forced
why the porosity of the product to be dried is an important convection rather than free convection when ultrasound is
Table 1: Various uses of ultrasound to promote phase change heat transfer.
Best and/or interesting result

Reference Description of the study Frequency, power, intensity
obtained
Radiation: double heat transfer
Radiation (Sun and infrared) into 50 kHz, 61 W (radiation);
rate, conduction: 3.55 times
Fairbanks [27] water, conduction into metal, 20 kHz, 250 W (melting);
thermal conductivity, melting rate
melting heterogeneous system 20 kHz, 75 W (conduction)
doubled
Experimental, phase change from
Important decrease of
supercooled water to ice, acoustic
Inada et al. [31] 28 kHz, 0–6.5 kW m−2 supercooling with ultrasound for
cavitation, pure water and tap
both types of water
water
Melting of paraffin in a tank with
Melting time 72 min with 340 W
constant heat flux, acoustic
Oh et al. [10] 40 kHz, 70–340 W ultrasonic power instead of
streaming, cavitation,
275 min without ultrasound
experimental and modelling study
Experimental study, probability of
Probability of phase change
water phase change with number
Zhang et al. [32] 39 kHz, 4.4 kW m−2 increased with number of bubble
of bubble nuclei, cavitation, square
nuclei and pressure amplitude
vessel, transducer at the bottom
Conventional drying Hot air (T2 ) Good impedance matching:

Sponge effect and better drying
Piece of porous
material (T1 )
Vibrating structure
Figure 7: sponge effect during vibration and drying of a porous food product.
turned on. This fundamental question still remains opened Conversely, in Larson’s Ph.D. dissertation [62], natural
to discussion. and forced convection flows over a sphere were investigated.
Ultrasonic frequencies, Nusselt and Reynolds numbers were
3.3.1. Pioneer Studies. Fand and Kave [7] are among the the main variables. Larson claimed that cavitation was res-
pioneers who expected heat transfer enhancement from ponsible for the increase in Nusselt number at the low
acoustic streaming forced convection (see Section 2.2.1). Ber- frequencies, whereas acoustic streaming was the major factor
gles and Newell [50] were probably the first to investigate of enhancement at higher frequencies. But he finally reported
an annulus-type structure, that is, water flowing between that no sufficient increase in heat transfer was obtained to
two concentric pipes, with a heating system located inside warrant the use of ultrasound as a means of heat transfer
the central pipe. In this work, up to 40% local increase of intensification technique (for Reynolds numbers and ultra-
the heat transfer coefficient was reported but only 10% in sonic intensities tested). Richardson [69] studied the effect of
the global coefficient, which was not enough for being
horizontal and vertical acoustic waves (710 and 1470 Hz, not
profitable. This was in part due to the attenuation of the
ultrasound) on heat transfer around a horizontal cylinder.
sound effect, or to a bad contact between the emitter and
He found some local changes in the boundary layer thickness
the tube containing water. Bergles [63] made a survey on the
techniques to enhance heat transfer with ultrasonic vibra- and consequently in convection heat transfer coefficients at
tions. He reported that authors generally found significant high intensity sound levels.
increases in nonboiling heat transfer at moderate flow Experiments and numerical results reported by Gould
velocity. Improvements were clearly related to cavitation, [70] showed that the heat transfer rate increased approxi-
reported not to be as effective as established boil-ing. The mately linearly with the sound amplitude when water was
main restriction came from the attenuation of the ultrasonic used. Values were increased up to 10-fold with acoustic
energy by the vapour and the difficulties to locate the streaming. When more viscous liquids were used, the rela-
transducer so as to obtain good coupling with the fluid and tionship between heat flow and sonic amplitude was found
suffer minimum attenuation, also reported in [50]. to be nonlinear.
Table 2: Summary table of boiling heat transfer studies.
Frequency, power, Best and/or interesting result

