JPH02203846A - Ultrasonic probe - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the conduction of heat to a diagnostic portion of a detected body and prevent a feeling of physical disorder to a patient by transmitting a heat generated from a vibrator from an intermediate connecting part to a heat releasing plate, and releasing the heat to the opposite side to the ultrasonic wave radiating surface. CONSTITUTION:An intermediate connecting part 26 formed of a heat releasing resin having a satisfactory heat conductivity is adhered to the side surface outer circumferential part of a vibrating plate to, a heat releasing plate 28 having a satisfactory heat conductivity is fitted to one end thereof, and the other end of the heat releasing plate 28 is fixed to a shield plate 22 disposed on the inner wall of a case. At the time of bringing a probe into contact with the affected part of a living body which is a detected body and making a diagnosis, a heat is, if generated from the vibrator 10, transmitted to the intermediate connecting part 26, further propagated to the heat releasing plate 28 consisting of high heat conductive materials, and transmitted from the shield plate 22 to the rear of the case. Consequently, the heat generated from the vibrator 10 can be released to the opposite side to the ultrasonic radiating surface. Thus, the heat is never conducted from the contacted probe to the detected body affected part, and a feeling of physical disorder by heat of the patient and a low temperature burn can be certainly prevented.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe, particularly an ultrasonic probe that comes into contact with a subject to observe the affected area of the subject, and transmits and receives ultrasonic waves using a built-in transducer. This paper also relates to improvements in ultrasonic probes that emit waves.

[Prior Art] In the medical field, ultrasonic diagnostic devices are widely used in order to use an ultrasonic probe to observe a subject or a diagnostic area.

In particular, this type of ultrasonic probe sends and receives ultrasonic waves by bringing it into contact with an object to be inspected. That is,
When a probe is applied to a subject and a high-frequency voltage is supplied to a transducer provided inside the probe, ultrasonic waves are emitted and reflected at the affected area of the subject.

This is received by the same vibrator, and the reflected waves are displayed on a television monitor to observe the internal state of the subject.

In this way, this type of ultrasonic probe generally transmits and receives waves with one probe and converts electrical signals into ultrasonic signals, or converts ultrasonic signals into electrical signals. It has become an important device that affects the performance of diagnostic equipment, and has been diversified depending on the type of diagnostic equipment and the diagnostic site of the subject.

This type of ultrasonic probe utilizes the piezoelectric effect of the vibrator to excite and transmit ultrasonic waves (mechanical vibration waves) corresponding to the applied electric signal), and also uses the piezoelectric reverse effect to emit ultrasonic waves (mechanical vibration waves) from the living body. Generates an electrical signal in response to the returned ultrasonic waves (wave reception). FIG. 2 shows a cross section of the tip of a conventional ultrasound probe.

In the figure, a vibrator 10, which is a source of ultrasonic waves, is bonded onto a backing material 12, and this backing material 12 is fixed with a base material 14. And, this vibrator 10 is
Mainly linear type or sector type is used.

Further, on the backing material 12, two acoustic matching layers, a first matching layer 16 and a second acoustic matching layer 16, are provided for acoustic matching with the living body.
A matching layer 18 is formed.

Furthermore, in order to improve the directivity of the emitted ultrasonic waves, an acoustic lens 2 with a convex lens attached to the front surface is mounted on the top surface.
0 is set. This acoustic lens 20 is fitted into the tip of a case 24 having a shield plate 22 on its inner wall. This shield plate 22 is provided to prevent the influence of external noise and the like on transmitted and received signals.

As described above, the ultrasonic probe has a laminated structure. The operation will be explained below.

When making a diagnosis using an ultrasonic probe, the tip of the probe shown in the figure is brought into contact with the affected area of a living body, which is a subject.

This probe is connected to a high voltage switching circuit (not shown) via a cable from an ultrasonic diagnostic device (not shown).

This high voltage switching circuit is connected to a signal line provided in the vibrator 10, and selectively switches ultrasonic transmission/reception signals.

In this way, a high-frequency voltage is supplied to the vibrator 10 via the signal line, and thereby the piezoelectric effect of the vibrator 10 is utilized to excite ultrasonic waves corresponding to the supplied electric signal (mechanical vibration waves).

Here, the backing moon 12 fixed to the rear surface of the vibrator 10 responds to the ultrasonic waves radiated from the vibrator to the rear surface.
Provides sufficient acoustic attenuation.

Also, a first matching layer 18 .attached to the front surface of the vibrator 10 .
The two acoustic matching layers consisting of the first matching layer 16
The acoustic impedance of zero and the acoustic impedance of the living body are matched to improve the transmission characteristics of ultrasound.

Furthermore, the acoustic lens 20 is provided in front of the second matching layer 18 to improve resolution by converging the ultrasonic beam.

As described above, ultrasonic waves (
high-frequency mechanical vibration waves) are sent into the living body.

Then, according to the reaction of the living body to this vibration wave (reflection characteristics, attenuation characteristics, scattering characteristics, etc.), the ultrasound waves returning from inside the living body are transmitted to the second wave. The signal is received by the vibrator 10 via the first matching layer and converted into an electrical signal.

