Extremely Fast and Efficient Direct Contact Ultrasonic Drying for Roll to Roll Manufacturing

This project has a very focused goal of developing direct contact ultrasonic dryer modules that can be retrofitted in a roll to roll manufacturing drying process. The proposed technology can create new paradigms shift in industrial drying technology which directly addresses one of the key ARPA-E mission areas in “advancing non-evaporative dehydration and drying technologies.” Invented in 2015 at ORNL and exclusively licensed by UTS in 2018, direct contact ultrasonic drying is a novel non-evaporative dewatering process which does not use any heat and therefore makes an ideal technology to significantly lower the energy required for industrial drying process. The technology mechanically removes water by shaking the object rapidly, on the micron scale, using piezoelectric transducers. Water is mechanically removed in the form of cold mist. By separating water mechanically without evaporation, the technology demonstrated 5X higher efficiency and 2-3X faster drying rate on a typical textile samples. The proposed ARPA-E funding enables Ultrasonic Technology Solutions (UTS) to develop and demonstrate a proof of concept prototype enabling to expand the application of the technology from batch process into continuous process, enabling easy integration of the technology into roll to roll manufacturing production lines. When successful, the direct contact ultrasonic dryer compatible with the roll to roll manufacturing will have enormous applications in textile, pulp and paper, chemical, carbon fiber and food and dehydration industries. The efforts under this project mainly focuses on the textile application and design associated with this industry segment.