JP4643227B2 - Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves.

  When transmitting and receiving ultrasound to and from the subject, heat is dissipated so that the heat generated at the tip of the ultrasound probe does not travel toward the subject, and the sound field is made uniform and side lobes are reduced. It is necessary to manufacture in consideration of things.

  As for the heat dissipation treatment, for example, there is one in which the main material of the backing material that supports the piezoelectric body of the ultrasonic probe is filled with a high thermal conductive filler such as tungsten or aluminum nitride, and heat is radiated by the high thermal conductive filler.

  However, in this method, the contact area between the high thermal conductive fillers depends on the thermal conductivity, so the filling amount of the high thermal conductive filler should be increased, but if the filling amount is increased, the backing material becomes heavier, It becomes difficult to satisfy the matching conditions. That is, the acoustic impedance of the backing material is increased, and the balance of acoustic matching conditions between the acoustic impedance and the acoustic impedance of the piezoelectric body is likely to be lost. Therefore, if the acoustic matching condition is prioritized, it is difficult to improve the heat dissipation effect.

  Then, it replaces with a high heat conductive filler and the method of filling a main material with a heat conductive fiber is proposed (for example, refer patent document 1). Since the thermally conductive fiber has a predetermined length compared to the filler, the thermal conductivity is increased without increasing the filling amount.

  As a method for filling the heat conductive fibers, there are proposed a method of randomly filling the heat conductive fibers and a method of arranging the heat conductive fibers uniformly in a certain direction. However, when filling randomly, heat diffuses uniformly, making it difficult to conduct heat to a desired site so as to keep the heat away from the subject.

  In addition, if they are arranged uniformly in a certain direction, heat conduction is limited to one direction, making it difficult to efficiently keep the heat away from the subject and not to accumulate heat inside the ultrasound probe. It becomes. Therefore, even when the thermally conductive fiber is filled, it is difficult to improve the heat dissipation effect even if the filling is random or the direction is unified.

  For uniform sound field, especially slice sound field and side lobe reduction, divide the piezoelectric material in the slicing direction, enlarge the piezoelectric material in the center of the slicing direction, and gradually increase the piezoelectricity toward the end. Techniques for reducing the body have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2). In this technique, weighting is set for ultrasonic transmission intensity and reception sensitivity in the slice direction. However, in this technique, in order to divide the piezoelectric body in the slice direction, it is necessary to position the piezoelectric body and attach the electrode pair after filling the non-piezoelectric body such as resin between the piezoelectric bodies. That is, according to this technique, the number of manufacturing steps is increased, the price of the ultrasonic probe is increased, and the practicality is poor.

JP-A-9-127955 JP 2003-9288 A

  In the ultrasonic probe, the temperature in the vicinity of the subject is limited, and accordingly, the ultrasonic intensity is limited. Therefore, it is a condition for obtaining an image in the subject with high sensitivity that the generated heat is efficiently processed to lower the rate of temperature rise near the subject and the ultrasonic intensity is increased accordingly. Further, the uniformization of the sound field and the reduction of side lobes are conditions for obtaining an image in the subject with high accuracy.

  However, conventionally, heat could not be processed efficiently and the ultrasonic intensity could not be increased. Further, high cost is inevitable for making the sound field uniform and reducing side lobes in the slice direction.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to improve the heat radiation efficiency in the technology for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, and further to make the slice sound field uniform and reduce side lobes. It is to provide the technology to plan.

In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 includes a piezoelectric body having two end faces substantially parallel to each other, and a backing material provided on one end face side of the end faces, and the backing material. Includes a backing main material and a plurality of heat conductive fibers filled in the backing main material, and the plurality of heat conductive fibers are stepwise from the center to the end in a direction parallel to the end face. It is arranged to be inclined in the direction opposite to the ultrasonic transmission direction so that the angle formed with the end face is large.

  The present invention includes an ultrasonic probe having a multidimensional array such as a 1D array, a 2D array, and a 1.5D array.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a second aspect of the present invention is directed to a piezoelectric body having two end faces substantially parallel to each other and divided in a first direction parallel to the end face, and among the end faces. An acoustic lens provided on one end surface side, and a backing material provided on the other end surface side of the end surfaces; and the piezoelectric body has a direction of the acoustic lens relative to the piezoelectric body as a second direction. The ultrasonic wave is transmitted in the second direction, and the backing material includes a backing main material and a plurality of heat conductive fibers filled in the backing main material, and the plurality of heat conductive fibers include the first conductive material. The second direction so that the angle formed with the second direction in a stepwise manner decreases from the center to the end of the backing material in one direction and a third direction perpendicular to the second direction. tilt in the opposite direction That are arranged in, characterized by.