Reference Description of the study
intensity obtained
Experimental, subcooled boiling, h/hUS ∼2331/5000 W m−2 K−1
Baffigi and Bartoli [45] 40 kHz, 300–500 W
horizontal cylinder, cavitation subcooling temperature: 41 K
Horizontal annulus, subcooled boiling, 70 kHz; 80 kHz, 70 kHz, 40% local increase in
Bergles and Newell [50]
CHF 1.4 W/cm2 non-boiling h
42 kHz, equimolar mixture,
Pool boiling, pure fluids (R23, R134a), 42.0 kHz; 69.2 kHz;
Bonekamp and Bier [51] PUS > 1 W, 90% increase in h +
and mixtures of both 84.7 kHz, 4 W
important hysteresis reduction
Pool boiling enhancement, VIBE
Water/ethanol ∼70/30: 425%
Heffington and Glezer [36] mechanism (vibration-induced bubble 1.65 MHz
increase in CHF (600 W cm−2 )
ejection)
CHF augmentation pool and subcooled 87–126% CHF increase for
Jeong and Kwon [44] 40 kHz
boiling, inclination angle downward facing surface
Experimental results, natural
convection, pool subcooled and At least 60% global heat transfer
Kim et al. [33] 48 kHz
saturated boiling, platinum wire, increase (natural convection)
transducer at the bottom, liquid FC-72
Numerical study, water bath, transducer
Kim and Jeong [52] at the bottom, inclination and 40 kHz see Jeong and Kwon [44]
subcooled boiling
CHF enhancement pool boiling, CHF increased by 110% at pool
Kwon et al. [46] variation of inclination angle and pool 40 kHz temperature 95◦ C, horizontal
temperature, transducer at the bottom downward plate
Inert, dielectric liquid typical of those
used for immersion cooling of Saturated pool: 10% increase in
55 kHz, 75 W,
Park and Bergles [47] microelectronic components (R-113) to burnout heat flux; subcooled pool:
8000 W m−2
cool small diameters stainless steel tubes 5% increase
power supplied
Natural convection and pool
Horizontal and vertical surfaces in water
nucleate boiling augmented for
and vertical round tube under forced
higher liquid subcooling.
Serizawa et al. [37] circulation of water. Silver rod at 28 kHz, 70 W
Temperature change periodically
750–800 K into distilled water (film
with ultrasonic waves.
boiling), ultrasound at the bottom
Quenching time reduced
Natural convection and boiling around 20 kHz; 44 kHz;
platinum wire in distilled water and 108 kHz; 306 kHz, 8-fold increase in heat transfer
Wong and Chon [20]
methanol, cavitation, experimental 0–200 W (with coefficient in natural convection
work amplifier)
Cooling rate and heat flux increase
Quenching process, horizontal 24 kHz; 44 kHz,
Yamashiro et al. [42, 43] with cavitation intensity and water
platinum wires in subcooled water 0–280 W
subcooling, better effect at 24 kHz
Experimental study, acetone boiling in
Heat transfer increased with water
Zhou and Liu [35] cubic pool around an horizontal ?
subcooling and cavitation intensity
circular tube, acoustic cavitation
Experimental investigations, copper Heat transfer in presence of acoustic
nanofluid, acoustic cavitation, cubic field increased with nanoparticles
Zhou [53] ?
vessel filled with acetone, horizontal concentration, cavitation intensity,
copper tube fluid subcooling
Experimental investigations,
Convection and boiling reduced by
calcium-carbonate nanoparticles in
Zhou and Liu [54] ? addition of nanoparticles, but
acetone, acoustic cavitation, cubic vessel
increase with acoustic field intensity
with horizontal copper tube
Acetone boiling around horizontal
Higher heat flux at lower wall
Zhou et al. [34] copper tube in a cubic vessel, acoustic ?
temperature with acoustic cavitation
cavitation effect on boiling heat transfer
Table 3: Reported uses of ultrasound in food industry.

