JP2009082583A - Ultrasonic probe - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultrasonic probe capable of changing the array of a plurality of vibration units corresponding to a mechanical scanning range. <P>SOLUTION: A scanning mechanism 10 and a movable part 8 are provided inside a case 7 and the movable part 8 is provided with a first movable body 12 and a second movable body 14. Their angle interval is increased/decreased by a varying mechanism 24. The varying mechanism 24 has a slider provided over two arm members 17 and 19, and by vertically moving the slider, the angle interval of two array vibrators 20 and 22 is freely varied. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe, and more particularly to a mechanical scanning ultrasonic probe that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from a three-dimensional space in a living body.

  In the medical field, 3D probes are used to perform three-dimensional ultrasonic diagnosis. As a 3D probe, a probe provided with a 2D array transducer and a probe that mechanically scans the 1D array transducer are known. The latter 3D probe usually has one vibration part (or a movable body), which is reciprocally scanned by a scanning mechanism. As a result, a three-dimensional echo data capturing space (three-dimensional space) is formed. In order to shorten the time until one volume is acquired, that is, to increase the volume rate, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which two array transducers that are mechanically scanned by a 3D probe are provided. . That is, the volume rate is improved by dividing the three-dimensional space into a plurality of pieces and taking in data in parallel.

JP 200587637 A

  However, Patent Document 1 does not disclose a configuration for changing the arrangement of a plurality of array transducers. For example, if the same array transducer arrangement is used for the case where the mechanical scanning range is wide and the case where the mechanical scanning range is narrow, depending on the case, they cannot be fully utilized. In particular, when the mechanical scanning range is narrow, only one array transducer can be used.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic probe capable of changing the arrangement of a plurality of vibration units according to a mechanical scanning range.

  The present invention includes a probe case, a scanning mechanism disposed in the probe case, an array transducer disposed in the probe case, each forming a beam scanning plane, A plurality of movable bodies that are mechanically scanned by a scanning mechanism; and a variable mechanism that mechanically varies the arrangement of the plurality of movable bodies, and a plurality of beam scanning surfaces by changing the arrangement of the plurality of movable bodies. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe characterized in that the arrangement of the probe can be changed.

  According to the above configuration, the arrangement of the plurality of vibration units (particularly preferably, the angle between them) can be varied by the variable mechanism. Therefore, if the mechanical scanning range is large, a wide array can be set. If the mechanical scanning range is small, a narrow array can be set. The present invention can also be applied when three or more vibration units are provided. The drive source may be different for the mechanism for mechanical scanning and the mechanism for changing the arrangement, or may be common.

  Preferably, the scanning mechanism swings and scans the plurality of movable bodies around a predetermined rotation axis, and the variable mechanism varies the angle between the plurality of movable bodies. According to this configuration, when the swing scanning is performed, the assigned angle range of each movable body can be optimized. Preferably, each of the movable bodies includes a vibrating portion that houses the array transducer, and an arm member that holds the vibrating portion, and the variable mechanism includes a plurality of arm members that the plurality of movable bodies have. A slider provided between them, and an elevating mechanism that varies the angle between the plurality of arm members by elevating the slider. According to this configuration, the angle can be easily changed by the vertical movement of the slider. Further, the set angle can be reliably maintained even when high-speed mechanical scanning is performed.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a vibration unit array suitable for the mechanical scanning range. Therefore, the volume rate can be improved regardless of the size of the mechanical scanning range.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of an ultrasonic probe according to the present invention. The ultrasonic probe shown in FIG. 1 is a 3D probe that is connected to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus body and forms a three-dimensional echo data capturing space (three-dimensional space).

  The 3D probe 6 is used, for example, in contact with a biological surface. Specifically, the 3D probe 6 has a case 7, and a transmission / reception surface that is a lower surface of the case 7 is brought into contact with the living body surface. In this state, ultrasonic waves are transmitted and received. Inside the case 7, a movable part 8 and a scanning mechanism 10 are provided as shown. The movable part 8 includes a first movable body 12 and a second movable body 14. These movable bodies 12 and 14 oscillate around the rotation shaft 26. The swinging motion is performed by the scanning mechanism 10. As will be described later, the scanning mechanism 10 includes a motor and a gear mechanism as drive sources.

  The first movable body 12 has a vibrating part 16 and an arm mechanism 17. The vibration unit 16 includes a 1D array transducer 20. The array transducer 20 is composed of a plurality of transducer elements arranged linearly or arcuately, and an ultrasonic beam is electronically scanned by the array transducer 20, thereby forming a first scanning surface. The second movable body 14 includes a vibrating portion 18 and an arm member 19. The vibration unit 18 includes a 1D array transducer 22. Similar to the array transducer 20 described above, the array transducer 22 is composed of a plurality of transducer elements arranged in the electronic scanning direction. An ultrasonic beam is formed by the array transducer 22, and the second scanning surface is formed by electronic scanning of the ultrasonic beam. A three-dimensional data capturing area having a pyramid shape is formed by simultaneously swinging and scanning the two scanning planes of the first scanning plane and the second scanning plane. Each of the movable bodies 12 and 14 is responsible for scanning each portion obtained by dividing the entire three-dimensional space into two. Of course, those portions may partially overlap. Incidentally, θ1 represents the scanning range by the swing scanning of the first movable body 12, and θ2 represents the scanning range by the swing scanning of the second movable body 14. Δθ represents the angular interval between the two movable bodies.