The array may have a number of array steps and a degree of change in the inclination angle according to a preset weighting function of ultrasonic transmission intensity and reception sensitivity (corresponding to the invention according to claim 3 ). ).

The backing material may further include auxiliary particles (corresponding to the invention of claim 4 ).

The arrangement is such that the thermally conductive fiber filled in the central portion is filled in a horizontal direction with respect to the end face, and the thermally conductive fiber filled in the end portion is filled with respect to the backing material. Filling so as to face in the vertical direction, and arranging the thermally conductive fibers filled between the central portion and the end portion so as to incline in a direction opposite to the second direction. Yes (corresponding to the invention of claim 5 ).

The backing material may be in contact with an end portion parallel to the first direction on the surface opposite to the surface on the piezoelectric body side (corresponding to the invention according to claim 6 ). .

A carbon fiber may be selected as the thermally conductive fiber (corresponding to the invention of claim 7 ).

In order to solve the above problem, the invention according to claim 8 is the ultrasonic probe described above, transmission means for transmitting a voltage to the piezoelectric body of the ultrasonic probe, and the ultrasonic probe is an ultrasonic probe. An image processing unit that receives a reception signal generated based on transmission and reception and performs image generation processing according to the reception signal; and a display unit that displays an image generated by the image processing unit. And

  In the present invention, in the ultrasonic probe in which the piezoelectric body is laminated on the front surface of the backing material, the backing material includes a backing main material and a plurality of heat conductive fibers filled in the backing main material, The conductive fibers were arranged at an angle toward the rear end side of the backing material stepwise from the center to the end in the slicing direction of the backing material.

  Therefore, the heat generated in the backing material can be efficiently dissipated to the rear end side of the backing material in the direction away from the subject, and the slice sound can be obtained by weighting the ultrasonic transmission intensity and reception sensitivity in the backing material. The field can be made uniform and side lobes can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of an ultrasonic probe and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an ultrasonic probe. The ultrasonic probe 1 is a unit that generates a reception signal by transmitting / receiving ultrasonic waves to / from a subject (not shown). Based on this received signal, each unit of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 2 performs signal processing to form an image. That is, the ultrasonic probe 1 is one unit constituting the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 100.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 100 is an apparatus that images the inside of a subject by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves. As a unit of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 100, the ultrasonic probe 1 equalizes the sound field in the slice direction and the array direction during ultrasonic transmission / reception, thereby reducing side lobes and simultaneously reducing heat transfer.

  The ultrasonic probe 1 is sandwiched between electrode pairs 6 in order on one surface of a backing material 2 and has a piezoelectric body 5, a first matching layer 7, a second matching layer 8, and an acoustic lens 9 with the array direction as a first direction. Are sequentially stacked. The ultrasonic wave is transmitted from the piezoelectric body 5 as the second direction toward the acoustic lens 9. In the following description, the surface on which the piezoelectric body 5 and the like of the backing material 2 are laminated is called the front surface. The backing material 2 is composed of a main material 3 and heat conductive fibers 4a, 4b,... Filled in the main material 3. A heat radiating plate 10 is disposed in contact with the rear end 2n of the backing material 2, that is, the end parallel to the first direction on the surface opposite to the surface on the piezoelectric body 5 side. The heat radiating plate 10 extends in the direction opposite to the acoustic lens 9 side so as to be away from the subject.

  The piezoelectric body 5 is an acoustic / electric reversible conversion element made of a piezoelectric ceramic such as lead titanate, and is divided in the array direction. In this embodiment, the piezoelectric body 5 is a 1D array in which elements are linearly arranged, and strip-shaped elements are arranged along the slice direction as the second direction. An electrode pair 6 sandwiching the piezoelectric body 5 is provided corresponding to each of the plurality of piezoelectric bodies 5. The electrode pair 6 becomes positive and negative electrodes, and applies a voltage from an application means (not shown) (a transmission portion of the transmission / reception unit 101 in FIG. 2) to the piezoelectric body 5. The piezoelectric body 5 to which the voltage is applied transmits ultrasonic waves in a direction orthogonal to the electrode pair 6 due to the piezoelectric effect.

  In the array direction, a voltage is applied to each of the plurality of divided piezoelectric bodies 5 with a delay of a predetermined time to set weights for transmission intensity and reception sensitivity, thereby reducing side lobes and sound fields. Uniformity is intended.

