JP4643214B2 - Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a circuit configuration of a transmission circuit of an ultrasonic probe or an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

  An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is a medical imaging device that non-invasively obtains a tomographic image of soft tissue in a living body from a body surface by an ultrasonic pulse reflection method. Compared to other medical imaging equipment, this ultrasonic diagnostic device has features such as small size, low cost, no exposure to X-rays, high safety, blood flow imaging, etc., and the heart, abdomen, urology, Widely used in obstetrics and gynecology.

  In this ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus, ultrasonic scanning is performed using an ultrasonic probe that can contact the subject. Ultrasonic probes in which ultrasonic transducers are arranged in a one-dimensional array are generally used. However, in recent years, not only one-dimensional arrays but also transducers divided in the elevation direction have the same direction. Research has also been conducted on 1.5-dimensional arrays capable of controlling the ultrasonic beam aperture of the above and 2-dimensional array probes for three-dimensional scanning.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a transmission system 50 including a unipolar pulsar 51 of a conventional ultrasonic probe. As shown in the figure, the pulsar 51 includes a switch circuit 52 that applies a transmission voltage to the ultrasonic transducer, and a drive circuit 53 that turns the switch circuit 52 on and off. The switch circuit 52 is generally composed of a MOSFET or a bipolar transistor, and the switch can be turned on / off by switching the gate-source voltage of the MOSFET. The driver circuit 53 is provided in front of the MOSFET and is controlled by a drive voltage VPX (VDX). The driver circuit 53 amplifies a TTL (Transistor Transistor Logic) level logic signal, or performs level conversion and is connected to the MOSFET to switch the gate-source voltage. When the switch circuit 52 turns on / off the transmission voltage source Vpp obtained by this switching, a current flows from the transmission voltage source to the output in a pulsed manner and is output as a transmission pulse.

  The pulser 51 is constituted by a plurality of circuits so as to share each transducer or a plurality of transducers, and by applying a minute delay time to each circuit and transmitting a pulse, the ultrasound is focused at a predetermined place. Can be made.

  The power consumption in ultrasonic transmission using such an ultrasonic probe is determined by the transmission voltage and the transmission time. This power consumption is the power consumption of each transmission system 50 other than the power output as an ultrasonic wave, and these are changed to the heat generation of the pulser 51 in the probe. More specifically, the switching in the switch circuit 52 causes a loss due to the current flowing in the stray capacitance and a loss due to the ON resistance, which change into heat generation. Further, the drive circuit 53 uses a power supply voltage for sufficiently turning on / off the switch circuit 52, and the drive circuit 53 also has a loss due to the wiring in the circuit, the stray capacitance of the element, and the ON resistance as in the switch circuit 52. Occur and these turn into heat.

  By the way, in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, in order to obtain sufficient sensitivity, there exists a request | requirement of transmitting with big power within the restriction | limiting range of heat_generation | fever or a sound pressure. However, when the transmission system 60 is mounted in the ultrasonic probe, in the conventional configuration, unless the probe is actively cooled, the probe generates heat due to the power consumption of the pulser and the transmission energy cannot be sufficiently increased.

  For example, when the transmission voltage is low, the loss in the switch circuit 52 is low, while the loss does not change in the drive circuit 53 controlled by another drive voltage. Therefore, even when the transmission voltage is lowered, the power of the drive circuit does not decrease, which becomes a problem particularly in the case of transmission such as Doppler with a large number of pulses or in the SCW mode of continuous transmission.

  Furthermore, some devices may require a pulsar circuit 50 for heavy loads. In such a case, since the transistor of the switch circuit 52 is large, the input capacitance is also large. Therefore, the drive circuit 53 for driving the same needs to be enlarged, and the loss further increases accordingly, and the heat generation of the probe becomes a larger problem.