obtained
Drying speed increased with
Drying persimmon cylinders, air
ultrasound at low air velocities
Cárcel et al. [58] velocity change, experiments, 21.8 kHz, 75 W, 154.3 dB
(<4 m s−1 ), affecting internal and
and mathematical model
external thermal resistances
Drying process with direct At 100 W power, after 60 min,
de la Fuente-Blanco et al. [59] 20 kHz, 0–100 W
contact, vibrating plate sample mass 27% instead of 85%
Final moisture less than 1%,
Drying process with direct
Gallego-Juárez et al. [55] 20 kHz, 100 W speed increase, and better quality
contact, vibrating plate
product
Experimental study: potatoes
Most efficient power: 15.85 W;
samples freezing into 50/50%
Li and Sun [28] 25 kHz, 7.34 W; 15.85 W; 25.89 W exposure time: 2 min; during the
mixture water/ethylene glycol at
phase change period
about −18◦ C
Mason et al. [30] Review article (food technology)
Sterilization applications but
Convection coefficient
food particles replaced by metal Power input: 0.139, 0.069 and
Sastry et al. [60] approximately doubled in all
samples. Effect of size and power 0.046 W g−1 of liquid
cases
input
Review article (food freezing
Zheng and Sun [29]
process)
3.3.2. Influence of Environmental and Wave Characteristics. ethanol, and water. The best improvement ratio obtained was
Using frequencies below 20 kHz, Komarov and Hirasawa about 4-fold for acetone. Conversely, the effect of cavitation
[64] investigated the cooling of a preheated platinum wire. seemed different for water, brine, and sugar-water [71]. But
Like in [8], the most efficient effect was obtained using the most probable reason for heat transfer enhancement
high-amplitude sound waves. Besides, a moderate wire tem- still remains the disturbance created by cavitation bubbles
perature was also necessary, otherwise cooling radiation and the impingement due to their implosion at the surface,
effect was greater and convection effect diminished. This ob- causing a local thinning of the thermal boundary layer.
servation joins the one made in [71], where a better effi- More unusual studies have also been undertaken like the
ciency of ultrasonic waves at low heat fluxes is due to a influence of nanoparticles combined with acoustic cavitation
thinner thermal boundary layer, easier to be disrupted by on convection and boiling [53, 54]. Another example can be
cavitation bubbles. found in [75], dealing with heat transfer between a molten
At a local scale, in a stationary acoustic field, it was ob- metal (1520◦ C) flowing in a tube and water around to cool
served that the convection heat transfer coefficient was the it down. Convection coefficients were found to be almost
highest where the sound pressure was maximal [39–41]. This doubled in the presence of ultrasound at 20 kHz.
is due to the effect of buoyancy force coupled to pressure Two graphs have been plotted in Figures 8 and 9 to
force and to the thermal boundary layer thickness shrinking sum up, respectively, the influence of the ultrasonic power
because of water movement near the surface. supplied and the wave frequency on the increase of the
Dissolved gas can also have an influence as illustrated convection heat transfer coefficient. Each point represents
in [72] with gaseous cavitation into CO2 saturated water. the best result obtained in the corresponding referenced
The distinction was between the two types of acoustic paper.
cavitation: a low-intensity gaseous cavitation, and a high- One can see in Figure 8 that the intensification of con-
intensity vaporous cavitation. Gaseous cavitation was found vection seems to be proportional to the ultrasonic power
to be a very good way to enhance heat transfer by increasing supplied, at least for low values (<200 W, the blue zone). It
turbulence, in a flow where the Reynolds number is not would have been interesting to plot hUS /h as a function of the
already high. A fluid flow may also be controlled without acoustic intensity (W m−2 ) or even of the volumetric power
contact (only by ultrasonic vibrations) [73]. A velocity (W m−3 ). Unfortunately, this information is not always put
reduction near the antinodes of the pressure wave was caus- forward in papers, and it is often impossible or very difficult
ed by cavitation bubbles. This effect was negligible if the flow to calculate it precisely afterwards. That is why in the future,
velocity was too high because bubbles were carried down- it would be interesting and necessary to find a common term
stream. to compare studies between them (as it is already possible
The influence of the fluid characteristics has also some with frequency). However, for the moment it can be assumed
importance, as shown in [74] where convective heat transfer that the sizes of most systems investigated in the literature are
enhancement by ultrasound was analysed into acetone, at the laboratory scale (few dozens of centimetres in length).
12 6% 15%
16 15
29%
8%
10
8
hUS /h
6 65
66
38
71
42%
4
67
84 45
85
51
2 83 Melting and Numerical studies
82
solidification Heat exchangers
0 Boiling
0 200 400 600 800 Convection
Ultrasonic power (W)
Figure 10: Percentage of studies by subject (total: 62 papers from
Figure 8: Increase in convection heat transfer coefficient versus the tables of this document).
ultrasonic power.
30 38 66 45 51
was not generated, apart from if the plate was vertical where
67
61 64
71
a small effect of acoustic streaming was detected.
25
Nomura et al. [66] measured experimentally the heat
20 transfer coefficients during natural convection on a down-
82 79 75 40 41 76 84 85 33
ward facing horizontal surface and a vertical surface. This
hUS /h
15 coefficient was periodically changed by the ultrasonic vibra-

