Tide Buzz and Glade Wisp, how do they operate?

I recently bought these two products from a local department store. Both work fabulously as described. Both claim to have some sort of ultrasonic device in it, but does anyone know exactly how these two units operate? The price of these units were bought relatively cheap, $9.99 and $1.50 CND respectively so if anything interesting or cool can be made by modifying it to be use as something other than what is marketed for would be great.

On a side note, the Tide Buzz when placed on contact with a laminate surface generates enough heat to melt the laminate. Don't ask me how I know /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I don't like the Glade Wisp. They have commercials on TV that are quite pointless and annoying. AND, they are on ALL the time!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif


How they work....have not a clue! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

pezo electric transducers is what I think they use.

I've not run across the Buzz, but the concept of the Wisp is good. The concept is good, but the product is not. Glade, in my opinion and experience makes poor deodorizing chemicals. Air Wick makes much more effective deodorizing products, and would probably make an excellent ultrasound delivered product. I've a bit of a complaint of the residual smell of the "carrier" in Air Wick, when the scent starts to diminish, but if kept refreshed, it's excellent.

Air Wick does make a little fan operated deodorizer, that has the batteries built into the refills. I wish they had a better selection of refills though.

As for the Buzz, if it's heating through ultrasound, it wouldn't be much more complicated than microwaves in concept. If you send energy into something by means of ultrasound, the sound is dampened by the material, but the energy is imparted as a result. A battery operated unit ought to be able to generate over a 100 decibels of sound. If it's ultrasound, you won't hear it, but it will still be there. If directed to a small area, that's a lot of energy focused into a small area. It's similar to laser. If you pump 100 mw of power into a laser, it's not a lot of power, except that it's concentrated into a small area. The laser can literally burn holes into something that absorbs it's wavelength. In the same way, ultrasound could literally burn into something that can absorb it's concentrated field of sound.

I have to wonder if the Wisps work anything like these:
http://www.artisticdelights.com/scalmisfoun.html
I have a couple and there's a "mist pump" in the center that uses a ceramic disk to atomize the water. Maybe the Wisp is just a scaled down model?

-AndyB

Piezo Electric Transducer... just did a google search on them and it seems this is the device used in the Tide Buzz.
I was wondering how it created the heat.. thanks for the great explanation.

There's really more involved. Heat is the measure of molecular vibratory action. The warmer something is, the more rapid and greater it's molecular movement will be. When the molecules of something resonates with the high frequency of ultrasound, it is the same thing as heating it up.

I believe that ultrasonic cleaners also work by causing cavitation via strong pressure fluctuations in the liquid film. Cavitation occurs when the local pressure in the water drops so low that the water vaporizes, forming a bubble of water vapor. These bubbles collapse with great force once the higher pressure returns. To get an idea of how strong this force can be, consider that cavitation on boat propellers can cause pitting and erosion of the steel surface.

It sort of works the way shaking out a rug does. You shake it and the dirt is knocked loose, similar thing, only on a much smaller level.