  The first matching layer 7 and the second matching layer 8 have an acoustic impedance that is intermediate between the acoustic impedance of the piezoelectric body 5 and the acoustic impedance of the subject surface, and the piezoelectric body 5, the first matching layer 7, By making the acoustic impedance close to the subject surface stepwise with the two matching layers 8, reflection of ultrasonic waves on the subject surface due to mismatch of acoustic impedance is suppressed.

  The acoustic lens 9 is arranged so as to have a convex surface on the subject side in the slice direction. The acoustic lens 9 focuses the ultrasonic waves of the piezoelectric body 5 in the slice direction, and forms an acoustic focus in the slice direction at a predetermined depth of the subject.

  The backing material 2 is a material in which rubber having a large attenuation is filled in a main material 3 and carbon thermal conductive fibers 4a to 4e are arranged in a predetermined number of stages in the slicing direction. Further, in this arrangement, the thermally conductive fibers 4a to 4e are filled at an angle from the central portion 2L to the end portion 2m in the slicing direction toward the rear end portion 2n stepwise. The stepwise angle toward the rear end 2n increases as the end 2m is approached. That is, it inclines stepwise in the direction opposite to the second direction, and becomes smaller as the angle formed with the second direction approaches the end 2m. In each stage, the heat conductive fiber is uniformly oriented in the same direction.

  The heat-conducting fibers are uniformly oriented in the same direction at each stage, so that the acoustic matching conditions unique to each stage are satisfied, that is, a predetermined ratio of ultrasonic waves is absorbed and attenuated, and the predetermined ratio is reflected to the subject side. The condition for transmitting to the subject is satisfied, noise due to multiplexing of ultrasonic waves is reduced, and the intensity of ultrasonic waves transmitted to the subject is improved.

  As shown in FIG. 1, for example, in the slicing direction, the backing material 2 has heat conductive fibers 4 a to 4 e arranged in three stages on one side with the central portion 2 </ b> L in the vicinity. The heat conductive fiber 4c filled in the central portion 2L is filled so as to face the slice direction and the horizontal direction.

  The heat conductive fibers 4b and 4d filled in the intermediate part between the center part 2L and the end part 2m are filled so as to face the rear end part 2n side rather than the horizontal direction. That is, the heat conductive fibers 4b and 4d are formed in a square shape spreading on the rear surface of the backing material. The heat conductive fibers 4a and 4e filled in the vicinity of the end 2m are filled so as to face in the vertical direction.

  Such an arrangement of the heat conductive fibers 4a to 4e toward the rear end portion 2n in a stepwise manner defines the heat radiation direction of the heat generated in the backing material 2. That is, this arrangement defines that heat is radiated from the central portion 2L to the rear end portion 2n so as to be away from the subject (not shown) and escape to the outside so as not to stay inside the ultrasonic probe 1. It is.

  At the same time, this arrangement is a structure that realizes weighting of ultrasonic transmission intensity and reception sensitivity in the slice direction in the backing material 2, and aims to make the sound field in the slice direction uniform and reduce side lobes.

  In this arrangement, the acoustic impedance of the backing material 2 is set to be small in the vicinity of the center portion 2L, and is set to increase stepwise as the distance from the end portion 2m increases. Weighting is applied to the transmission intensity and reception sensitivity of the ultrasonic waves. .

  The weighting is preset by an arbitrary weighting function. In accordance with the set weighting function, the number of stages is determined so as to set the acoustic impedance of each stage, and the degree of the angle toward the rear end 2n is determined in each stage. The weighting function is a function whose purpose is to improve the sound field in the slice direction, and the sensitivity decreases stepwise from the center 2L to the end 2m.

  According to this weighting function, in the vicinity of the center portion 2L, the thermally conductive fiber 4c is set to an angle that faces the horizontal direction so that the sound velocity of the ultrasonic wave that the piezoelectric body 5 transmits in the direction of the backing material 2 becomes slow. From the vicinity of the central portion 2L to the vicinity of the end portion 2m, the heat conductive fibers 4a and 4e are perpendicular to the rear end portion 2n side so that the sound velocity of the ultrasonic wave increases stepwise. The angle is directed in the direction, and the angle is set stepwise according to the weighting function.