In addition, as a well-known document relevant to this application, there exist the following, for example.
USP 6,126,602

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic probe and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that consume less power and generate less heat than conventional transmission.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes the following measures.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided at least one ultrasonic transducer that generates an ultrasonic wave based on a supplied pulse current, a transmission voltage source that is variably controlled by generating a transmission voltage, and switches the transmission voltage. The switch circuit that generates the pulse current and supplies the pulse current to the at least one ultrasonic transducer, the drive circuit that drives the switch circuit, and the output voltage of the drive circuit according to the transmission voltage An ultrasonic probe or an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: voltage control means, and voltage control means for controlling an output voltage of the drive circuit so as to be a ground potential or other fixed potential .
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided at least one ultrasonic transducer that generates an ultrasonic wave based on a supplied pulse current, a transmission voltage source that is variably controlled by generating a transmission voltage, and switches the transmission voltage. The switch circuit that generates the pulse current and supplies the pulse current to the at least one ultrasonic transducer, the drive circuit that drives the switch circuit, and the output voltage of the drive circuit according to the transmission voltage An ultrasonic probe or an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: voltage control means, and voltage control means for controlling an output voltage of the drive circuit so as to be the transmission voltage or other variable voltage. .
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided at least one ultrasonic transducer that generates an ultrasonic wave based on a supplied pulse current, a transmission voltage source that is variably controlled by generating a transmission voltage, and switches the transmission voltage. The switch circuit that generates the pulse current and supplies the pulse current to the at least one ultrasonic transducer, the drive circuit that drives the switch circuit, and the output voltage of the drive circuit according to the transmission voltage Voltage control means, comprising: voltage control means for controlling the power supply voltage of the drive circuit using a tracking power supply controlled in conjunction with the transmission voltage source, or an ultrasonic probe or This is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize an ultrasonic probe and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that consume less power and generate less heat than conventional transmission.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, components having substantially the same function and configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be given only when necessary.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 is connected to an ultrasonic probe 12, an apparatus main body 11, and an apparatus main body 11, and an external input device for incorporating various instructions / commands / information from an operator into the apparatus main body 11. 13 and a monitor 14. The input device 13 is provided with a trackball 13a, a switch / button 13b, a mouse 13c, and a keyboard 13d for setting a region of interest (ROI). The ultrasonic probe 12 is provided with a transmission unit 40 and a voltage control unit 41. The apparatus main body 11 includes an ultrasonic receiving unit 21, a B-mode processing unit 22, a Doppler processing unit 23, an image generation circuit 24, an image memory circuit 25, a recording control unit 26, a control processor (CPU) 27, and an image storage unit 28. And an internal storage device 29 and an interface unit 30.

  The ultrasonic probe 12 includes a piezoelectric vibrator (for example, PZT (registered trademark)) as an acoustic / electric reversible conversion element such as a piezoelectric ceramic. The plurality of piezoelectric vibrators are arranged in parallel and are provided at the tip of the probe 12.

  The transmission unit 20 provided in the ultrasonic probe 12 generates a rate pulse based on the transmission voltage controlled by the control processor 27. Each rate pulse is given a delay time necessary for focusing the ultrasonic wave into a beam and determining the transmission directivity in the ultrasonic probe 12, and a voltage pulse is applied to the probe 12 for each channel. . Thereby, an ultrasonic beam is transmitted from the probe 12 to the subject.

  The transmission unit 20 provided in the ultrasonic probe 12 has a voltage control unit that lowers the control voltage of the drive circuit that drives the switching circuit of the pulser when the transmission voltage becomes a predetermined value or less. . The configuration of the transmission unit 20 including the pulser and the voltage control unit will be described in detail later.

  The ultrasonic beam irradiated into the subject for image generation is reflected by a discontinuous surface of the acoustic impedance in the subject, and the reflected wave is received by the probe 12. The echo signal output from the probe 12 for each channel is captured by the receiving unit 21, amplified for each channel in the receiving unit 21, given a delay time necessary to determine the reception directivity, and added. The By this addition, the reflection component from the direction corresponding to the reception directivity is emphasized. The transmission directivity and the reception directivity determine the overall directivity of ultrasonic transmission / reception (this directivity is generally called a “scan line”).

  The echo signal output from the receiving unit 21 is sent to the B mode processing unit 22 and the Doppler processing unit 23. Although not shown, the B mode processing unit 22 includes a logarithmic converter, an envelope detection circuit, and an analog / digital converter (A / D). The logarithmic converter logarithmically converts the echo signal. The envelope detection circuit detects the envelope of the output signal from the logarithmic converter. This detection signal is digitized via an analog-digital converter and output as detection data. Further, the Doppler processing unit 23 extracts the blood flow component by using frequency analysis and the blood flow information such as average velocity, dispersion, power, etc. from multiple points.