15 16 tions according to the distance from the oscillator, but
10 81 could become more uniform when using different ultrasonic
65
5
frequencies. It also increased with the wave amplitude, as
83 reported in [8, 70]. The distance between the transducer and
0 the device to cool has a great importance [76]. It must be
10 100 1000 a multiple of the half wavelength used to create a resonating
Frequency (kHz) medium, in order to obtain more elevated acoustic streaming
velocities and higher heat transfer coefficients. It is also
Figure 9: Influence of frequency on the increase of convection heat
apparently possible to create acoustic streaming behind
transfer coefficient.
a wall, for instance to cool the internal components of
a system from the outside [67]. In [16], a horn-type
transducer produced vibrations to study cooling techniques
So the plotting as a function of the total power can give a by natural convection in tap and degassed water. A con-
first good approximation. By the way, the 3 points outside vection coefficient up to 10 times higher with ultrasonic
the blue zone on Figure 8 probably correspond to references vibrations than without was calculated and different regions
where the acoustic intensity and/or the volumetric power where the enhancement was more or less pronounced were
were very different from those in the blue zone. observed.
Concerning Figure 9 and the effect of frequency, it is An interesting and original use of power ultrasound is
more difficult to find a tendency. Most works reported are for wood treatment [77]. Ultrasonic waves could have a very
concentrated in a zone between 15 and 60 kHz (low freq- positive effect on the temperature increase speed in the centre
uency, power ultrasound), but the improvements do not of wood cylinders which are either air-dried or fully water-
seem to depend on the frequency. More important is pro- saturated.
bably another parameter such as the system configuration
or the ultrasonic power relative to surface or volume. An 3.3.4. Sum Up of Convection Studies. In the domain of
important point to underline is that frequencies between ultrasonically improved heat transfer, convection is the most
60 kHz and 800 kHz (high frequency ultrasound) have not studied area, as illustrated by Figure 10.
been investigated. Such frequencies would probably bring This chart was made with all references quoted in the
new interesting results. tables except Table 3 (food) because many other studies exist
in this domain and it would not have been representative
3.3.3. Influence of the Geometry of the System. An interesting (e.g., see [29, 30]). Convection covers at least half of these
experimental setup is described in [65] to examine the effect studies, and even more because it appears also in heat ex-
of irradiation angle of ultrasonic waves upon the convective changers and in phase change.
heat transfer rate from an inclined flat plate to water. The A very important point is the cause of heat transfer en-
plate was oriented downward in front of the transducer and hancement, which is very difficult to determine since many
was electrically heated. The effect of angle of inclination on phenomena appear simultaneously during propagation of
heat transfer coefficient was very low if acoustic cavitation ultrasound. Figure 11 shows a diagram with these different
Other effect Acoustic cavitation gradient. Wave and flow patterns can be predicted precisely,
(sponge effect, 40 which could be a basis of a future tool for the optimization
Acoustic
field synergy principle, 30 streaming of vibrating heat exchangers [13].
effect of pressure, . . . ) The field synergy principle is also a convincing way
20
to illustrate cavitation-enhanced heat transfer [79]. This
10
principle says that the local temperature gradient vectors
0 should be parallel to the local velocity vectors to obtain
the better convection heat transfer effect. And indeed, it
Modification of is seen on streamlines patterns and temperature gradient
bubbles behaviour Local agitation patterns that acoustic cavitation helps to reduce in many
(boiling) (oscillations) zones the intersection angle between these two vector fields.
Fouling reduction Table 5 summarizes enhancements observed by undertaking
(heat exchangers) numerical simulations.
Figure 11: Ultrasound effects held responsible for heat transfer en-
hancement.
4. Applications to Heat Exchangers
In the previous sections, examples concerned configurations