  For example, the weighting function is preset by an arbitrary weighting function as shown in FIG. 4, has 13 steps on one side from the center 2L to the end 2m, and decreases stepwise from the center 2L to the end 2m. Function. According to the weighting function shown in FIG. 4, the angle at which the heat conductive fibers arranged in 13 steps on one side from the center 2L to the end 2m are directed to the rear end 2n in 13 steps from the center 2L to the end 2m. Filled with.

  As described above, the backing material 2 improves the heat radiation efficiency by arranging the heat conductive fibers 4a, 4b,... At an angle from the central portion 2L to the end portion 2m toward the rear end portion 2n stepwise. At the same time, weighting is performed to improve ultrasonic transmission intensity and reception sensitivity.

  The heat conductive fibers 4a to 4e have a diameter of one-tenth of the wavelength of the ultrasonic wave, for example, about several μm so as not to induce the reflection of the ultrasonic wave, and are defined according to the number of arrangement steps of the heat conductive fiber. It has a predetermined length. In addition, it is preferable that the carbon fibers are selected as the heat conductive fibers 4a to 4e because of their low specific gravity and good heat conduction efficiency compared to metals, but it is preferable to select a metal such as copper or aluminum. It does not prevent it. As for the main material 3, a resin such as an epoxy resin may be selected in addition to the rubber.

  In addition, the backing material 2 is configured by filling the main material 3 with the heat conductive fibers 4a to 4e, and may further be filled with auxiliary particles such as tungsten particles. By filling the auxiliary particles, the attenuation rate of the ultrasonic wave transmitted to the backing material 2 side can be increased, and the heat dissipation effect can be enhanced.

  Such an ultrasonic probe 1 has one configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 100 as a unit. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 2 includes the ultrasonic probe 1 and a display unit 104, and a transmission / reception unit 101, a signal processing unit 102, and an image processing unit 103 are sequentially provided from the ultrasonic probe 1 to the display unit 104 therebetween. It is connected through interposition. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 100 includes a control unit 105 that controls each of the units 101, 102, 103, and 104. The control unit 105 is used when the apparatus operator operates the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 100. An operation panel 106 is connected. The control unit 105 includes a computer such as a CPU 105a, a RAM 105b, and an HDD 105c, and a sequencer 105d that actually controls the units 101, 102, 103, and 104 according to instructions from the computer.

  In this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 100, in response to the operation of the operation panel 106 by the apparatus operator, the computer in the control unit 105 causes the sequencer 105d to output control signals for controlling the units 101, 102, 103, and 104. In response to the control signal, the transmission / reception unit 101 transmits a voltage to the piezoelectric body 5 of the ultrasonic probe 1 to transmit the ultrasonic wave into the subject. The ultrasonic probe 1 receives a reception signal generated by receiving the reflected wave. That is, the transmission / reception unit 101 serves as a transmission unit that transmits a voltage to the piezoelectric body 5.

  The received signal is output to the signal processing unit 102 by the transmission / reception unit 101 through phasing addition, detection of a desired frequency and quadrature phase detection. The signal processing unit 102 performs signal processing for generating a two-dimensional tomographic image based on a detection signal of a desired frequency, and performs signal processing for generating a two-dimensional blood flow image based on quadrature detection, and each of them is a signal for one scanning region. The processed data is output to the image processing unit 103. In the image processing unit 103, the data of the two-dimensional tomographic image and the data of the two-dimensional blood flow image are combined and converted into a video format that can be displayed on the display unit 104, and these images are displayed on the display unit 104. That is, an image processing unit is formed by the transmission / reception unit 101, the signal processing unit 102, and the image processing unit 103, and the display unit 104 serves as a display unit.

  Next, the operation and action of the ultrasonic probe 1 to which a voltage pulse is applied under the control of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 100 will be described. In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 100, the transmission / reception unit 101 applies a voltage to the piezoelectric body 5 under the control of the control unit 105. The voltage is applied via the electrode pair 6.

  The piezoelectric body 5 to which the voltage is applied transmits ultrasonic waves in the direction orthogonal to the electrode pair 8, that is, the acoustic lens 9 side and the backing material 2 side due to the piezoelectric effect. The ultrasonic wave transmitted to the backing material 2 side is attenuated and reflected at each stage at a ratio specific to each stage, and this reflected ultrasonic wave is added to finally transmit and receive the ultrasonic wave to the acoustic lens 9 side. At the same time, the backing material 2 generates heat as the ultrasonic waves are attenuated.

