New spray jet cleaning system based on a bionic model - How can the archerfish hunting technique be utilized?

Effective cleaning systems are essential for food safety. However, the design of these systems often involves over-sized processes without considering local cleaning requirements, resulting in inefficiency. With increasing environmental protection requirements and cost reductions, the demand for adaptable, needs-based cleaning is growing. Spray cleaning relies not only on the chemical action of the cleaning medium and fluid temperature but significantly on the mechanical impact of the spray jets. Innovations that enhance impact forces while maintaining resource usage are economically promising, particularly in the low-pressure range, commonly used in food processing. The use of discontinuous spray jets, which often create shock-like conditions, can improve cleaning efficiency. Inspired by the hunting behavior of the archerfish, which shoots water jets to dislodge insects from above water surfaces, a technical system was developed in a previous project to concentrate the jet at the impact point through speed modulation, termed 'hammer-jet modulated spray jets'. The results showed a doubling of the cleaning area, an increase in impact forces of up to 2,500 % and a reduction in cleaning time of up to 35 %. However, it has been shown that the system cannot be applied for moving nozzles or cleaning objects and leads to incomplete cleaning. Therefore, further development of the system for generating jets and their modulation is necessary, especially for moving objects. Our article presents a new approach for the dynamic modulation of liquid jets for moving nozzles, shows possibilities for technical implementation and describes the procedure for development and testing.