  The image generation circuit 24 performs frame correlation processing using the detection data input from the B-mode processing unit 22 and generates a B-mode image. In addition, the image generation circuit 24 uses the blood flow information input from the Doppler processing unit 23 to create an average velocity image, a dispersion image, a power image, and a combination image thereof.

  The image memory circuit 25 generates an ultrasonic image to be displayed on the monitor 14 based on the image data (also referred to as “raw data”) received from the image generation circuit 24, and includes a scan converter, a cine memory, a frame Has memory, video converter, etc. The scan converter converts the scanning line signal sequence of the ultrasonic scan input from the image generation circuit 24 into orthogonal coordinate system data based on the spatial information. The cine memory is a memory for storing an ultrasonic image corresponding to a plurality of frames immediately before freezing, for example. It is also possible to display an ultrasonic moving image by continuously displaying images (cine display) stored in the cine memory. The frame memory is a memory for storing an ultrasonic image for one frame, and the image currently stored in the frame memory 27 is displayed on the monitor 14. Further, for example, when the freeze on button of the operation input device 13 is pressed, overwriting to the frame memory is stopped. The video conversion unit further performs video format conversion on the image data received from the frame memory.

  The control processor 27 reads the transmission / reception conditions and the device control program stored in the internal storage device 29 based on the mode selection, ROI setting, and transmission start / end input from the user input device 13 or other interfaces, and according to these. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is controlled statically or dynamically.

  The image storage unit 28 records the image data (still image, moving image) received from the image memory circuit 25 under the control of the control processor 27.

  The internal storage device 29 stores a control program for the device, various data groups such as diagnostic protocols and transmission / reception conditions, collected image data, and the like. Further, the internal storage device 29 stores various small programs (activities) for realizing each process constituting a series of inspection procedures, and a control program for controlling the apparatus according to the inspection procedures (workflows) constituted by the various activities. To do.

  The monitor 14 displays in-vivo morphological information and blood flow information as an image based on the video signal from the image memory circuit 25. The image displayed on the monitor 14 is recorded in, for example, the image storage unit 28 using corresponding image data stored in the frame memory in the image memory circuit 25.

(Transmission unit and voltage control unit)
Next, the configuration of the transmission unit 40 and the voltage control unit 41 mounted on the ultrasonic probe 12 will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the transmission unit 40 and the voltage control unit 41. The transmission unit 40 and the voltage control unit 41 are configured by arranging a plurality of circuits so as to share each ultrasonic transducer or a plurality of transducers.

  The transmission unit 40 includes a unipolar pulsar 400 and switches 401 and 402. The unipolar pulsar 400 includes a switch circuit and a drive circuit (both not shown) for turning the switch circuit ON / OFF. The internal configuration of the unipolar pulsar 400 is substantially the same as that of the pulsar 51 shown in FIG. 14, for example. In the present embodiment, in order to simplify the description, it is symbolically illustrated by a rectangle in FIG.

  The switch circuit built in the unipolar pulsar 400 has, for example, a MOSFET, and applies a transmission current to the ultrasonic transducer according to ON / OFF control by the drive circuit. A graph of the VDS-ID characteristic of the MOSFET included in the switch circuit is shown in FIG. 3, and a graph of the VG-ID characteristic is shown in FIG.

  The drive circuit built in the unipolar pulsar 400 is supplied with a transmission voltage Vpp and drive circuit voltages Vpx and Vdx. The transmission voltage Vpp is from the variable transmission voltage source VPP, the drive circuit voltage Vpx is from the drive circuit voltage source VPX0 or GND (ground), and the drive circuit voltage Vpx is from the drive circuit voltage source VDX0 or the variable drive circuit voltage source VDX1. Respectively.

  Switch 401 switches the connection between drive circuit voltage source VPX0 and GND in order to select a voltage source that supplies transmission voltage Vpp to unipolar pulsar 400. The switch 402 switches the connection between the drive circuit voltage source VDX0 and the variable drive circuit voltage source VDX1 in order to select a voltage source that supplies the transmission voltage Vpp to the unipolar pulsar 400.

