JP2554842Y2 - Ultrasonic probe - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe used for ultrasonic examination of a subject.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an ultrasonic examination, an examiner puts an ultrasonic probe on a body surface of a subject, holds the probe by hand, and performs the examination.

[0003]

According to the above-mentioned conventional method, the direction of the ultrasonic beam can be set as desired by the examiner. However, since it is necessary to hold the probe, it is difficult to perform a long-term inspection or an inspection while the subject is moving, and the inspection can be performed only at rest. On the other hand, there is a method in which the probe is adhered and held to the body surface of the subject via the leg, but in this case, it was difficult to adjust the direction of the ultrasonic beam.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and can change the direction of the ultrasonic beam without touching the subject, and can continue even when the subject needs to change his or her body position. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic probe capable of performing an inspection by using an ultrasonic probe.

[0005]

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic probe comprising: an ultrasonic vibrator;
In an ultrasonic probe having legs for adhesively holding the ultrasonic vibrator on the body surface of a subject, a housing provided on the legs for accommodating the ultrasonic vibrator in a swingable manner. An arc-shaped rack gear fixed at symmetrical positions on both side surfaces of the ultrasonic vibrator, a pair of left and right drive gears and rollers rotatably supported by the housing and sandwiching the rack gear, And a torque transmission mechanism for transmitting torque from outside to the drive gear.

An ultrasonic probe according to a second aspect is characterized in that the housing is rotatably attached to the leg.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the ultrasonic probe is adhered and held on the body surface of the subject via the leg, so that the ultrasonic probe can be continued even when the subject changes body position. Inspection can be performed. In addition, by rotating the drive gear from outside via the rotational force transmission mechanism, the ultrasonic vibrator can be rocked via the rack gear meshing with the drive gear, and the examiner can touch the subject. The direction of the ultrasonic beam can be adjusted without the need. Also, since the ultrasonic vibrator swings through an arc-shaped rack gear formed around the center of the front surface, the ultrasonic beam can always be radiated from a certain position on the body surface.

According to the configuration described in claim 2, the ultrasonic vibrator can be rotated with respect to the legs by rotating the housing by hand.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention. 1 and 2, an annular leg 2 projecting from the outer periphery is connected to the lower end surface of a substantially rectangular cylindrical housing 1. As shown in FIG. The lower surface of the leg 2 is provided with an adhesive layer (not shown) for tightly fixing to the body surface of the subject. An ultrasonic vibrator 3 is housed in the housing 1, and an inner lower end of the housing 1 and an outer lower end of the ultrasonic vibrator 3 are connected via a flexible film 4.

A rack gear 5 is fixed to the opposite side surfaces of the ultrasonic transducer 3 at symmetrical positions. The rack gear 5 is formed in a downwardly arcuate shape, and a tooth portion is provided on an inner peripheral side of the lower surface. ing. A drive gear 8 is rotatably provided between the housing 1 and a bearing plate 6 provided symmetrically in the housing 1 via a support shaft 7.
Are meshed with the rack gear 5. A pair of left and right rollers 10 is rotatably supported between a pair of left and right bearing plates 6 via a support shaft 9, and the rollers 10 abut against the rear surface of the rack gear 5, and the rollers 10 and the driving gear 8 Holds the rack gear 5. The rotation of the drive gear 8 causes the ultrasonic transducer 3 to swing.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
Is fixed, and two wires 12
Is fixed at one end. The wire 12 is led out of the housing 1 as shown in FIG. 4, and the other end of the wire 12 is fixed to the outer periphery of the winding member 13 shown in FIG. The winding member 13 is rotatably supported by a support member 14 fixed at a predetermined external position. By rotating the winding member 13 in the direction of arrow AB, the wire 12, the pulley 11, The drive gear 8 also rotates in the same direction via. The signal line 15 drawn from the ultrasonic transducer 3 is led out of the housing 1 as shown in FIG. 4, and is connected to a measuring device (not shown).

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. By ultrasonically fixing the ultrasonic probe to the body surface of the subject via the leg 2, the ultrasonic transducer 3 abuts on the body surface, and an ultrasonic inspection can be performed. At this time, the examination can be continued even if the subject changes his or her body position. When adjusting the direction of the ultrasonic beam, the drive gear 8 is rotated via the wire 12 and the pulley 11 by rotating the winding member 13 in the direction of arrow AB. As a result, the rack gear 5 meshing with the drive gear 8 moves, and the ultrasonic oscillator 3 swings to adjust the direction of the ultrasonic beam.

According to the present embodiment, the ultrasonic probe is
, The test can be performed continuously even when the subject changes his or her body position. Further, by rotating the winding member 13, the direction of the ultrasonic beam can be adjusted without touching the subject.

In the above embodiment, the winding member is connected via the wire 12.
Although the case where the drive gear 8 is rotated has been described with reference to FIG. 13, the drive gear 8 may be rotated via the flexible shaft 21 as shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a tooth portion may be formed on the upper surface of the rack gear 5, the drive gear 8 may be provided on the upper portion, and the roller 10 may be provided on the lower portion.

As shown in FIG. 7, an annular member 31 is provided on the leg portion 2, and the outer periphery of the annular member 31 is divided into four equal parts to form notches 31a at every other position. A concave groove 31b may be provided on the inner circumference of the portion where there is no portion, and a pair of convex portions 1a provided on the outer circumference of the housing 1 may be slidably fitted into the concave groove 31b. According to this embodiment, the housing 1 can be manually rotated with respect to the leg 2.

[0017]

As described above, according to the ultrasonic probe of the present invention, the ultrasonic probe is adhesively fixed to the body surface of the subject via the legs, so that the subject can Examinations can also be performed when changing positions. Also, since the ultrasonic transducer can be swung from the outside by the rotational force transmission mechanism,
The direction of the ultrasonic beam can be adjusted without touching the subject. Moreover, even when the direction of the ultrasonic beam is changed, the ultrasonic beam can always be radiated from a certain position on the body surface.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a configuration of an embodiment of an ultrasonic probe according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view in a direction perpendicular to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a mechanism for transmitting a rotational force to a drive gear in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a power transmission mechanism according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a main part according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a housing rotation mechanism according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Housing 2 Leg 3 Ultrasonic transducer 5 Rack gear 8 Drive gear 10 Roller 11 Pulley 12 Wire 13 Winding member 21 Flexible shaft

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. An ultrasonic probe comprising: an ultrasonic transducer; and a leg for adhesively holding the ultrasonic transducer on a body surface of a subject, wherein the ultrasonic vibration is provided on the leg. A housing for accommodating the child in a swingable manner, an arc-shaped rack gear fixed at symmetrical positions on both side surfaces of the ultrasonic vibrator, and each of the housings rotatably supported by the housing to sandwich the rack gear; An ultrasonic probe comprising: a pair of left and right drive gears and rollers; and a torque transmitting mechanism that transmits torque to the drive gear from outside. 2. The ultrasonic probe according to claim 1, wherein the housing is rotatably attached to the leg.