phenomena and the number of times these effects are assum- with only one fluid in thermal contact with another solid
ed to be the cause of heat (and mass) transfer enhancement. body at a different temperature. It was necessary to gain
This diagram was made from references of all the tables of a good knowledge of those basic systems before studying
this text (except the reviews), but more than one effect can more complex ones. Heat exchangers have at least two fluids
be quoted in one paper (which explains why the number of (flowing or at rest), which makes systems sometimes more
effects quoted is superior to the number of papers). tricky to study. Indeed, they are subjected to several con-
According to this statistic chart, acoustic cavitation is the straints, and ultrasonic vibrations have influence on various
predominant phenomena for heat transfer enhancement. It parameters (e.g., heat transfer, fouling, and charge losses).
is followed by acoustic streaming and by local agitation due It is, therefore, more difficult to assess the efficiency of
to oscillations. Other phenomena, such as fouling reduction, ultrasound on such systems. That is probably one of the main
hysteresis reduction, change in bubble behaviour, are side reasons why their development is quite recent. This is the
effects that could become very important when ultrasound field of research that is currently under development in our
will be used in industrial systems. laboratory.
Table 4 synthesizes improvements obtained for convec-
tion heat transfer assisted by ultrasonic waves.
4.1. Examples from the Literature. One of the first studies
3.3.5. Numerical Studies, Modelling. Numerical simulation is was carried out by Kurbanov and Melkumov in 2003 [82].
taking a more and more important place with the growing They explained comprehensively why ultrasonic vibrations
potential of computational calculation. Even if the systems are very well suited to increase performances of liquid-to-
of interest often remain quite simple (one fluid, one moving liquid heat exchangers. According to them, acoustic waves
part), the level of accuracy of computations can be very homogenize the velocity vectors of the subflows in pipes and
high [8, 9, 11, 52]. At least four equations have to be decrease the surface tension of the fluid near the boundaries.
solved when dealing with numerical problems involving The latter phenomenon is even more interesting if a thin
heat transfer and acoustic waves: continuity, momentum film of lubricant is stuck to the pipes surfaces, which usually
(Navier-Stokes), energy, and a least one for the streaming happens in refrigeration systems. This thin film induces a
forces (from Nyborg’s theory [78]). If acoustic cavitation is thermal resistance and its removal is very interesting for
modelled, equations must be solved for the two fluid phases performances improvement.
(liquid, vapour). Vibration is usually represented by a mov- Cooling of sonochemical reactors by cold water flowing
ing boundary and a dynamic mesh modelling (e.g., [52]) or into a coil, as presented in Figure 12, was experimentally
by a sound field distribution inside the liquid (e.g., [79]). and analytically analysed [83]. The cooling time of a
A numerical model of acoustic streaming between two certain amount of water, stored in the chemical reactor, was
parallel beams separated by an air gap between 0.1 and 2 mm compared with and without high-frequency ultrasonic vibra-
wide is proposed in [80]. The Nusselt number is increased tions. The convection coefficient was enhanced between 135
only by 1% under constant heat flux conditions and by 0.5% and 204% in the presence of acoustic waves, reducing effecti-
under heat source condition. The initial purpose was to study vely the cooling time. Observed improvement was explained
the feasibility of cooling computer chips in laptops. The 2D in terms of overall agitation due to the combined effects of
simulation described in [81] showed that a standing waves local mixing (acoustic cavitation) and global fluid motion
pattern was necessary to obtain an increase in heat transfer. within the reactor (acoustic streaming).
The reason for heat transfer enhancement invoked in [52] A shell-and-tube configuration for a fluid-to-fluid
is fluid mixing by ultrasonic vibrations that provided fresh vibrating heat exchanger was built and studied [84, 85]. This
water to the heat transfer surface, increasing the temperature system is presented in Figure 13.
Table 4: Ultrasonic waves and convection heat transfer improvements.

