Hey everyone,
I am new to the forum and to this branch of science, so bear with me, and all help and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
My goal is to design a circuit that controls an ultrasonic nebulizer, similar to the ones that are inside of ultrasonic humidifiers, to generate cool mist. The power source I will be using is 24vdc. Does anyone have any idea where I should start on this project?
thanks,
mcwoods

 

How do you want to control it? To turn on at a certain time of the day ? For a certain amount of time ? Or multiple times a day? Or driven by a thermostat? Or when the dog barks ? Or at sunset ?...

 

haha no i would like it to be manually controlled by an on/off switch. it would be an added bonus if there was a variable control for intensity (volume?) that did not affect the operating frequency

 

Since nebulizers are pretty cheap (especially at a second-hand store), one approach would be to take one apart and see how they designed it. A lot can be learned this way, but of course you may not have access to any of the custom components.

 

Hi.

A plain switch will turn it on and off at will. A variable control may not work well enough as the oscillator for the nebulizer piezoelement has to run at a specific ~1.8MHz frequency and changing the input voltage may, or may not affect its frequency/ performance.

When you have it working IF you plan to safely experiment turning gasoline into fog, let me know. Did not work for me.

 

for anyone interested and following this thread, i was referred to this part and manufacturer, who makes something similar to what I was looking for. A link is posted to a drawing, which includes mfg. and part no.

http://www.steminc.com/piezo/PZ_SpecSheet.asp?PZ_SM_MODEL=SMUTK2500RS112

thanks