JPH02291846A - Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform accurate diagnosis by certainly detecting the trouble duo to disconnection of a transducer by mounting a waveform monitor device for monitoring the waveform abnormality of each transmission signal corresponding to each ultrasonic vibrator and displaying abnormality when waveform abnormality is detected by said waveform monitor device. CONSTITUTION:Waveform monitor devices 4a to 4d are respectively provided corresponding to annular vibrators 64, 63, 62 and a circular vibrator 61 and connected to the output parts of transmitters on the input side thereof and also connected to a digital scanning converter(DSC) 9 on the output side thereof. When a transducer 53 is connected to the transmitter 2 (corresponding to each of the transmitters 2a to 2d) and both of them are not in a disconnection state, the transmission waveform at an (a)-point becomes (a) and, at the time of disconnection, said waveform becomes (b). Therefore, by always monitoring the transmission signal waveforms at the (a)-point with respect to the respective vibrators 61 to 64 by the waveform monitor devices 4a to 4d, abnormality such as disconnection can be detected and the output signal of a comparator at the time of transmission is appropriately processed in the DSC 9 to be capable of being displayed by a monitor 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more specifically, a mechanically scanning sector probe having multiple annular transducers (
(Prior art) Regarding an ultrasonic diagnostic device using an annular probe (hereinafter referred to as an annular probe), this type of ultrasonic diagnostic device is known, for example, as shown in Utility Model Application No. 147181/1983.
FIG. 6 shows its basic configuration.

In the same figure. 1 is an annular probe, and this annular probe 1 has multiple annular transducers 53.
It is equipped with This transducer 53 includes a circular vibrator 6l and concentric ring vibrators 62, 63, 64, and a transmission mechanism 5 for mechanically driving these.
5 is provided within the annular probe 1.

11 Circular vibrator 61 and concentric ring vibrator 62
,63. Transmitters 2d, 2c, 2b, and 2a for supplying transmission signals are connected to 64, respectively, and each transmitter 28 to 2d has a delay line, etc. for making the focus of the ultrasonic beam variable. It is connected to the transmission delay circuit 3.

Further, the circular vibrator 61 and the circular vibrator 62 to 64 are provided with receivers 5d, 5c. 5b and 5a are connected to each other, and a receiving delay circuit 6 having a delay line and the like is connected to each receiver 58 to 5d.

An analog circuit section 7 for processing the received signal is connected to the reception delay circuit 6, and at the same time, the transmission mechanism section 55 is controlled by the analog circuit section 7. A digital scan converter (hereinafter referred to as DSC) 9 is connected to the analog circuit section 7 for generating a tomographic image from the received signal.
A monitor 10 is connected to this DSC 9.

Furthermore. A B-mode pulse generator 12 that generates timing pulses for obtaining a B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image is connected to the DSC 9, and the output side of this pulse generator 12 is connected to the transmission delay circuit 3.

Next, to explain this operation, the transmission timing pulses output by the B-mode pulse generator 12 are sent to the transmission delay circuit 3, and these timing pulses are processed so that a predetermined focus is obtained in the delay circuit 3. The signal is delayed and sent to the transmitters 28 to 2d, and then sent to each of the transducers 61 to 64 as an amplified transmission signal. As a result, each vibrator 61
.about.64 is excited, and the object to be examined is irradiated with an ultrasonic beam.

Echoes from the subject are received by the transducers 61 to 64, amplified by the receivers 5a to 5d, and then sent to the reception delay circuit 6. Focusing is performed in the receiving delay circuit 6, and the received signals are combined and sent to the analog circuit section 7, where appropriate signal processing is performed and input to the DSC 9. Then, this DSC 9 performs well-known image processing, and a B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image is displayed on the monitor 10. (Problem to be Solved by the Invention) In the above-mentioned conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, when one or two of the circular transducers 61 and 62 to 64 break down due to disconnection, etc., the ultrasonic diagnostic equipment on the monitor 10 The image quality of sonic tomograms does not deteriorate as much as can be seen at first glance. For this reason, there is a risk that the transducer 53 may be used in an abnormal state, resulting in a problem that accurate diagnosis cannot be expected.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems,
The purpose is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can reliably detect failures such as transducer disconnections and perform accurate diagnosis.

