Method for sonic cleaning of reactor with reduced acoustic wave cancellation

A method for determining a position, and operating parameters, of each sonic source of a set of sonic sources to be used for sonically cleaning a surface of a reactor, said method including the steps of:

• (a) determining a total number, N, of sonic sources in the set, and a position relative to the reactor of each sonic source in the set;
• and
• (b) determining operating parameters of each sonic source of the set in accordance with the criterion:
• ∯
• ∑
• i
• =
• 1
• N
• -
• 1
• ⁢
• ∑
• j
• =
• 2
• N
• ⁢
• F
• ⁡
• (
• D
• ij
• )
• ⁢
• ⅆ
• S
• =
• minimum
• ,
• (
• i
• ≠
• j
• )
• where the integration is over the surface at a time when at least one of the sources operates to emit acoustic radiation, and F(Dij) is defined as
• F(Dij)=1, if Dij=(2m+½)W, and both the ith source and the jth source are operating, and
• F(Dij)=0, if Dij≠(2m+½)W, or either the ith source or the jth source is shut off,
• where m is a non-negative integer, acoustic waves emitted by the ith source and the jth source have wavelengths in a narrow range during cleaning of the surface, W is the wavelength of at least one acoustic wave emitted by at least one of the ith source and the jth source, and
• Dij=|di−dj|(i≠j)
• where di and dj are the distances from a spot to be cleaned on the surface to the ith and jth sonic source respectively.