In this way, the ultrasonic reception signal, which is a reflected wave, is transmitted to the diagnostic device via the high voltage switching circuit, and an ultrasonic image from the diagnostic section can be displayed on a television monitor.

The diagnostician can then make an appropriate diagnosis using this image.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, when observing the diagnostic section using the probe, the high frequency voltage is supplied to the transducer 10 as described above, thereby generating ultrasonic waves. are doing.

In this ultrasonic wave, an electric signal (electrical energy) consisting of a high frequency is converted into mechanical vibration (mechanical energy) by the vibrator 10, and is excited. However, during this conversion, heat is generated in the vibrator 10 as a loss. Therefore, the joint portion of the vibrator 10 inside the probe and its vicinity were heated.

Therefore, when used for a long period of time, there is a problem in that the vibrator 10 generates heat, and this heat is transmitted to the subject, which adversely affects diagnosis.

Furthermore, since the probe is in contact with the human body, the heat causes the patient to feel uncomfortable. Furthermore, there is a problem in that low-temperature burns may occur if the device is fixed to a diagnostic site and left for a long period of time.

In this way, in the past, it was impossible to avoid the generation of heat accompanying the drive of the high-frequency voltage of the vibrator 10, and no countermeasures were taken.As described in detail, the present invention The purpose of this system is to prevent the propagation of heat to the diagnostic area of the subject using the heat generated from the transducer during diagnosis, and to direct the heat away from the ultrasonic radiation surface of the probe. It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved ultrasonic probe that prevents the ultrasound probe from escaping to the side and gives a patient a sense of discomfort, and enables appropriate diagnosis.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a vibrator fixed by an end face of a matching layer and an end face of a backing material, and a case for fixing and holding the vibrator, The vibrator has an intermediate connection part made of a high thermal conductivity material and provided on the outer circumference of the vibrator, and a heat sink made of a high heat conduction material fixed to the inner wall of the case via the intermediate connection part. It is characterized in that the heat generated from the intermediate connection portion is transmitted to the heat sink and radiated to the side opposite to the ultrasonic radiation surface.

[Function] According to the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention, even if the transducer generates heat during diagnosis, the heat is transmitted to the intermediate connection part made of a highly thermally conductive material fixed to the transducer, and the heat is further dissipated. transmitted to the board. By radiating heat to the side opposite to the ultrasound emission surface, it is possible to prevent the patient from feeling uncomfortable due to the heat, and to reliably prevent the effect on the diagnosis.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the tip of a probe according to the present invention.

In the figure, the same members as those in the conventional example shown in FIG.

In the figure, the difference from the conventional example shown in FIG. This is because a plate 28 is provided.

That is, in the embodiment, an intermediate connection part 26 made of a resin with good thermal conductivity for heat radiation is attached to the outer periphery of the side surface of the diaphragm 10, and a heat sink plate 28 with good thermal conductivity is attached to one end of the intermediate connection part 26.
are fitted. Further, the other end of the heat sink 28 is connected to the shield plate 22 provided on the inner wall of the case 24 as described above.
is fixed to.

With the configuration as described above, the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention can prevent heat generation from the transducer 10 during diagnosis in which the probe is brought into contact with the affected part of a living body, which is a subject. The heat is transmitted to the intermediate connection portion 26, and further to the heat dissipation plate 28 made of a highly thermally conductive material. As described above, since the other end of the heat sink 28 is fixed to the shield plate 22, this heat is further transmitted from the shield plate 22 to the rear of the case, increasing the heat radiation effect by heat conduction.

In this way, in the present invention, by providing the intermediate connection portion 26 and the heat sink 28, it is possible to radiate the heat generated from the vibrator 10 to the side opposite to the ultrasonic radiation surface.

As described above, according to the probe of the present invention, an effective heat dissipation effect can be obtained against heat generation from the vibrator 10 even when used for a long time.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the ultrasonic probe of the present invention,
By having a heat dissipation structure that did not exist before,
At the time of diagnosis, an intermediate connection part made of a high thermal conductivity material is provided on the outer circumference of the vibrator, which is a heat source, and a heat sink made of a high heat conduction material is provided on the inner wall of the case via the intermediate connection part. Even if the vibrator generates heat due to transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves, the heat can be transferred from the intermediate connection portion to the heat sink. As a result, heat is radiated to the side opposite to the ultrasound emission surface, so that heat is not conducted from the contact probe to the affected area of the subject, reliably preventing the patient from feeling uncomfortable due to heat and low-temperature burns. Moreover, it becomes possible to reliably prevent any influence on diagnosis.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 shows Figure 2 shows 10... 20... 22... 24... 26... 28... A sectional view of the tip of the probe of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the tip of a conventional probe. vibrator acoustic lens shield plate Case Intermediate connection Heat sink.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An ultrasonic probe that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from a subject, which includes a transducer fixed by an end face of a matching layer and an end face of a backing material, and a case that fixes and holds the transducer, an intermediate connecting portion made of a highly thermally conductive material and provided on the outer periphery of the vibrator; and a heat sink made of a highly thermally conductive material fixed to the inner wall of the case via the intermediate connecting portion; An ultrasonic probe characterized in that the generated heat is conducted from the intermediate connection portion to a heat sink and radiated to a side opposite to the ultrasonic radiation surface.