  The 3D probe 6 of this embodiment further has a variable mechanism 24 in the case 7 thereof. The variable mechanism 24 is a mechanism provided so as to straddle or cross between the arm member 17 in the first movable body 12 and the arm member 19 in the second movable body 14. Details of this mechanism will be described later with reference to FIG. According to the variable mechanism 24, the angular interval between the two movable bodies 12 and 14 (that is, the two array transducers 20 and 22) can be set freely, so that specifically according to the size of the entire scanning range, If Δθ is set so as to divide into two, there is an advantage that the volume rate can be doubled compared to the case where a single movable body is swung. That is, even if the electronic scanning range is maintained and the pitch of the scanning surface is maintained, the volume rate can be doubled by simultaneously operating two movable bodies and taking in parallel data. Is possible. Moreover, even if the entire scanning range is narrow, there is an advantage that the effect of improving the volume rate can be maintained by narrowing the angular interval between the two movable bodies 12 and 14. Conventionally, when the scanning range is narrow, there is a case where it is not always possible to obtain the benefit of improving the volume rate by the plurality of movable bodies. However, according to the variable mechanism 24 according to the present embodiment, the arrangement of the plurality of movable bodies is changed. By changing, the advantage of improving the volume rate can be obtained regardless of the size of the scanning range.

  Incidentally, the entire scanning range may be divided into two, and the scanning range of the movable body may be assigned to each of the divided ranges. However, the scanning range of each movable body may be partially overlapped to obtain a spatial You may make it make a good connection. It is also possible to provide three or more movable bodies and capture received data in parallel.

  Next, the details of the variable mechanism will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 show the arm members 17 and 19 of the two movable bodies 12 and 14. Further, a slider 30 in the variable mechanism 24 is shown. 2 and 3, the arm members 17 and 19 are formed with slide grooves 38 and 40 along the longitudinal direction thereof. The slide grooves 38 and 40 have slides provided at both ends of the slider 30. The pins 32 and 34 are slidably penetrated. The interval between the two pins 32 and 34 is constant, and if the slider 30 is moved up and down, the engagement between the pins 32 and 34 and the slide grooves 38 and 40 causes the two arm members 17 and 19 to be located between each other. The angle can be varied. FIG. 2 shows an example when the angle is narrow, and FIG. 3 shows an example when the angle is wide. As will be described below, each of the arm members 17 and 19 is specifically composed of a pair of arms, and a slide groove is formed in each arm.

  FIG. 4 shows a specific configuration example of the scanning mechanism 10 and the variable mechanism 24. The arm member 17 described above is constituted by a pair of arms 17A and 17B, and the arm member 19 is constituted by arms 19A and 19B. Slide arms 38A, 38B, 40A, and 40B are formed in the arm longitudinal direction in the arms 17A, 17B, 19A, and 19B, respectively. Then, an arm intersecting state is formed at one end and the other end in the electronic scanning direction, for example, the arms 17A and 19A intersect on the right side in FIG. 4, and the arms 17B and 19B intersect on the left side in FIG. Crossed. In such an intersecting state, a slider 30A is provided on one side, and a slider 30B is provided on the other side. Here, the sliders 30A and 30B have the same configuration, and here, the slider 30A will be described as a representative.

  The slider 30A has a slide member 46A and a slide member 48A. The slide members 46A and 48A are provided so as to sandwich the two arms 17A and 19A, and two slide pins 32A and 32B are provided therebetween. The slide pin 32A passes through the slide groove 38A, and the slide pin 32B passes through the slide groove 40A. A pair of insertion holes are formed in the slide member 48A, and a pair of struts 50 extending in the vertical direction pass through these insertion holes. That is, the slide member 48 </ b> A is provided so as to be movable in the vertical direction along the pair of columns 50, that is, the slider 30 </ b> A moves up and down by guiding the two columns 50. The outer surface of each column 50 has a screw structure, and the inner surface of the insertion hole through which it is inserted also has a screw structure. Therefore, when each of the columns 50 is rotationally driven, the slider 30A moves upward or downward depending on the screwed relationship. The movement direction depends on the rotation direction of each column 50.

  The motor 52 generates a driving force that moves the sliders 30 </ b> A and 30 </ b> B up and down, and the driving force is transmitted to the four columns 50 through the gear mechanism 54. In the transmission, four bevel gears 56 are provided to convert the rotational motion around the horizontal axis into the rotational motion around the vertical axis. Incidentally, both ends of each column 50 are rotatably supported by a block 58, and the block 58 is coupled to the rotation shaft 26. The scanning mechanism 10 includes a driving motor 42 and a gear portion 44 that transmits the driving force to the rotating shaft.

