US Patent 10018113 Ultrasonic cleaning system and method

A cleaning system and method use an ultrasound probe, a coupling mechanism, and a controller to clean equipment of a vehicle system. The ultrasound probe enters into an engine. The ultrasound probe emits ultrasound pulses and the coupling mechanism provides an ultrasound coupling medium between the ultrasound probe and one or more components of the engine. The controller drives the ultrasound probe to deliver the ultrasound pulse through the coupling medium to a surface of the one or more components of the engine. The ultrasound probe delivers the ultrasound pulse to remove deposits from the one or more components of the engine.