obtained
Review article, heat transfer
Bergles [63]
enhancement
Experimental, natural
Heat flux from cylinder: 132 W m−2 ,
convection, acoustic cavitation,
Cai et al. [71] 18 kHz, 0–250 W ultrasonic intensity: 80 W cm−2 ,
circular heated copper tube in
enhancement up to 360%.
water, brine and sugar water
Acoustic streaming, convection 800 Hz–4800 Hz
Fand and Kave [7] 3-fold increase in heat transfer rate
heat transfer, heated cylinder (no ultrasound)
Acoustic streaming, convection
Gould [70] between metal and water or ? Up to 10-fold increase
glycerin-water mixtures
Experimental investigation, hot
Local coefficient hUS /h ≈ 1.3 at
and cold cylinders, vertical
Hoshino and Yukawa [41] 28 kHz, 0.1–0.215 W cm−2 0.125 W cm−2 , maximum at
standing waves, local and global
antinode and minimum at node
coefficients in degassed water
Local coefficient hUS /h ≈ 1.25 at
Free convective heat transfer 0.24 W cm−2 acoustic intensity,
Hoshino et al. [40] 28 kHz
from a heated wire maximum at antinode and
minimum at node
Experiments and CFD
simulations of acoustic
Temperature drop of 40◦ C in 4 min,
Hyun et al. [8] streaming induced by flexural 28.4 kHz
h up to 157 W m−2 K−1
vibrations of a beam, cooling of a
stationary beam above
Experimental, natural convection
heat transfer from a fine cylinder
Augmentation ratio around 1.6
Iida et al. [39] to water, comparison convection 28 kHz
when ΔP > 0.02 MPa
coefficient and sound pressure
profiles
NuUS /Nu ≈ 2.25 at 17.2 kHz, no gas
Standing and travelling sound
Komarov and Hirasawa [64] 0.3–17.2 kHz flow and preheated wire
waves in tubes, platinum wire
temperature ∼675 K
Experimental study, saturated
and air-dried wood cylinders
Significant influence of ultrasound
heated in a water bath at 59.8◦ C 50–55 kHz,
Lam et al. [77] on the temperature increase at the
with and without ultrasound. commercial cleaner
centre of cylinders
Temperature recorded at the
centre of the cylinders
Acoustic streaming around a Increase in Nusselt number up to
20–1000 kHz,
Larson [62] sphere within a cylinder, about 4 times, but not sufficient to
up to 6 W cm−2
cavitation, toluene, and water warrant the technology
Acoustic streaming in a gap
Heat transfer rate increased up to
Lee and Loh [76] between heat source and 30 kHz
75%
transducer
Acoustic cavitation into CO2 Up to 369.5% turbulence intensity
Lee and Choi [72] 138 W
saturated water enhancement
Experiments and simulations
(CFX4), flexural vibrations of a
Temperature drop of 40◦ C in 4 min,
Loh et al. [9] beam, acoustic streaming in air 28.4 kHz
streaming velocity up to 2 m s−1
above (open) to cool a fixed
beam
Flowing molten metal
Heat transfer coefficient as much as
Markov et al. [75] (∼1520◦ C) in a water-cooled 20 kHz
doubled
tube
Experimental and computational
Maximum streaming velocity
results (CFX4), 4 vibrators to
Nakagawa [11] 1 MHz measured: 0.07 m s−1 , jet position
control acoustic streaming in a
modified
vessel containing silicon oil
Table 4: Continued.
obtained
Experiments, cylindrical glass With glass beads, at saturation
Nakayama and Kano [38] vessel, distilled water, with or 20 kHz, 0–140 W pressure 13.3 kPa, h increased up to
without glass beads 4 times
Cooling a narrow surface, Acoustic streaming at 0.4 m s−1 , h
acoustic streaming and cavitation predicted with forced convection
Nomura and Nakagawa [15] 40 kHz, 600 W
effects separated, water tank, equations. Cavitation: h increased
experimental investigations up to about 10 times
Downward facing surface,
Up to 10-fold increase in heat
ultrasound from below,
Nomura et al. [16] 60.7 kHz, 5–20 W transfer coefficient, tap and
experimental, cavitation, and
degassed water
acoustic streaming
Turbulence intensity measured Turbulence intensity 3 times larger
Nomura et al. [26] experimentally, square channel, 25 kHz, 0–50 W with ultrasonic vibrations and up to
transducer at the bottom 5 times locally
Effect of ultrasonic frequency on 28 kHz (110 W),
Around 2 or 3 times average
Nomura et al. [66] downward facing and vertical 45 kHz (210 W),
increase in h
surface 100 kHz (25 W)
Experimental, natural
Up to 3 times with acrylic plate at
convection, obstacle in front of a
Nomura et al. [67] 60.7 kHz, 5–20 W 20 W, obstruction plates placed near
heating surface (different
the horn tip
materials), acoustic streaming
Horizontal heated cylinder, 710 and 1470 Hz Local changes of boundary layer
Richardson [69] horizontal and vertical sound (no ultrasound), thickness and heat transfer
fields, shadowgraphs 120–140 dB enhancement
Experimental, gas vessel (air
Heat transfer enhancement up to 25
argon helium), resonant acoustic
Uhlenwinkel et al. [61] 10 and 20 kHz times at ambient pressure at about
field, distance between
0.9 MPa and 20 kHz
transducers 20–200 mm
Two horizontal plates at different
200 Hz–15 kHz, 140 and Nu from 1 to 10, increase with
Vainshtein et al. [12] temperatures, acoustic streaming
145 dB frequency
in longitudinal direction
Convection coefficient increased
Yukawa et al. [65] Inclined copper plate in water 28 kHz, 0.1–0.48 W cm−2 6-fold at inclination 90◦ , intensity
0.48 W cm−2
Maximum ratio of heat transfer
Horizontal copper tube in water,
enhancement: 3.95 with acetone,
Zhou et al. [74] acetone and ethanol, ?
maximum source intensity, and
experimental study
close sound distance
The ratio between the overall heat transfer coefficient heat flux (and consequently elevated wall temperature).
with ultrasound and the one without ultrasound for this Indeed, ultrasound is efficient to reduce hysteresis effect [86],
shell-and-tube heat exchanger was calculated and found that is, the tendency of a system to remain in its initial state
ranging from 1.2 up to 2.6 depending on the liquid flow- in spite of the cause supposed to produce a change.
rate at the shell side [85]. The ultrasonic power had negli- Another important phenomenon resulting from ultra-
gible influence on the heat exchange rate and the overall sonic vibrations application and not described until here is
heat transfer coefficient was always higher with ultrasound surface cleaning (essentially thanks to acoustic cavitation).
than without, whatever the liquid flow rates or range of This is very important because it could be part of a solution
temperatures tested. Further investigations on the same to reduce the natural fouling process in heat exchangers. In-
system showed that higher improvements could be expected, deed, the environmental conditions in such devices make
especially for slow laminar flows in the shell. them prone to corrosion or microorganisms deposition.
They induce additional thermal resistances which prevent
4.2. Other Subsequent Advantages. As shown in [51], ultra- the system from operating in optimal conditions, adding en-
sonic vibrations could be interesting to achieve a complete vironmental and economical costs. However, one must pay
activation of nucleation sites in large evaporators with ex- attention to the powerful erosion capability of cavitation that
tended surfaces, normally reached with a sufficiently high could damage materials. Benzinger et al. [87] have studied
Table 5: Summary of numerical researches on convection increase by ultrasound.