  The voltage control unit 41 controls the drive circuit voltages Vpx and Vdx supplied to the pulser 400 in accordance with instructions from the control processor 27. That is, the voltage control unit 41 controls the drive circuit voltages Vpp and Vdx according to the value of the transmission voltage Vpp so as to reduce power consumption not only in the switch circuit but also in the drive circuit in the pulser 400.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of drive circuit voltage control of the voltage control unit 41. As shown in the figure, for example, the voltage control unit 41 connects the switch 401 to the drive circuit voltage source VPX0 when the transmission voltage Vpp is not less than a predetermined threshold (in the figure, not less than 12V). Further, the switch 402 is connected to the drive circuit voltage source VDX0. The drive circuit voltage source VPX0 is a tracking power supply and is controlled by the voltage control unit 41 in accordance with the relational expression of VPX0 = Vpp−Vdx. For example, in the example of FIG. 3, when the transmission voltage Vpp is 100V, control is performed so that VPX0 = Vpp−Vdx = 100V−12V = 88V.

  On the other hand, when the transmission voltage Vpp is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold (in the figure, when it is equal to or lower than 12 V), the voltage control unit 41 connects the switch 401 to GND so as to reduce the drive circuit voltage Vpx. In addition, the drive circuit voltage Vdx is controlled to be equal to the transmission voltage Vpp by connecting the switch 402 to the drive circuit voltage source VDX1 serving as a tracking power supply.

  That is, when the transmission voltage Vpp is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold, the voltage control unit 41 reduces the drive circuit voltage supplied to the drive circuit while guaranteeing the output voltage of the drive circuit that can drive the switch circuit. As a result, the pulsar drive voltage can be lowered as the transmission voltage is lowered, and the power consumption not only in the pulsar switch circuit but also in the drive circuit can be reduced.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of a timing chart of the unipolar transmission unit 40 at the time of ultrasonic transmission. In the figure, the gate voltages Vgp and Vgn (for example, the respective gate voltages of MOSFET-M2 and MOSFE-M1 in FIG. 14) of the MOSFET of the switch circuit are smaller than the conventional values. Therefore, especially when continuous transmission is repeated, each transmission can be executed using gate voltages Vgp and Vgn smaller than those of the conventional one, and the power consumption can be drastically reduced.

  An example of the configuration of the voltage control unit 41 that switches the connection of the switch 402 when the transmission voltage Vpp is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, a comparator 410 that compares a predetermined threshold Vref and the transmission voltage source voltage VPP outputs a switching signal when VPP falls below Vref. A similar configuration can be used for switching the power source in the switch 401.

  FIG. 8 shows the configuration of the drive circuit voltage source VDX1 as a tracking power source that monitors the VPP and controls the voltage source voltage VDX1 following the VPP. In the figure, a diode is connected between VPP and VDX1. In such a configuration, the diode is turned on when VPP falls below VDX1, the voltage of VDX1 drops to almost VPP, and when VPP further falls, VDX1 also follows this and lowers VDX1.

  In the above-described example, the threshold value of the transmission voltage Vpp serving as a trigger for lowering the drive circuit voltage is not limited to the above contents, and can be freely set. In addition, when the transmission voltage Vpp is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold, the drive circuit voltage Vpx is configured to be 0 V (GND connection), but the drive circuit voltage is reduced without being limited to the above example. Any value can be used as long as it is a fixed voltage.

(Other Example 1)
Next, another embodiment 1 of the ultrasonic probe and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus will be described. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the transmission unit 40 and the voltage control unit 41 according to the present embodiment. In the figure, a pulser 400 has a circuit configuration capable of transmitting positive and negative bipolar pulses, for example, as shown in FIG.

  In order to generate positive and negative bipolar pulses, the voltage source VDD is connected to the negative transmission voltage Vdd, the drive circuit voltage source VDX0 is a tracking power supply, and the voltage control unit is in accordance with the relational expression VDX0 = Vdd + Va. 41. Here, if the same MOSFET as in FIGS. 2 and 14 is used, Va is, for example, 12V. Therefore, for example, in the example of FIG. 9, when the transmission voltage Vdd is −100 V, the control is performed so that VDX0 = Vdd + Va = −100 V + 12 V = −88 V.

