JP2506748Y2 - Ultrasonic probe - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe used in a medical ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

[Conventional technology]

In the medical field, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is used for observing tissues and blood flow dynamics in a living body. This ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is generally an ultrasonic probe that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves (hereinafter,
And a diagnostic device main body to which the probe is connected. Then, an ultrasonic wave is transmitted from the probe to the inside of the living body, an ultrasonic echo reflected from the inside of the living body is received by the probe, and the received signal is processed to observe the tissue inside the living body.

In such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the probe is composed of a plurality of strip-shaped elements, and electronic scanning is performed by controlling the drive timing of each of these elements. And this probe
It is classified by a scanning method such as a linear type or a sector type.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

An ordinary probe is applied to the body surface of a living body, and a tomographic image in the same plane as the scanning direction is obtained on a monitor. Therefore, changing the direction of the probe also changes the direction of the tomographic image displayed on the monitor. In other words, it is necessary to change the direction of the probe according to the direction of the tomographic image to be obtained.

In the conventional probe, the scanning plane is only one direction unless the angle of the entire probe is changed. When making a diagnosis by applying a probe to the body surface, it is possible to easily change the direction of the tomographic image by changing the direction of the probe. However, with a probe that is used by being inserted into the rectum or dining room, for example, its direction (angle) cannot be changed,
Diagnostic information tends to be lacking.

Therefore, in the conventional probe for the inside of the body cavity, for example, a transducer for linear scanning and a transducer for sector scanning are provided in the probe body to form a biplane type probe.

As described above, it is impossible to change the angle of the probe particularly for intracavity or intraoperative use, and therefore it is unavoidable to combine a plurality of independent transducers for use. . Further, in the continuous wave (hereinafter referred to as CW) Doppler method, when it is desired to obtain both the B-mode image and the CW Doppler signal, a transducer for an electronic scanner and a transducer for wave transmission are used in combination. However, even in such a composite type probe, when it is used as a probe for intracavity or for intraoperative use, the same problem as described above occurs.

An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic probe capable of changing the beam scanning direction without using a mechanical method even in a composite type probe used in the CW Doppler method, for example.

[Means for solving the problem]

The ultrasonic probe according to the present invention includes a transducer, a first and a second
And a switching means. The vibrator divides the piezoelectric body into a plurality of elements on one surface of the plate-shaped piezoelectric body without separating the piezoelectric body, electrically connects one or more elements as a group, and on the other side, the element is formed. And the piezoelectric body is divided into a plurality of elements without separating the piezoelectric body, and one or more elements are electrically connected as a group. The first and second wave-transmitting oscillators include a plurality of elements formed on one surface of the plate-shaped piezoelectric body and a plurality of elements formed on the other surface of the plate-shaped piezoelectric body.
It is provided along each arrangement direction. Further, the switch means is for electrically commonly connecting to all the elements on one surface, and for always connecting the element on one surface to the oscillator control circuit.

[Action]

In the present invention, a plurality of elements and, for example, a transducer for wave transmission used in the CW Doppler method are formed on each of the front surface side and the back surface side of the plate-shaped piezoelectric body. Then, when performing scanning using the element on the front surface side,
The elements on the front surface side are connected to the vibrator control circuit, and the elements on the back surface side are all electrically commonly connected. On the contrary, when scanning is performed using the elements on the back surface side, all the elements on the front surface side are electrically commonly connected, and each element on the back surface side is connected to the transducer control circuit.

Therefore, the scanning direction by the element on the front side,
By arranging each element so that the scanning direction by the element on the back surface side is different, it is possible to change the direction of the scanning surface by properly using these elements. In addition, since a transducer for wave transmission is provided for the element on each surface, it is possible to perform diagnosis by the CW Doppler method in the scanning direction of each element.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a probe according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of its element portion.

