FR3127874A1 - Modular hemispherical ultrasound probe - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to an ultrasonic probe (1) comprising a body with a hemispherical emission/reception interface (6) covered with ultrasonic transducers (8) configured to emit ultrasonic waves into an internal hemispherical cavity (4), characterized in that that the body of the probe (2) comprises at least six modules (10) carrying the ultrasonic transducers (8), each module (10) corresponding to a partition of the same area of a hemispherical surface, and defining a spherical quadrilateral on said hemispherical surface. Figure for the abstract: figure 1b

Description

Modular hemispherical ultrasound probe

The present invention relates to the field of ultrasound transducers. More specifically, the invention relates to a hemispherical ultrasound probe defining an internal hemispherical cavity in which ultrasound transducers are configured to emit and/or receive ultrasound waves.

Certain applications require a hemispherical ultrasonic probe capable of carrying out the inspection or ultrasonic treatment of an object placed in the internal hemispherical cavity of the ultrasonic probe. This is particularly the case for medical imaging or therapeutic applications, in which the placed object is for example a breast or the top of a head. The hemispherical shape makes it possible in particular to use a large number of transducers simultaneously (up to several thousand) forming a large emission surface, making it possible to obtain high power and/or the widest possible angular coverage, making it possible to to obtain a larger imaged surface or an image obtained with higher resolution or better quality (with less artifacts).

Such a hemispherical ultrasonic probe must therefore have a large size since it must accommodate the object to be inspected in the hemispherical internal cavity that it defines, and must be capable of accommodating a large number of elements, which poses multiple constraints. First, such a probe proves to be complex to manufacture both by its size and its shape and by the need to manage the interconnections between the numerous transducers and the signal processing means. Any manufacturing or operating defect in a small part of the hemispherical ultrasonic probe may make it impossible to use it. Since the transducers are arranged on a hemispherical transmission/reception interface facing the internal hemispherical cavity, it is very difficult to intervene on an ultrasonic transducer to correct a defect or replace it in the event of failure.

There is therefore a need for a hemispherical ultrasonic probe which is easy to manufacture and easy to repair.

Presentation of the invention

The object of the invention is to remedy these drawbacks at least in part and preferably to all of them, and thus proposes an ultrasonic probe comprising a body with a hemispherical emission/reception interface covered with ultrasonic transducers configured to emit ultrasonic waves in a internal hemispherical cavity, characterized in that the body of the probe comprises at least six modules carrying the ultrasonic transducers, each module corresponding to a partition of the same area of a hemispherical surface, and defining a spherical quadrilateral on said hemispherical surface.

The modular aspect of the ultrasonic probe greatly facilitates its manufacture and maintenance. For example, it is possible to replace only one module in the event of a failure. The partitioning of the hemispherical surface by a spherical quadrilateral makes it possible to ensure the preservation of the hemispherical shape of the ultrasonic probe while making it possible to have modules whose shape allows easy assembly without introducing any fragility or manufacturing difficulties.

The ultrasonic probe is advantageously completed by the following characteristics, taken alone or in any of their technically possible combinations:
- the modules are identical at least in terms of shape;
- each vertex of a spherical quadrilateral of a module is adjacent to less than four vertices of spherical quadrilaterals of other modules;
- the edges of the quadrilateral of each module are great circle arcs of the hemispherical surface;
- the modules partition the hemispherical surface according to arcs of great circles obtained by rotation of 45° along three perpendicular axes in a frame centered on the center of the edge of the hemispherical surface;
- the body of the ultrasonic probe comprises exactly 6 modules or 12 modules;
- the ultrasonic transducers of a module each define a spherical quadrilateral on the hemispherical surface, the edges of the quadrilateral of each ultrasonic transducer being great circle arcs of the hemispherical surface;
- each module comprises a transmission/reception face forming part of the hemispherical transmission/reception interface, and the ultrasonic transducers are distributed on said transmission/reception face according to a network organized according to a plurality of arcs of first great circles and arcs of second great circles of the hemispherical transmit/receive interface, the first great circles passing through a first common point, the second great circles passing through a second common point, the first and the second point common being separated by a quadrant from the hemispherical transmit/receive interface;
- the first large circles have a regular angular spacing between them, and/or the second large circles have a regular angular spacing between them, or in which the columns of ultrasonic transducers have the same area and/or the rows of ultrasonic transducers have a same area;
- the body further comprises a frame on which the modules are mounted, and/or each module comprises a mounting structure capable of being assembled with mounting structures of other modules.

