In many industries, such as health care, food preparation and electronics manufacturing, cleanliness is of the utmost importance. It's important enough that huge quantities of water are used - and left tainted - in order to remove contaminants. While some groups have concentrated on creating better cleansers, a team of scientists from the University of Southampton have taken a different approach. They've created an ultrasonic tap nozzle, that allows the water itself do a better job at cleaning. The better that a given amount of water is able to clean, the less of it that needs to be used.
Developed by Prof. Tim Leighton and Dr. Peter Birkin, the nozzle generates ultrasound and bubbles, both of which travel down the water stream and onto the surface being cleaned. There, the bubbles enter nooks and crannies in that surface, removing extra material through shear forces. A high power setting can be used on harder surfaces, while a low power setting is better suited to the washing of softer things, like hands or foodstuffs.
When compared to a conventional pressure washer, the nozzle is much more efficient. It uses just 2 liters (half a U.S. gallon) of water per minute, as opposed to the 20 liters (5.28 gallons) used by a pressure washer, and 200 watts of power as opposed to 2 kilowatts. It is also gentler on surfaces, with a stream pressure less than one-one hundredth as strong as that of a pressure washer. Additionally, it generates a lot less airborne water droplets, that can carry contaminants to other surfaces.
Because the nozzle works with cold water, energy that would otherwise go into the heating of water is also saved.
Ultrasound is of course already used to clean items, in the form of ultrasonic water baths that items are immersed in. These baths can only clean objects that are small enough to fit into them, however, and leave those objects surrounded by the contaminants that have just been removed. They also cannot be used on delicate materials.
The Southampton ultrasonic nozzle has already been licensed to partners in a number of industries. A version designed for home use could be on the way.
Manufactured guilt does not equal environmental responsibility. Greenies can have widespread support if they stay with actual concerns like disease or toxicity. These issues are real, don\'t have to be made up, and don\'t fly in the face of science like the \'water conservation\' movement.
Water\'s abundance on the planet is as limitless as its ability to clean and purify itself. It is perpetual and is reused countless times. Flushing your toilet or washing dishes with half as much may fill some with pride, but it is merely a ritual to sell greenwashed crap like this.
The fallback argument is \'...but the Third World has limited access to water!\' Which is of course solved by something called infrastructure, not \'conservation\' of our water on the other side of the globe. Duh.
I could regale you with tales of watching our reservoirs and lakes dry up and die during drought years but in the end what matters is that fresh clean water is a resource. Even if the water source were infinite it still costs money to build the water infrastructure to provide clean drinkable water, more money to purify each gallon or liter and deliver it to the consumer. This means that saving water is saving money and who couldn\'t use a little extra money?
For those of us who are lucky enough to live in wet climates, water may not be rare, but CLEAN water is. While given time, nature can clean up after our mess, we humans have not been giving nature the adequate time and space to do so.
Oh, and solving the planet's water problems with 'infrastructure' takes another precious resource - energy.
Apparently, you don\'t live in California or anywhere with a worsening water shortage. It\'s easy to think that water is a limitless resource when you live in a wet place, but a lot of places are not wet.
The reality is that, once water is salty, it\'s very, very hard to make it into something humans can consume. Just ask an Israeli or anyone in Saudi Arabia how much effort that takes.
While this may be a fantastic idea and really work wonders...it seems like it would also make a great and easy DIY project!
You must be getting paid to troll boards and talk political trash because that is one of the silliest things I have ever read.
Once we have vast abundant renewable energy, a large scale way to efficiently and cheaply desalinate and purify ocean water, than parts of what you wrote will be reasonable. Until then, learn something or troll elsewhere (whichever is proper.)
@Grunchy
It makes very small bubbles and propels them over the surface. I am not sure, but I would bet that the ultrasound is causing those bubbles to oscillate very quickly over the surface, turing them into micro-sponges.