Engineers at the University of Bristol in the UK have published a rough guide to building a simple levitation chamber that uses sound waves to suspend objects.
A paper published in the Review of Scientific Instruments this month shows how it can be done within the confines of your own home lab.
Using a 3D printer, commercial ultrasonic transducers, some amplifier circuits, a 20V supply, and a simple microcontroller kit or Arduino board, the levitator can be built, emitting 40kHz waves on a single axis.
FIG. 1.
27 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Floating Ants and Drops of Liquid with an Acoustic Levitator
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/24/floating-ants-and-drops-of-liquid-with-an-acoustic-levitator/
Amuse your friends, amaze your enemies, and perplex ants and other insects, insofar as they are capable of perplexment. Accomplish all this and more with this handy dandy homebrew acoustic levitator.
Before anyone gets to thinking about using this technique to build a hoverboard that actually hovers, it’s best that you scale your expectations way, way down. Still, being able to float drops of liquid and small life forms is no mean feat, and looks like a ton of fun to boot.
Acoustic Levitator
http://www.instructables.com/id/Acoustic-Levitator/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hovering Questions About Magnetic Levitation
https://hackaday.com/2017/10/08/hovering-questions-about-magnetic-levitation/
Who doesn’t love magnets? They’re functional, mysterious, and at the heart of nearly every electric motor. They can make objects appear to defy gravity or move on their own. If you’re like us, when you first started grappling with the refrigerator magnets, you tried to make one hover motionlessly over another. We tried to position one magnet over another by pitting their repellent forces against each other but [K&J Magnetics] explains why this will never work and how levitation can be done with electromagnets
A magnet levitating in mid-air is strong enough to hold up this apple!
http://www.kjmagnetics.com/blog.asp?p=electromagnetic-levitation
Can a magnet levitate or float above another magnet? Why not – it seems like it should work!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Following her recent visit to the University of Bristol, YouTuber, Dianna Cowern was inspired to make a video about building her own Bristol-designed DIY levitator for her hugely popular YouTube channel, Physics Girl.
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2017/december/physics-girl-diy-levitator.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ultrasonically levitate particles and liquid
https://blog.arduino.cc/2017/12/29/ultrasonically-levitate-particles-and-liquid/
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Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Make Things Float With Ultrasound
https://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/how-to-make-things-float-with-ultrasound
The US $70 kit is from Makerfabs and is based on the TinyLev design created by Asier Marzo, Adrian Barnes, and Bruce W. Drinkwater as published in last August’s Review of Scientific Instruments. (Their goal was to create an inexpensive way to examine materials using techniques like spectroscopy without worrying about contamination from a container. My goal is to be able to make something float while cackling, “Behold!”)
Acoustic Levitator
https://www.makerfabs.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=508
Use acoustic waves to hold in mid-air samples such as water, ants or tiny electric components. This technology has been previously restricted to a couple of research labs but now you can make it at your home.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Simplest Possible DIY Ultrasonic Levitator
https://hackaday.com/2018/04/23/the-simplest-possible-diy-ultrasonic-levitator/
We thought that making things levitate in mid-air by the power of sound was a little bit more like magic, or at least required fancy equipment. It turns out that you can do it yourself easily enough with parts that any decent hacker’s closet should have in abundance: a motor-driver IC, two ultrasonic distance pingers, and a microcontroller.
But aside from a few clever tricks, there’s not that much to show. The two HC-SR04 ultrasonic distance sensors are standard fare, and are just being used as a cheap source of 40 kHz transducers. The circuit uses a microcontroller, but any source of 40 kHz square waves should suffice. Those of you who could do that with a 555 (or a Raspberry Pi), this one’s for you! A stepper motor driver bumps up the voltage applied to the transducers, but you could use plain-vanilla transistors as well.