  In this embodiment, when Vpp is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold, the voltage control unit 41 switches both the switch 401 and the switch 402 to GND (= 0V). As a result, power consumption not only in the pulser switch circuit but also in the drive circuit can be reduced.

(Other Example 2)
Next, another embodiment 2 of the present ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus will be described. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the transmission unit 40 and the voltage control unit 41 according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 12, a pulsar 400 is a bipolar pulse having a configuration different from that of the first embodiment as shown in FIG. 12, for example, and an AC coupling is provided between the MOSFET of the output switch and the drive circuit. As a result, the driver circuit may have only one power source, and Vdx need not be a tracking power source as in the first embodiment when the transmission voltage Vpp is equal to or higher than a predetermined value.

  In the ultrasonic probe, when the transmission voltage Vpp is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold, the voltage control unit 41 switches the switch 401 to the drive circuit voltage source VDX1 side. The drive circuit voltage source VDX1 is controlled so that VDX1 = Vpp. Therefore, the pulsar drive voltage can be lowered as the transmission voltage is lowered, and the power consumption not only in the pulsar switch circuit but also in the drive circuit can be reduced.

  According to the configuration described above, the following effects can be obtained.

  According to the ultrasonic probe and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the drive voltage supplied to the drive circuit of the pulser is lowered in response to the transmission voltage. Therefore, as the transmission voltage is lowered, not only the pulser switch circuit but also the power consumption in the drive circuit and the heat generation associated therewith can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to realize an ultrasonic probe and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that consume less power and generates less heat in ultrasonic transmission.

  In addition, when continuous transmission is repeated, each transmission can be executed using a smaller gate voltage than in the prior art, and power consumption can be drastically reduced. Note that the energy of transmission ultrasonic waves can be increased by transmission (chirp or the like) that outputs a large number of waves even at a low transmission voltage. Therefore, according to the ultrasonic probe and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, it is possible to realize ultrasonic transmission with a large energy while reducing power consumption with a low transmission voltage. This effect is particularly advantageous in a shooting mode in which the number of transmissions such as CW transmission is large.

  In addition, 1.5-dimensional array and 2-dimensional array ultrasonic probes that are becoming popular in recent years need to mount a larger number of pulsers than ordinary one-dimensional array probes. With such a probe, heat generation due to power consumption in the pulser becomes a major problem. According to the ultrasonic probe and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, since the heat generation itself can be suppressed, there is no need to separately mount a cooling device, and it is possible to contribute to the miniaturization of the ultrasonic probe.

  Furthermore, according to the ultrasonic probe and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, in order to positively control the drive voltage supplied to the drive circuit of the pulser in response to the transmission voltage, the circuit is configured with a monolithic IC. However, the variable range of the output voltage can be expanded without separately supplying the substrate potential of the IC. For example, if the substrate potential is common to 0 V in the unipolar pulsar, 12 V is the lowest voltage unless the drive voltage is varied, but according to the configuration of this embodiment, the output potential range is 12 V or less (6 V). Can be enlarged.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage.

  (1) In the above embodiment, the case where the voltage control unit is mounted on the ultrasonic probe has been described as an example. However, the implementation form of the voltage control unit is not limited to this. For example, the voltage control unit provided in the apparatus main body 11 may be configured to control the voltage supplied to the transmission unit 40 based on the control of the control processor 27.

  (2) In the above embodiment, the case where the voltage control unit controls the supply voltage to the pulser by controlling the switches 401 and 402 between the two types of power supplies has been described as an example. However, the voltage to be switched is not limited to two types, and may be configured to switch between more power sources. Further, the drive circuit voltage may not be the control power supply that performs the operation shown in FIG. 5, but may be switched to another fixed voltage stepwise when the voltage is not more than a predetermined value as shown in FIG.

  (3) The technical idea of the present invention can be applied even when the pulser is constituted by a discrete circuit, a hybrid IC, a monolithic IC, or the like. At this time, a switching circuit, a power supply circuit, or the like may be incorporated in the IC.

