Innovative cleaning system with movable cavitation nozzle based on the hunting behaviour of the pistol shrimp

Submersion-based cleaning methods such as ultrasonic cleaning and pressure flooding are frequently used in industrial cleaning processes. Nevertheless, these approaches exhibit limitations in effectively cleaning difficult-to-reach areas, including holes and grooves, necessitating enhanced methods to improve cleaning performance in such regions. A fluid injector based on the bionic model of the pistol shrimp was developed to generate cavitation jets and it was used for industry-related experimental studies. For this purpose, spot and surface cleaning tests were carried out for flat and complex geometries with a food test model soil. In particular, the influence of the nozzle distance to the surface, the variation of the pulsation parameters and the influence of swelling on cleaning were taken into account. The results were compared with conventional ultrasonic cleaning, whereby it was shown that better cleaning and higher efficiency can be achieved by using immerged cavitation jets. A significant cleaning effect on the surface was measurable up to a nozzle distance of 20 mm. Furthermore, the cleaning time for flat test plates (100 mm x 100 mm) could be reduced by more than half compared to conventional ultrasonic cleaning. Nevertheless, it also showed that the new system is only able to clean complex geometries such as drill holes to a limited extent.