In FIG. 1, the vibrator 15 is housed in the probe case 16. As will be described later, the vibrator 15 has a bidirectional phased array structure and is for obtaining a B-mode image. Then, on the side of the oscillator 15, a transmitting oscillator 17 for transmitting the CW Doppler beam is transmitted.
a is located. Also, as shown in FIG.
On the front side (or the back side) in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of the figure, a transducer 17b for wave transmission is arranged adjacent to the transducer 15. In the present embodiment, each of the wave-transmitting transducers 17a and 17b also has a phased array configuration so that the direction of the Doppler beam can be changed. An ultrasonic coupler 18 made of a water bag kit is attached to the tip of the probe case 16. Here, it goes without saying that the wave-transmitting oscillators 17a and 17b may each be composed of a single element.

The vibrator 15 having the bidirectional phased array configuration will be described in detail. FIG. 3 shows a piezoelectric body constituting the vibrator 15, which is made of piezoelectric ceramic such as PZT. A vibrator 2 and a vibrator 3 for sector scanning are formed on the front surface side and the back surface side of the piezoelectric ceramic 1, respectively. Further, the arrangement direction of the elements forming the vibrator 2 on the front surface side and the arrangement direction of the elements forming the vibrator 3 on the back surface side are orthogonal to each other. And
The arrangement direction of the elements forming the vibrator 2 on the front side,
The arrangement direction of the elements forming the wave-transmitting oscillator 17a is the same direction, and the arrangement direction of the elements forming the vibrator 3 on the back surface side and the arrangement direction of the elements forming the wave-transmitting oscillator 17b are the same. The arrangement direction is the same direction.

In the case of manufacturing the piezoelectric body 1 as described above, first, an element constituting the vibrator 2 for sector scanning by making a cut at a depth of 60 to 90% of the total thickness on the surface side of the piezoelectric body 1. 2
Form 1,22,23, .... Next, after filling the cutting groove with an adhesive such as an epoxy resin, 60 to 90% of the total thickness is provided on the back surface side of the piezoelectric body 1 in the direction orthogonal to the sector scanning oscillator 2 in the same manner as described above. Of the elements 31, 32, which form the vibrator 3 for another sector scan by making a cut at the depth of
... to form. Then, a lead wire is connected to each of these vibrators. Of course, the electrodes may be formed on the front surface and the back surface of the piezoelectric body 1 and then the same notch as described above may be formed to form each element.

The details of each transducer thus formed are schematically shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, the vibrator 2 formed on the front surface side of the piezoelectric body is shown on the left side in the drawing, and the vibrator 3 formed on the back surface side is shown on the right side in the drawing. Switch groups 4 and 5 are provided between the front-side vibrator 2 and the vibrator control circuit (not shown), and a switch group is provided between the rear-side vibrator 3 and the vibrator control circuit. Groups 6, 7 are provided. Each switch group 4 to 7 has a terminal for connecting each element of the vibrators 2 and 3 to the vibrator control circuit, and a terminal for connecting each element to the ground.

The same applies to the oscillators 17a and 17b for transmitting waves, and the oscillators 17a and 17b are connected to the continuous wave transmission circuit via the respective switch groups. When the front side sector scanning oscillator 2 is driven, the wave transmission oscillator 17a is connected to the transmission circuit, and conversely when the back side sector scanning oscillator 3 is driven. , Wave transmitter 17b
Is connected to the transmitter circuit.

The components provided around each element are almost the same as the conventional ones, and a backing member, an acoustic matching layer, an acoustic lens and the like are provided. Here, the acoustic lens provided in the present embodiment is different in shape from the conventional one, and is formed in a dome shape so as to correspond to each transducer provided in the orthogonal direction.

 Next, the operation will be described.

First, in the case of driving the vibrator 2 on the front surface side to obtain a sector tomographic image, as shown in FIG. 4, a switch group is connected so that each element of the vibrator 2 and the vibrator control circuit are connected. Controls switching between 4,5. Further, the wave transmission oscillator 17a is connected to the transmission circuit. As for the vibrator 3 on the back surface side, as shown in FIG. 4, the switch groups 6 and 7 are switched and controlled so that all the elements are commonly grounded.

