The difference between industrial and consumer products is often a difference of scale. The example of ultrasonic cleaning is useful in illustrating this point. Ultrasonic cleaner manufacturers, when they’re preparing products for their customers, always assemble the same basic set of components: an ultrasonic transducer, a power supply and the basin or enclosure in which products and cleaning solution will be placed during cleaning. The difference between an industrial ultrasonic cleaning system and a consumer ultrasonic cleaner is scale. Many industrial ultrasonic cleaning systems are designed to clean large objects, and some are designed to clean large quantities of objects. Consumer cleaners are usually designed for discrete cleaning of single objects, usually of comparatively small size.

Besides the difference of scale, there are only a few things that separate industrial ultrasonic cleaners from consumer ultrasonic cleaners. One of those examples is accoutrements and secondary equipment. When industrial ultrasonic cleaners are intended for use in manufacturing, they are often assembled by manufacturers in a way that will allow them to wash a series of products in sequence, so that cleaning can take place on a near-continuous basis. The principle here is that if products can be cleaned in sequence, the production time decreases. Some of the equipment included in such ultrasonic cleaners includes conveyor belts, racks and baskets and other tools that can be used to automatically place and displace products before, during and after the cleaning process. Consumer ultrasonic cleaners are universally not equipped with such tools; they are all operated by hand unless modified by the consumer.

So, ultrasonic cleaner manufacturers are always meeting the same need with their products, whether they design them for industrial or consumer use. They’re just meeting that need in different ways, depending on their clients.