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https://www.heise.de/make/artikel/Einfacher-Ultraschall-Levitationsapparat-4022505.html&edit-text=&act=url
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using Acoustic Levitation for Applications Going Way Beyond Novelty
https://hackaday.com/2018/08/09/hackaday-belgrade-asier-marzo-explains-acoustic-levitation/
We’ve all seen acoustic levitation, it’s one of the scientific novelties of our age and a regular on the circuit of really impressive physical demonstrations of science to the public. The sight of arrays of ultrasonic speakers causing small objects and beads of liquid to float in mid-air without any suspension is magical, captivating people of all ages. Thus a lecture at Hackaday Belgrade on the subject from Asier Marzo, a research scientist with a speciality in the field of ultrasonics at the UK’s University of Bristol, was a particularly fascinating and informative one.
Tomi Engdahl says:
72 Tranducers For Acoustic Levitation
https://hackaday.com/2018/11/28/72-tranducers-for-acoustic-levitation/
Levitation has a way of arousing curiousity and wonder wherever it appears. There’s a multitude of ways to do it, each with their own strengths and weaknesses and ideal use cases. [Julius Kramer] tried his hand at acoustic levitation, and decided to share his build.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1B-AKGadJA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Behold A 3D Display, Thanks To A Speeding Foam Ball
https://hackaday.com/2019/11/19/behold-a-3d-display-thanks-to-a-speeding-foam-ball/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Levi-loop Replicates Flappy Bird with Acoustic Levitation, Could One Day Handle a Floating Pac-Man
Built around 3D-printed obstacles, an ultrasonic array, and a Leap Motion gesture-tracking controller, Levi-loop is an impressive design.
https://www.hackster.io/news/levi-loop-replicates-flappy-bird-with-acoustic-levitation-could-one-day-handle-a-floating-pac-man-92da186d4f20
Tomi Engdahl says:
INT033: Levi-loop: A Mid-Air Gesture Controlled Levitating Particle Game
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ16-PKN4PI&feature=emb_err_watch_on_yt
Tomi Engdahl says:
Levitate an objects using sounds Watch Full Tutorial here: https://youtu.be/7pX4JvmfSuw
FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/jeecodeTV
Tomi Engdahl says:
Suspend tiny particles in mid-air with this open source ultrasonic levitator.
This Beautiful Open Source Ultrasonic Levitator Is Now Available for Sale
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-beautiful-open-source-ultrasonic-levitator-is-now-available-for-sale-fa6f1c209783
You can now purchase APTechnologies’ beautiful ultrasonic levitator to experience acoustic levitation for yourself.
https://www.tindie.com/products/aptechnologies/acoustic-levitator-ultrasonic-levitation-usb/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ultrasonic Levitation
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MHgVVT8xLQI&feature=youtu.be
Acoustic levitation is a method for suspending matter in air against gravity using acoustic radiation pressure from high intensity sound waves. The basic operating principle is to set up an acoustic standing wave. Presented device is based on an acoustic transducer and a reflector. The main component of the levitator is the transducer, element that transform the electrical input signal into ultrasonic acoustic waves. In this case, this is 60W transduser with resonant frequency of 40 KHz which I bought for about 15 Dollars. Levitator is driven with a sinusoidal excitation signal to generate a standing wave between his elements; this standing wave will trap particles at its nodes.
The device generally consists of a power source, a sinusoidal signal generator with a certain frequency and an ultrasonic transducer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/02/02/building-an-ultrasonic-levitation-rig/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Make your own sonic tractor beam with Arduino!
This Acoustic Levitation Wand Will Make You Feel Like a Wizard
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-acoustic-levitation-wand-will-make-you-feel-like-a-wizard-40364341e2e5
Nothing is cooler than Redditor We-Make-Projects’ Arduino-powered sonic tractor beam!
