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Making an Acoustic Levitator- The Build

Oh!! Back for more nerdy stuff????
So, in my previous post I explained how to levitate a particle using sound or "Acoustics" ,because it sounds way cooler..... Now while my explanation was really basic you now know the foundation of the workings of this device..(kinda..) ......
😝😝😝😝😝😝😝😝😝😝
Let me get to the point where I explain how I built it......
This is the basic block diagram of my levitator.....

TRANSDUCERS:
A transducer is just a fancy word for speakers and I admit it sounds really nerdy so I'll use that....
For transducers I needed ultrasonic transducers (so we don't hear the sound) and the best source for that were these ultrasonic distance sensors.
These, firstly, are really easy to get hold of. Secondly, are very cheap (about Rs.80 a piece), so I bought 10 of these.
Now, as in the image there are 2 metal cylindrical thingys that look like Wall-E's eyes.... under each eye there are labels 'T' and 'R'. 'T' is for transmitter and we need that....so I desoldered the transmitter from each of the sensors and marked the polarity of each transducer using an oscilloscope.

My idea was to use multiple transducers in an array to increase the strength of my levitator. But, before that let me explain the array arrangement.
There are various configurations in which we can arrange multiple transducers.
The first way is to place them onto a concave surface and focus the waves at the same point.
While this idea is really great and quite common among many other hobbyists making a similar levitator. I personally couldn't do it simply because I couldn't build the concave surfaces. Such stuff requires expertise in CAD which isn't a part of my skill sets as of now. Secondly, it requires a 3D printer, which I don't have. So I had to take a different approach.


Instead of a concave surface I went with a flat surface and reversed the polarity of the central transducer. so I achieve similar results.
pretty neat huh????....
And here is a simulation of my arrangement I found online. someday I'll learn to make simulations too....
So, now that the design was clear I went ahead and soldered each transducer to a "Proto-Board" or "Perf-Board" or "Zero-PCB" what ever you want to call it...Made sure I got the polarity right and I also added a small female connector to connect hookup wire later. Came out pretty neat I guess.

SIGNAL SOURCE:
As also done by others I too went with a 40kHz square wave generated using an Arduino UNO. After trying and failing many times I decided to use the code of another levitator project online called "TinyLev" by Asier Marzo Perez on Instructables.

POWER AMPLIFIER:
To drive the two transducer arrays I went with this 298N driver.
I used some aluminium 'C' channels and pieces of plywood to make this simple stand to hold the transducer arrays. the top piece can slide around to change the distance between the two arrays.
Also I decided to hold the arrays with just a couple rubber bands, nothing really fancy.
I followed this circuit to make my connections.
For the 12V DC supply I went with a really cheap SMPS unit.
The code has provisions to control the phase of the arrays in order to move the floating particle (Styrofoam ball in this case) UP or DOWN along the vertical axis using 3 momentary switches.

 


So, I guess that rounds up the project!!! Stay tuned for more!!!
Got any queries??? 
E-Mail me at: shashwath.sundar@gmail.com

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