  FIG. 5 shows the transfer of heat generated in and around the backing material 2. When the heat conductive fibers 4a to 4e are carbon fibers and have a diameter of several μm that can be ignored acoustically, heat conduction is about 1.8 W / mk in the orthogonal direction of the heat conductive fibers 4a to 4e. Yes, about 12.5 W / mk in the direction along the heat conductive fibers 4a to 4e. Accordingly, heat is mainly transferred along the heat conductive fibers 4a to 4e.

  As shown in FIG. 5, for example, heat generated in the vicinity of the center portion 2L is horizontally transmitted to the heat conductive fibers 4b and 4d adjacent to the outside by the heat conductive fibers 2c in the vicinity of the center portion 2L. It is transmitted to the rear end 2n side by the conductive fibers 4b and 4d. Further, it is transmitted in the vertical direction so as to be away from the subject by the heat conductive fibers 4a and 4e filled in the vicinity of the end 2m, and transmitted to the heat radiating plate in contact with the slice direction end of the opposite surface 2n. Heat is dissipated away from the subject.

  Accordingly, the amount of heat transferred to the subject side decreases. Along with this, heat is less likely to be transmitted to the subject side, so that the voltage applied to the piezoelectric body 5 can be increased to increase the ultrasonic transmission intensity.

  FIG. 6 shows the sound pressure distribution of the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the ultrasonic probe 1 toward the subject in (a), and the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the conventional ultrasonic probe toward the subject in (b). The sound pressure distribution is shown. For convenience of explanation, (a) shows an ultrasonic wave having a structure in which the thermally conductive fibers 4a, 4b,... Are arranged in 13 steps on one side and at an angle that is stepped toward the rear end 2n. The sound pressure distribution realized in the probe 1 is shown.

  In the ultrasonic probe 1, according to the weighting function shown in FIG. 4, the heat conductive fibers 4a, 4b,... Are arranged in 13 stages from the central part 2L to the end part 2m, and the end part from the horizontal direction near the central part 2L. The main material 3 of the backing material 2 is filled at an angle that gradually approaches the rear end 2n side up to a vertical direction of 2 m.

  In this ultrasonic probe 1, the sound speed of the ultrasonic wave in the vicinity of the central portion 2L becomes slow, and the sound speed of the ultrasonic wave gradually increases toward the end 2m. When the rubber main material 3 is filled with carbon heat conductive fibers 4a, 4b,... At a predetermined ratio, the sound velocity becomes 1800 m / s when a certain amount of the heat conductive fibers are filled at an angle in the horizontal direction. When the same amount of the same heat conductive fiber is filled at an angle in the vertical direction, the speed of sound becomes 2600 m / s, and an intermediate speed corresponding to the angle is obtained between these angles. Since the density is constant without depending on the angle at which the heat conductive fiber faces, the acoustic impedance increases in proportion to the speed of sound.

  Accordingly, the acoustic impedance in the vicinity of the center portion 2L is reduced, and the acoustic impedance is increased stepwise toward the end portion 2m. If the acoustic impedance is reduced, mismatching of the acoustic impedance with the piezoelectric body 5 having a sufficiently large acoustic impedance with respect to the backing material 2 is promoted, and the reflectance of the ultrasonic wave is increased. If the acoustic impedance is increased, the mismatch of the acoustic impedance with the piezoelectric body 5 is reduced, and the reflectance of the ultrasonic wave is reduced. Along with this, the ultrasonic transmission intensity and the reception sensitivity in the vicinity of the central portion 2L are improved, and the ultrasonic transmission intensity and the reception sensitivity are gradually reduced toward the end 2m.

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 6A, the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the ultrasonic probe 1 toward the subject is more uniform in the slice sound field than the conventional FIG. Lobes are reduced.

  As described above, in the ultrasonic probe 1 of the present invention, the thermal conductivity fibers 4a, 4b,... Are filled in the backing material 2 in an array having stepwise orientation angles, thereby improving the heat radiation efficiency and slicing sound. The field can be made uniform and the side lobes can be reduced, and the sliced sound field can be made uniform and the side lobes can be reduced at a low cost.

  The ultrasonic probe 1 has been described as filling the thermally conductive fiber 2c at an angle in the horizontal direction in the vicinity of the central portion 2L. However, if the ultrasonic probe 1 is arranged at an angle in the stepwise direction toward the rear end portion 2n. However, the angle is not limited to this and can be set to a desired weighting function.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, in the vicinity of the center portion 2L, the thermally conductive fiber 4c is divided into an end portion 2m side on one end side and an end portion 2p side on the other end side, and each is slightly opposite side 2n from the horizontal direction. Alternatively, the angle toward the rear end 2n may be increased stepwise from the subsequent ends 2m and 2p.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, although heat conductive fiber 4a, 4b ... in the slice direction was made into the arrangement | sequence mentioned above, this arrangement | sequence can also be applied in an array direction. In this case, weighting of ultrasonic sensitivity in the array direction can be performed on the backing material 2, and thermal conductivity can be improved also in the array direction.