As a result, a high-frequency pulse is applied to the vibrator 2, and the B-mode image is obtained by performing the same sector inspection as in the conventional case. Further, the CW Doppler signal can be obtained by the CW Doppler signal beam transmitted from the wave transmitting oscillator 17a in a predetermined direction. The transmission direction of the CW Doppler signal beam is determined by the amount of delay given to each element forming the vibrator 17a.

Next, when a sector tomographic image in a direction orthogonal to the above is obtained using the vibrator 3 on the back surface side, the switch group 6, so that each element of the vibrator 3 and the vibrator control circuit are connected,
7 is controlled by switching. In addition, the wave transmission oscillator 17b is connected to the transmission circuit. At this time, with respect to the vibrator 2 on the front surface side, the switch groups 4 and 5 are controlled to be switched, and all the elements are commonly connected to the ground side.

In this way, a high frequency pulse is applied to each element of the vibrator 3 and the same sector scanning as in the conventional case is performed to obtain a B mode sector image. This image, as mentioned above,
The image obtained by the transducer 2 on the surface side is a tomographic image in a direction perpendicular to the image. Further, the CW Doppler signal can be obtained by the CW Doppler signal beam transmitted from the wave transmission oscillator 17b.

In this embodiment, one probe
It is possible to obtain tomographic images in different directions without changing the orientation of this probe, and to obtain CW from different directions.
Diagnosis by Doppler method can be performed.

[Other Examples]

(A) In the above-described embodiment, the case where the sector scanning vibrators 2 and 3 are formed on the front surface side and the back surface side of the piezoelectric body 1 has been described. For example, while forming the sector scanning vibrators on the front surface side, A linear scanning oscillator may be formed on the back side so as to be orthogonal to the sector scanning oscillator, and a sector image and a linear image in a direction orthogonal to this image may be obtained.

(B) The crossing angles of the vibrators formed on the front surface and the back surface of the piezoelectric body are not limited to 90 ° as in the above embodiment, but may be arranged to cross each other at 45 °, for example.

(C) In the above-described embodiment, the case where each vibrator is formed by making a cut in the piezoelectric body 1 has been described, but in the case of using a film-shaped piezoelectric element or a composite piezoelectric body, the direction in which the electrode pattern is formed Thus, a vibrator having a predetermined scanning direction can be configured.

[Effect of device]

In the present invention as described above, elements are formed on the front and back surfaces of one piezoelectric body to form a vibrator, and a wave transmission vibrator is provided corresponding to each vibrator. The probe can configure transducers in different scanning directions, and diagnosis by the CW Doppler method can be performed from different directions.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional configuration diagram of an ultrasonic probe according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of its element portion, and FIG.
The figure shows a partial perspective view of a piezoelectric body used in the probe,
The figure is a schematic diagram of a vibrator formed in the piezoelectric body and a switch group connected to the vibrator. 1 ... Piezoelectric body, 2,3 ... Sector scanning oscillator, 4-7 ...
… Switch group, 17a, 17b …… Transmitting transducer, 21〜23,31〜
35 ... Transducer element.

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A piezoelectric body is divided into a plurality of elements on one surface of a plate-like piezoelectric body without being cut off, and one or more elements are electrically connected as a group, and the opposite side to the one surface. On the other surface of the element, a vibrator which is provided with an arbitrary angle with the element and is divided into a plurality of elements without separating the piezoelectric body, and one or more elements are electrically connected as one group, and the plate. Of the plurality of elements formed on one surface of the piezoelectric body and the plurality of elements formed on the other surface of the piezoelectric body, the first and second transducers being provided along the respective array directions, An ultrasonic probe comprising: switch means for electrically connecting all the elements on one surface to an electrical common connection and always connecting the element on one surface to a transducer control circuit.