obtained
Shallow enclosure, vibrating
After 5 ms, h/hUS ≈ 40/320 at
Aktas et al. [81] vertical side wall, acoustic 20 kHz and 25 kHz
20 kHz, ΔT = 10 K
streaming
Square enclosure—hot bottom,
natural convection, acoustic Field synergy principle analysis,
Cai et al. [79] 18 kHz
cavitation, ultrasonic beam from 25% increase in h at the centre
the centre
Heat transfer enhanced with
Gas-filled square enclosure
streaming flow velocity
Lin and Farouk [13] vibrating side-wall, top-side 20 kHz
(maximum at the middle of the
heated
bottom wall)
Acoustic streaming in a gap
1% increase in Nusselt number
(0.1–2 mm) between two 160 Hz
Wan and Kuznetsov [80] for constant heat flux case of the
horizontal beams, the lower (no ultrasound)
upper beam
vibrating
Air channel composed of two h from 0.9 to 82 W m−2 K−1 at
Wan and Kuznetsov [14] parallel beams, upper beam 21 kHz constant heat flux, decreasing
vibrating with channel width
Inlet on surfaces by application of ultrasonic vibrations [88].

Outlet of the Other examples are the synergistic properties of axially prop-
cooling water
Temperature sensor
agated ultrasound and antibiotic on the removal of biofilms
in water-filled tubes [89]. An analogous study analysed the
combined effect of ozone and ultrasonic vibrations [90]. The
result observed was that the use of ozone and ultrasound
Chemical reactor was more effective than each process alone. But optimal
parameters are sometimes difficult to find, for example,
concerning scale removal [91] with choice of temperature,
distance, and acoustic intensity.
Influence of ultrasound on pressure drop, or charge loss-
Piezoelectric transmitter Ultrasonic generator es, also seems to be positive although very few studies deal
with this subject [26, 82, 92].
Table 6 sums up the different examples of vibrating heat
exchangers and of positive effects of ultrasound on these
Figure 12: Ultrasonically assisted cooling of a chemical reactor. systems encountered in the research literature.
4.3. Patented Devices. Assessments of all these advantages in

academic research literature are rare. Nevertheless, several
systems (setups) regarding vibrating heat exchangers have
Piezoelectric transmitter
been recently patented [93–104]. Almost all of them claim
Cold water flow Hot water flow energy consumption savings either by a fouling reduction
(or cleaning effectiveness) [93–97] or an improvement of
the heat exchange efficiency, and sometimes both of them.
Vibrating structure These patents may involve different types of structures such
as shell and tube heat exchangers [94, 95, 98, 99], water
Figure 13: Schematic diagram of the vibrating shell and tube heat tank and heating coil (batch configuration like in Figure 12)
exchanger.
[100], or various heat exchanger devices with applications
in chemical engineering (reducing reaction time [101],
increasing defrosting speed [102], cryogenic applications
the effect of ultrasound on a microstructured heat exchanger [103], and steelmaking applications [104]).
to avoid fouling. Their results are very promising because the
convection heat transfer coefficient increases almost up to the 5. Conclusion
initial value after an ultrasonic pulsation cycle. Biofouling
control is a possible application of ultrasound, that is, the Ultrasound has gained a growing interest from industry
prevention of microorganism growth (algae, fungi, bacteria) during the last decades, resulting in the development of
Table 6: Review of vibrating structures for heat exchangers and their advantages.

obtained
Pulses of 1 min to break the
Microstructured heat exchanger,
Benzinger et al. [87] 20 kHz, 35 W fouling layer but fouling speed
antifouling investigations
increased
Ozone + ultrasound to clean heat 2357.8 kW m−2 , 3 × 1 min
Bott and Tianqing [90] exchangers, axially propagated 20 kHz, 2357.8 kW m−2 pulse/day, up to 70% reduction
ultrasound in biofilm thickness
Control of biofilm formation or 88% reduction of biofilm growth
Bott [88] biofilm removing in heat 20 kHz with 10 treatments/day, 3 × 30 s
exchangers at 40% amplitude
Vibrating shell-and-tube heat
Overall heat transfer coefficient
Gondrexon et al. [85] exchanger, experimental 35 kHz, 80 W
increased up to 257%
investigation
Heat exchanger-type for heating 27% increase in h but other
Kurbanov and Melkumov [82] 3 and 16 kHz
and refrigeration major advantages
Larger acoustic intensity is better
Effects of various parameters on for scale removal.
antiscale and scale removal. 14–20 kHz; 40◦ C best for antiscale, 50◦ C for
Li et al. [91]
Sedimentary speed and scale 0–250 W scale removal. Better effect for
inhibition rate analysed small distances to the ultrasonic
transducer
Cooling of chemical reactor
800 kHz; 1.6 MHz; 20 kHz; Max hUS /h ∼ 2.04 at 800 kHz,
Monnot et al. [83] (2.9 L), experimental and
0–109 W 57.6 W
modelling
95.3% of biofilm removed by
Experimental investigation, glass
20–350 kHz, 2 × 30 s treatment at 20 kHz in
Mott et al. [89] tubes filled with water, standing
35–45 W 7 cm tubes, 87.5% at 3 × 30 s in
waves
50 cm tubes
Shell and tube heat exchanger, Overall heat transfer coefficient
Tisseau et al. [84] 35 kHz, variable power
experimental investigation increase up to 250%
several specific applications. Ultrasonic waves appear as an improve overall performances regarding heat transfer and/or
interesting way to improve processes productivity especially fouling.
to overcome transfer limitations. For what concerns heat Although very promising results are reported, the scale-
transfer, ultrasound can also be regarded as a possible tech- up of the ultrasonic technology to pilot or industrial scale
nical solution for heat exchange enhancement. Hence, a heat exchangers has not been yet deeply investigated. Only
lot of publications dealing with fundamental studies can few references are available in the literature, illustrating the
be found in the literature. But most of these works are
difficulties to meet such a technological challenge. It is then
performed at the laboratory scale involving academic set-
expected that the combined efforts of acousticians, chemical
ups and usually using classical low frequency ultrasound.
Well-known ultrasonicallyinduced effects such as acoustic and mechanical engineers will also help to design a new type
cavitation, acoustic streaming, and fluid particles oscillations of “vibrating” heat exchangers. It might, therefore, result in
are responsible for heat transfer improvement observed. It is improved performances as well as antifouling action in the
also very important to note here that it is very difficult to dis- near future.
tinguish the influence of these effects since they often occur
simultaneously. One might therefore consider the positive
influence of ultrasound as an overall effect. As detailed in Nomenclature
this paper, influence of ultrasound on convection remains the
major subject of interest. Local heat transfer coefficient was Latin/Greek Symbols
shown to be multiplied between 2 and 5 times in the presence
of an ultrasonic field. Phase change heat transfer also covers a h: Convection heat transfer coefficient W m−2 K−1
great number of studies that demonstrate the beneficial effect Nu: Nusselt number
of ultrasound on boiling as well as melting or solidification. P: Power W
A more recent and scarce research field that focuses on heat T: Temperature K or ◦ C
exchangers has shown that the use of ultrasonic waves can ΔT: Temperature difference K
Acronyms/Subscripts [16] S. Nomura, A. Yamamoto, and K. Murakami, “Ultrasonic