Levitation has long been the domain of stage magicians, charlatans, and fiction, but there are technological means of achieving the same result. Aside from aircraft that could be considered to be levitating on air and boats that do the same on water, the most common examples of levitation in real world are maglev (magnetic levitation) trains. But you’ll probably never be able to build your own maglev train in your backyard. You can, however, experiment with acoustic levitation. We’ve seen a handful of notable acoustic levitators here on Hackster, but nothing is cooler than Redditor We-Make-Projects’ acoustic levitation wand that makes them a modern wizard.
https://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/comments/liyjcm/made_a_acoustic_levitator_tractor_beam_the/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The SonicSurface Can Levitate Objects with Nothing But Sound Waves
This grid of 256 ultrasonic transducers sends out pulses of high-frequency sound to move objects in the air and give haptic feedback.
https://www.hackster.io/news/the-sonicsurface-can-levitate-objects-with-nothing-but-sound-waves-aff304ed5afd
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.pcb-hero.com/blogs/lickys-column/ultrasonic-suspension-standing-wave-controller-electronic-diy-production-kit
Tomi Engdahl says:
SonicSurface: DIY ultrasonic phased array for levitation, haptics, and directive audio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAEZvYlUnEM
Do you want to build an integrated 256-channels ultrasonic array? It can be used for acoustic levitation, haptic feedback, directional audio and other cool ideas that you have in mind. We show example applications and how to assemble the array.
* Research paper: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/7/2981
* Instructables: https://www.instructables.com/SonicSurface-Phased-array-for-Levitation-Mid-air-T/
* Github: https://github.com/upnalab/SonicSurface
Tomi Engdahl says:
Turning Sound Into a Laser
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBdVfUnS-pM
Using non-linear acoustics, I’m able to focus audible sound like a laser. I go over some basic principals of operation, how I designed the circuit, and how you can build your own. Circuit Diagram
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_from_ultrasound
Tomi Engdahl says:
Levitate The NE555 Way
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/04/levitate-the-ne555-way/
Ultrasonic levitation — the practice of creating a standing wave between two ultrasonic sources and positioning lightweight objects such that they can float in the pressure minimums between them — has been a source of fascination to more than one experimenter. [Peter Lin] demonstrated this in the video below the break, by creating an ultrasonic levitation system using only the trusted chip of all true experimenters, the NE555. (Video, embedded below.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4pIJwy_ySY
Tomi Engdahl says:
SonicSurface: DIY ultrasonic phased array for levitation, haptics, and directive audio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAEZvYlUnEM
Do you want to build an integrated 256-channels ultrasonic array? It can be used for acoustic levitation, haptic feedback, directional audio and other cool ideas that you have in mind. We show example applications and how to assemble the array.
https://www.instructables.com/SonicSurface-Phased-array-for-Levitation-Mid-air-T/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mini Ultrasonic Levitation Kit Is An Exercise In Sound Minimalist Design
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/06/mini-ultrasonic-levitation-kit-is-an-exercise-in-sound-minimalist-design/
The kit itself is made using through-hole components, with an ATTiny85 as the core microcontroller to drive two TCT40-16T ultrasonic speakers, and a MAX232 drives the transducers
The whole device is powered through the USB connection, and the ultrasonic speakers output in the 40KHz range providing enough power to levitate small Styrofoam balls.
The project is, by design, an exercise in minimalism, providing a kit that can be easily assembled, and providing code that can be easily flashed onto the device, examined and modified. All the design files, including the bill of materials, KiCAD schematics, and source code are provided under an open source hardware license
https://olimex.wordpress.com/2022/10/12/ultrasound-levitation-soldering-kits-will-be-present-at-openfest-for-soldering-workshop/
https://github.com/OLIMEX/Ultra-Sound-Levitation
Tomi Engdahl says:
Compact Ultrasonic Holographs For Single Step Assembly Of Matter In 3D
https://hackaday.com/2023/02/27/compact-ultrasonic-holographs-for-single-step-assembly-of-matter-in-3d/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/06/mini-ultrasonic-levitation-kit-is-an-exercise-in-sound-minimalist-design/