Presentation of figures

The invention will be better understood, thanks to the description below, which relates to embodiments and variants according to the present invention, given by way of non-limiting examples and explained with reference to the appended diagrammatic drawings, in which :

there is a top three-quarter perspective assembly view showing the body of an ultrasound probe according to one possible embodiment of the invention;

there is a bottom three-quarter perspective assembly view showing the body of an ultrasound probe according to one possible embodiment of the invention;

there is an exploded view of the body of an ultrasound probe with 12 ultrasound modules according to a possible embodiment of the invention;

there is an exploded view of the body of an ultrasound probe with 6 ultrasound modules according to a possible embodiment of the invention;

there is a top view of an example of partitioning of a hemispherical surface into modules of a body of an ultrasonic probe according to a possible embodiment of the invention, showing the arcs of great circles involved in said partitioning;

there is a side view of the example of the ;

there is a bottom three-quarter perspective overall view showing the body of an ultrasound probe with a random distribution of the ultrasound transducers on each module, according to a possible embodiment of the invention;

there shows a principle of distribution of ultrasonic transducers on the part of the hemispherical transmission/reception interface of an example of an ultrasonic probe according to a possible embodiment of the invention.

Claims (10)

Ultrasonic probe (1) comprising a body with a hemispherical emission/reception interface (6) covered with ultrasonic transducers (8) configured to emit ultrasonic waves into an internal hemispherical cavity (4), characterized in that the body of the probe (2) comprises at least six modules (10) carrying the ultrasonic transducers (8), each module (10) corresponding to a partition of the same area of a hemispherical surface (12), and defining a spherical quadrilateral on said hemispherical surface (12). Ultrasound probe according to claim 1, wherein the modules (10) are identical at least in shape. An ultrasound probe according to any preceding claim, wherein each vertex of a spherical quadrilateral of one module (10) is adjacent to less than four vertices of spherical quadrilaterals of other modules (10). An ultrasound probe according to any preceding claim, wherein the edges of the quadrilateral of each module (10) are great circle arcs of the hemispherical surface (12). Ultrasonic probe according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the modules (10) partition the hemispherical surface according to arcs of great circles obtained by rotation of 45° along three perpendicular axes in a frame centered on the center of the edge of the surface hemispherical (12). Ultrasound probe according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the body (2) of the ultrasound probe (1) comprises exactly 6 modules or 12 modules (10). An ultrasound probe according to any preceding claim, wherein the ultrasound transducers of a module (10) each define a spherical quadrangle on the hemispherical surface (12), the edges of the quadrangle of each ultrasound transducer being arcs of a great circle of the hemispherical surface (12). Ultrasonic probe according to any one of the preceding claims, in which each module (10) comprises a transmitting/receiving face forming part of the hemispherical transmitting/receiving interface (6), and the ultrasonic transducers (8) are distributed on said transmit/receive face according to a network organized according to a plurality of arcs of first great circles (24) and arcs of second great circles (26) of the hemispherical transmit/receive interface (6 ), the first great circles passing through a first common point (A), the second great circles passing through a second common point (B), the first and the second common point being separated by a quarter circle of the interface of hemispherical transmission/reception (6). Ultrasonic probe according to the preceding claim, in which the first large circles (24) have a regular angular spacing between them, and/or the second large circles (26) have a regular angular spacing between them, or in which the columns of ultrasonic transducers have the same area and/or the rows of ultrasonic transducers have the same area. Ultrasonic probe according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the body (2) further comprises a frame on which the modules (10) are mounted, and/or each module comprises a mounting structure able to be assembled with structures mounting other modules.