  In this embodiment, drive sources are provided independently for the scanning mechanism 10 and the variable mechanism 24. However, by sharing these drive sources and providing a clutch mechanism or the like, transmission and interruption of driving force are switched. You may do it. Of course, the variable mechanism 24 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 4, and various configurations can be adopted as long as the angular interval between the two vibrators can be varied. However, according to the configuration shown in FIG. 4, the sliders 30 </ b> A and 30 </ b> B are spanned over the two arm members, and thereby there is an advantage that the angular interval between the two can be easily changed. Further, there is an advantage that the angular interval once set can be reliably maintained.

  FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having the 3D probe 6 described above. The 3D probe 6 is connected to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body via a probe cable. The 3D probe 6 includes the first array transducer 20, the second array transducer 22, the scanning mechanism 10, the variable mechanism 24, and the like described above. Incidentally, a sensor for detecting the angular position of the swing scanning by the scanning mechanism 10 and a sensor for detecting the angular interval by the variable mechanism 24 are not shown. Output signals from these sensors are input to the control unit 80.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body includes a first transmission unit 60 and a second transmission unit 62. In addition, the first receiving unit 64 and the second receiving unit 66 are provided. A first transmitter 60 and a first receiver 64 are connected to the first array transducer 20, and a second transmitter 62 and a second receiver 66 are connected to the second array transducer 22. The first transmission unit 60 and the second transmission unit 62 function as a so-called transmission beamformer, and the first reception unit 64 and the second reception unit 66 function as a so-called reception beamformer. That is, each receiving unit 64, 66 has a function of executing phasing addition processing on a plurality of received signals, thereby generating beam data. Each generated beam data is stored in the 3D memory 70 via the signal processing unit 68.

  The 3D memory 70 has a three-dimensional storage space corresponding to a three-dimensional echo data capturing space, and echo data (voxel data) constituting each beam data is stored at a corresponding address. Coordinate conversion processing is executed when writing to or reading from the memory 70. The coordinate conversion process is a conversion process from the transmission / reception coordinate system to the storage space coordinate system. The image forming unit 72 is a module that forms a three-dimensional ultrasonic image based on the volume data read from the 3D memory 70 according to, for example, a volume rendering method. The data of the formed three-dimensional image is sent to the display unit 74.

  The control unit 80 controls the operation of each component shown in FIG. 5, and in particular, the control unit 80 of this embodiment controls the variable mechanism 24. For example, when the swing scanning range is set to 60 degrees, the control unit 80 sets 30 degrees as the interval Δθ between the two vibrators with respect to the variable mechanism 20. That is, the angle interval between the two transducers is set based on the angle of the entire scanning range. The input unit 82 includes an operation panel, and the operation panel includes a keyboard and a trackball.

  According to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus shown in FIG. 5, when capturing three-dimensional echo data, the angular interval between the vibration elements can be adjusted according to the size of the three-dimensional space for capturing the volume data, This has the advantage that the volume rate can be improved by realizing an optimal transducer arrangement. That is, there is an advantage that the volume rate can be almost doubled as compared with the case where the single vibrator is swung and scanned. In addition, even when the entire swing scanning range is narrow, the angular interval between the two vibrating elements is narrowed accordingly, and in this case, the advantage of improving the volume rate can be obtained.

It is a conceptual diagram which shows suitable embodiment of 3D probe which concerns on this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the effect | action of a variable mechanism. It is a figure for demonstrating the effect | action of a variable mechanism. It is a perspective view which shows the detailed structure of a variable mechanism. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having the 3D probe shown in FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

  6 3D probe, 7 case, 8 movable section, 10 scanning mechanism, 12 first movable body, 14 second movable body, 16 vibrating section, 18 vibrating section, 20 first array transducer, 22 second array transducer, 24 Variable mechanism.

Claims (3)

A probe case,
A scanning mechanism disposed in the probe case;
A plurality of movable bodies arranged in the probe case, each having an array transducer forming a beam scanning surface, and mechanically scanned by the scanning mechanism;
A variable mechanism that mechanically varies the arrangement of the plurality of movable bodies;
Including
An ultrasonic probe, wherein the arrangement of a plurality of beam scanning planes can be changed by changing the arrangement of the plurality of movable bodies. The ultrasonic probe according to claim 1,
The scanning mechanism swings and scans the plurality of movable bodies around a predetermined rotation axis,
The ultrasonic probe according to claim 1, wherein the variable mechanism varies an angle between the plurality of movable bodies. The ultrasonic probe according to claim 2,
Each movable body has a vibration part that houses the array vibrator, and an arm member that holds the vibration part,
The variable mechanism includes a slider provided across a plurality of arm members of the plurality of movable bodies, and a lifting mechanism that varies the angle between the plurality of arm members by moving the slider up and down. An ultrasonic probe characterized by comprising:

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