  (4) In the above-described embodiment, the supply voltage control to the pulser included in the transmission unit has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to other pulsers (for example, a pulser executed by the apparatus main body). In the case of such a configuration, it works particularly effectively for a portable ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that operates on a battery.

  In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize an ultrasonic probe and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that consume less power and generate less heat than conventional transmission.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a block configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the transmission unit 40 and the voltage control unit 41 mounted on the ultrasonic probe 12. FIG. 3 is a graph showing VDS-ID characteristics of MOSFETs included in the switch circuit of the pulser 400. FIG. 4 is a graph showing the VG-ID characteristics of MOSFETs included in the switch circuit of the pulser 400. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of drive circuit voltage control of the voltage control unit 41. FIG. 6 shows an example of a timing chart of the unipolar transmission unit 40 at the time of ultrasonic transmission. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the voltage control unit 41 that switches the connection of the switch 402 when the transmission voltage Vpp is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a drive circuit voltage source VDX1 as a tracking power supply. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating configurations of the transmission unit 40 and the voltage control unit 41 according to another embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a circuit configuration of a pulser 400 according to another embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a transmission unit 40 and a voltage control unit 41 according to another embodiment 2. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a circuit configuration of a pulser 400 according to another second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example of drive circuit voltage switching control. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a transmission system 50 including a unipolar pulsar 51 of a conventional ultrasonic probe.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, 12 ... Ultrasonic probe, 13 ... Input device, 14 ... Monitor, 21 ... Receiving unit, 22 ... B-mode processing unit, 23 ... Doppler processing unit, 24 ... Data analysis part, 25 ... Image generation Circuit, 26 ... Image memory, 27 ... Control processor, 28 ... Storage unit, 30 ... Interface unit, 40 ... Transmission unit, 41 ... Voltage control unit

Claims (7)

At least one ultrasonic transducer for generating an ultrasonic wave based on a supplied pulse current;
A transmission voltage source that is variably controlled by generating a transmission voltage;
A switch circuit that switches the transmission voltage to generate the pulse current and supplies the pulse current to the at least one ultrasonic transducer;
A drive circuit for driving the switch circuit;
Voltage control means for controlling the output voltage of the drive circuit according to the transmission voltage, voltage control means for controlling the output voltage of the drive circuit so as to be a ground potential or other fixed potential;
An ultrasonic probe or an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising:   At least one ultrasonic transducer for generating an ultrasonic wave based on a supplied pulse current;
  A transmission voltage source that is variably controlled by generating a transmission voltage;
  A switch circuit that switches the transmission voltage to generate the pulse current and supplies the pulse current to the at least one ultrasonic transducer;
  A drive circuit for driving the switch circuit;
  Voltage control means for controlling the output voltage of the drive circuit in accordance with the transmission voltage, the voltage control means for controlling the output voltage of the drive circuit to be the transmission voltage or other variable voltage;
  An ultrasonic probe or an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising:   At least one ultrasonic transducer for generating an ultrasonic wave based on a supplied pulse current;
  A transmission voltage source that is variably controlled by generating a transmission voltage;
  A switch circuit that switches the transmission voltage to generate the pulse current and supplies the pulse current to the at least one ultrasonic transducer;
  A drive circuit for driving the switch circuit;
  Voltage control means for controlling the output voltage of the drive circuit according to the transmission voltage, the voltage for controlling the power supply voltage of the drive circuit using a tracking power supply controlled in conjunction with the transmission voltage source Control means;
  An ultrasonic probe or an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising:   5. The ultrasonic probe according to claim 1, wherein the voltage control unit controls an output voltage of the drive circuit when the transmission voltage becomes a predetermined threshold value or less. 6. Or an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.   The ultrasonic probe or ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the voltage control unit controls an output voltage of the drive circuit by controlling a power supply voltage of the drive circuit.   The ultrasonic probe or ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the switch circuit is a bipolar transistor or a MOS transistor.   7. The ultrasonic probe or ultrasonic diagnosis according to claim 1, wherein the voltage control means controls the output voltage of the drive circuit so as to change linearly or stepwise. apparatus.

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