Education, Tricks

Thank You Synthtopia. Audio is aurally levitating.

Saw this article on Synthtopia.  People who love audio already knew of its power.  Behold!

Three-Dimensional Mid-Air Acoustic Manipulation (2013,2014-)

Yoichi Ochiai (The University of Tokyo)
Takayuki Hoshi (Nagoya Institute of Technology)
Jun Rekimoto (The University of Tokyo / Sony CSL)

A pop song for science.

UPDATE: Apparently, this is quite a growing interest

The most fascinating tid bit thus far has been the history, via patents, of this type of research. As stated by the lovely compiler from reddit, heyheythroemaway, “patents are like karmadecay for science gifs.”  Does anyone have an easy way to look up these patents?  A WordPress plugin?

  • Barmatz, Martin B., System for controlled acoustic rotation of objects U. S. Patent 4393706, July 1983.
  • Lee, Mark C., Acoustic suspension system U.S. Patent 4402221, September 1983.
  • Barmatz, Martin B., Granett, Dan, Lee, Mark C., “Vibrating-chamber levitation systems” U. S. Patent 4549435, October 1985.
  • Barmatz, Martin B., Allen, James L., Granett, Dan, Gravity enhanced acoustic levitation method and apparatus. U.S. Patent 4520656, une 1985.
  • Barmatz, Martin B., Allen, James L., “Single mode levitation and translation.” U.S. Patent 4736815, April 1988.
  • Peterson, Stephen C., Brimhall, Owen D., McLaughlin, Thomas J., Baker, Charles D., Sparks, Sam L., “Methods and apparatus for moving and separating materials exhibiting different physical properties”. U.S. Patent 4759775, July 1988.
  • Barmatz, Martin B., Garrett, Steven L., Stabilization and oscillation of an acoustically levitated object. U. S. Patent 4773266, September 1988.
  • Danley, Thomas J., Rey, Charles A., “Horn loaded transducer for acoustic levitation” U.S. Patent 4841495, June 20, 1989.
  • Ohkawa, Tihiro , “Acoustically fluidized bed of fine particles”. U.S. Patent 4948497, August 1990.
  • Barmatz, Martin B., Aveni, Glenn, Putterman, Seth, Rudnick, Joseph, “Acoustic positioning and orientation prediction”. U.S. Patent 4964303, October 1990.
  • Danley, Thomas J., Merkley, Dennis R., Rey, Charles A., Naperville, IL. “Method and apparatus for acoustic levitation”. U.S. Patent 5036944, August 1991.
  • Rey, Charles A., Merkley, Dennis R. “Aero-acoustic levitation device and method” U.S. Patent 5096017, March 1992.
  • Ohkawa, Tihiro, “Plasma processing apparatus for controlling plasma constituents using neutral and plasma sound waves”. U.S. Patent 5350454, September 1994.
  • Leung, Emily W., Man, Kin F., “Plasma heating for containerless and microgravity materials processing”. U.S. Patent 5374801, December 1994.
  • Nuscheler, Reinhard, Wessner, Hans, “Closed loop control apparatus with frequency filters for controlling an air gap width in electromagnetic levitation systems”. U.S. Patent 5387851, February 1995.
  • Goforth, Robert R., Ohkawa, Tihiro. “Acoustic barrier separator”. U.S. Patent 5419877, May 1995.
  • Guign , Jacques Y., Barmatz, Martin B., Jackson, Henry W., Koptenko, Sergei V., “Acoustic beam levitation”. U.S. Patent 5500493, March 1996.