  Furthermore, in addition to the ultrasonic probe having such a 1D array, a multi-dimensional array such as a 2D array in which elements are arranged in a plane, or a 1.5D array in which the distribution of elements differs depending on the direction along which the elements are along. The present invention can also be applied to an ultrasonic probe having Also in an ultrasonic probe having a multidimensional array, the thermally conductive fibers 4a, 4b,... Are stepwise in a direction parallel to the end face of the piezoelectric body 5, that is, from the center to the end in at least one array direction. If the arrangement is made so that the angle formed with the end face is large, weighting can be performed. If the heat conductive fibers 4a, 4b,... Are arranged so as to be inclined in the second direction, that is, the direction opposite to the direction from the piezoelectric body 5 to the acoustic lens 9, it is possible to improve the heat conductivity.

It is a block diagram of an ultrasonic probe. 1 is a block configuration diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including an ultrasonic probe according to the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the other structure of an ultrasonic probe. It is a figure which shows an example of the weighting function which prescribes | regulates the step arrangement | sequence of the heat conductive fiber in the ultrasonic probe of this invention. It is a figure explaining heat dissipation of the ultrasonic probe of the present invention. (A) is a figure which shows the sound pressure distribution in the ultrasonic probe of this invention, (b) is a figure which shows the sound pressure distribution of the conventional ultrasonic probe.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ultrasonic probe 2 Backing material 3 Main material 4a-4e Thermal conductive fiber 5 Piezoelectric body 6 Electrode pair 7 1st matching layer 8 2nd matching layer 9 Acoustic lens 10 Heat sink 100 Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

Claims (8)

A piezoelectric body having two end faces substantially parallel to each other;
A backing material provided on one end face side of the end faces;
With
The backing material is
Including a backing main material and a plurality of thermally conductive fibers filled in the backing main material;
The plurality of thermally conductive fibers are:
Inclined in the direction opposite to the ultrasonic transmission direction so that the angle formed with the end face gradually increases from the center to the end in the direction parallel to the end face,
Ultrasonic probe characterized by. A piezoelectric body having two end faces substantially parallel to each other and divided in a first direction parallel to the end faces;
An acoustic lens provided on one of the end faces;
A backing material provided on the other end face side of the end faces;
With
The piezoelectric body is
The direction of the acoustic lens with respect to the piezoelectric body is set as a second direction, ultrasonic waves are transmitted in the second direction,
The backing material is
Including a backing main material and a plurality of thermally conductive fibers filled in the backing main material;
The plurality of thermally conductive fibers are:
From the center to the end of the backing material in the third direction perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction, the second angle is gradually reduced from the second direction to the second direction . Be arranged in an inclined direction opposite to the direction ,
Ultrasonic probe characterized by. The sequence is
According to a weighting function of ultrasonic transmission intensity and reception sensitivity set in advance, having the number of arrangement steps and the degree of change of the inclination angle,
The ultrasonic probe according to claim 1 or 2 . The backing material is
Further comprising auxiliary particles,
The ultrasonic probe according to claim 1 or 2 . The sequence is
The thermally conductive fiber filled in the central portion is filled so as to be oriented in a horizontal direction with respect to the end face, and the thermally conductive fiber filled in the end portion is oriented in a direction perpendicular to the backing material. The thermal conductive fibers filled between the central portion and the end portion are filled so as to be inclined in a direction opposite to the second direction,
The ultrasonic probe according to claim 2 . For the backing material,
A radiator plate is in contact with an end parallel to the first direction on the surface opposite to the surface on the piezoelectric body side;
The ultrasonic probe according to claim 2 . The thermally conductive fiber is a carbon fiber;
The ultrasonic probe according to any one of claims 1 to 6 . The ultrasonic probe according to any one of claims 1 to 7 ,
Transmitting means for transmitting a voltage to the piezoelectric body of the ultrasonic probe;
Image processing means for receiving a reception signal generated by the ultrasonic probe based on transmission / reception of an ultrasonic wave and performing image generation processing according to the reception signal;
Display means for displaying an image generated by the image processing means;
Providing
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized by the above.

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