heat transfer enhancement using a horn-type transducer,”
CHF: Critical heat flux Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 41, no. 5, pp. 3217–
CFD: Computational fluid dynamics 3222, 2002.
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22, no. 4, pp. 167–173, 1984.
[18] E. A. Neppiras, “Acoustic cavitation series: part one. Acoustic
Acknowledgment cavitation: an introduction,” Ultrasonics, vol. 22, no. 1, pp.
25–28, 1984.
This work was supported by the association Instituts Carnot, [19] S. Nomura, K. Murakami, and Y. Sasaki, “Streaming induced
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Applied Physics, vol. 39, no. 6, pp. 3636–3640, 2000.
[20] S. W. Wong and W. Y. Chon, “Effects of ultrasonic vibrations
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Hindawi Publishing Corporation

International Journal of Chemical Engineering

Mathieu Legay,1 Nicolas Gondrexon,1, 2 Stéphane Le Person,3

BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

Correspondence should be addressed to Nicolas Gondrexon, nicolas.gondrexon@ujf-grenoble.fr

Received 30 March 2011; Revised 19 July 2011; Accepted 20 July 2011

Academic Editor: Mostafa Barigou

1. Introduction The objectives of this paper are to provide scientific and

phenomena resulting from propagation of ultrasound into

since their discovery, and even though research is still ongo-

Figure 1: Utilizations of ultrasound according to frequency and

Heating Acoustic cavitation Acoustic streaming Nebulization

Figure 2: Four eﬀects resulting from ultrasound propagation in a liquid.

Laminar fluid Fluid flow (T1 )

Wall (T2 ) Wall (T2 )

Figure 4: Explanation of heat transfer enhancement by acoustic cavitation.

50 cavitation intensity, they measured the mass loss rate of a

45 15 µm thick aluminium foil. Microjets induced by cavitation

Fluid tank (T1 ) Fluid tank (T1 ) Fluid tank (T1 )

Nucleate boiling Enhancement of Delaying film boiling

Heating Vibrating Vibrating

Figure 6: Enhancement of boiling heat transfer by ultrasonic vibrations.

Table 1: Various uses of ultrasound to promote phase change heat transfer.

Best and/or interesting result

Conventional drying Hot air (T2 ) Good impedance matching:

Table 2: Summary table of boiling heat transfer studies.

Frequency, power, Best and/or interesting result

Table 3: Reported uses of ultrasound in food industry.

Best and/or interesting result

15 coeﬃcient was periodically changed by the ultrasonic vibra-

Table 4: Ultrasonic waves and convection heat transfer improvements.

Best and/or interesting result

Table 5: Summary of numerical researches on convection increase by ultrasound.

Best and/or interesting result

Inlet on surfaces by application of ultrasonic vibrations [88].

4.3. Patented Devices. Assessments of all these advantages in

Best and/or interesting result

Acronyms/Subscripts [16] S. Nomura, A. Yamamoto, and K. Murakami, “Ultrasonic

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