Commissioning of an acoustic levitator

This thesis is written as a requirement of the “Mechanical Engineering” Bachelor program at Vietnamese-German University. It reports the content of my working progress during the last exchange semester of the program at RUHR University, Bochum and Fraunhofer UMSICHT.
Liquid thermophysical characteristics are critical in a variety of scientific research and industrial applications for exact knowledge of these qualities is required for design and a better understanding of technological procedures. Therefore, there is a need to investigate these properties. Determination of density, interfacial tension and viscosity under ambient pressure has available through several methods. However, to investigate these properties, previous methods require contact with sample, which consumes time or requires a certain amount of experimental substance. Additionally, data for these properties under high pressure is lacking. A method can be applied to provide contactless investigation of liquid drop under pressure is acoustic levitation. The aim is to commission an acoustic levitator to measure density, interfacial tension, and viscosity of liquids. First, the basic principle of acoustic levitation needed to understand the setup is explained. Then, recent developments of properties measurement using acoustic levitation is review. Next, the high-pressure acoustic levitator plant and its function is described. The limitations and restrictions of the setup is pointed out. Afterwards, methods and procedures for density, interfacial tension and viscosity are presented. Finally, the measurement of these properties is conducted, and the results are presented and discussed.