(Means for Solving the 1% I Problem) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a mechanical scanning sector probe having multiple annular transducers in which a plurality of ultrasonic transducers are arranged concentrically, and a transmitting a pulse generator that generates a timing pulse; a transmission delay circuit that delays the transmission timing pulse to make the focus of the ultrasonic beam variable; and a transmission delay circuit that is connected to the output side of the transmission delay circuit and that a transmitter that supplies a transmission signal to a sonic transducer; a receiver that receives a reflected wave of the ultrasound beam;
In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising a receiving delay circuit that delays each of the signals received by the receiver, and an image generating means that obtains a tomographic image of the subject from the output signal of the receiving delay circuit, each of the ultrasonic vibrations The system is equipped with a waveform device that monitors waveform abnormalities of each transmitted signal corresponding to each child, and displays an abnormality when a waveform abnormality is detected by this waveform monitor. (Function) According to the present invention, the waveform of the transmitted signal corresponding to each vibrator in the transducer is constantly monitored by the waveform monitor. Thereby, for example, an abnormality such as a disconnection failure occurring in a certain transducer can be detected from a change in the transmitted signal waveform, and this detection result is displayed on a monitor for displaying an ultrasonic tomographic image.

(Example) An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. Components that are the same as those in FIG. 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, different parts will be mainly explained.

That is, in FIG. 1, 48 to 4d represent the annular vibrator 64.
, 63, 62 and the circular vibrator 61, and these waveform monitors 48-
The input side of the waveform monitor 4d is connected to the output side of the transmitters 28-2d, and the output side of the waveform monitor 48-4d is connected to the DSC 9.

Here, the waveform monitors 48 to 4d monitor changes in waveforms as described below. In other words, as shown in FIG.
(corresponding to points a to 2d) are connected, and if both are not disconnected (virtual switch b is on), the sending 4it signal waveform at point a in the figure is as shown in figure 3 (
It will be like a). However, if there is a disconnection between the transducer 53 and the transmitter 2 (switch b is off)
, the transmission signal waveform at point a is as shown in FIG. 3(b). Therefore, by constantly monitoring the transmission signal waveform at point a for each of the vibrators 61 to 64, abnormalities such as wire breakage can be detected.

FIG. 4 shows the waveform monitors 48 to 4d (for convenience, reference numeral 4
41 is a comparator, 42 and 43 are resistors, 44 is a diode, and 4
5 is a resistor for setting a reference voltage.

To explain the operation when the transducer 53 breaks down in this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, when the transducer 53 is normal, the transmitted signal waveform at point a becomes as shown in FIG. 3(a). When a voltage exceeding the voltage is input, the output signal C of the comparator 41 during transmission temporarily becomes ``H''.
When the transducer 53 has a disconnection failure, the transmission signal waveform at point a becomes as shown in FIG. 3(b), so the output signal C of the comparator 4l at the time of transmission becomes ``L''.

Therefore, by appropriately processing the output signal of the comparator 4l within the DSCQ, it is possible to display on the monitor 10 that a particular vibrator has a disconnection failure.

Note that the configuration of the waveform monitors 48 to 4d is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 4, and may be of any configuration as long as it can detect the difference in the transmission signal waveform during normal and failure conditions. good.

Next, FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention,
In this embodiment, waveform monitors 48-4d are provided on the output sides of receivers 58-5d, respectively. Also in this embodiment, it is possible to detect a disconnection failure in each of the vibrators 61 to 64 from a change in the waveform of the transmitted signal (received signal) and display it on the monitor IO.

In each of the above embodiments, the case of a disconnection failure within the transducer 53 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, but is also effective in cases such as a disconnection of a cable in the transmission/reception path or a failure of a transmitter/receiver. (Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to detect and display a disconnection failure, etc. in any one of a plurality of vibrators, so there is no inconvenience of performing a diagnosis while an abnormality remains. This has the effect that accurate diagnosis is always possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the connection state between a transmitter and a transducer, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure (a). (b) is a waveform diagram of a transmitted signal, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a waveform monitor, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional technique. 1... Annular probe 28-2d... Transmitter 3... Delay circuit for transmission 48-4d... Waveform monitor 58-5d... Receiver 6... Delay circuit for reception 7...・Analog circuit section 9...Digital scan converter (OSC) 10
...Monitor 12...B-mode pulse generator 53...Multiple annular transducer 55...Transmission mechanism section 6l...Circular oscillators 62-64...
・Circular vibrator

Claims (1)

[Claims] A mechanical scanning sector probe has a multiple annular transducer in which a plurality of ultrasound transducers are concentrically arranged, a pulse generator that generates a transmission timing pulse, and a pulse generator that delays the transmission timing pulse to generate an ultrasonic beam. a transmission delay circuit for making the focus variable; a transmitter connected to the output side of the transmission delay circuit to supply a transmission signal to the ultrasound transducer; and a transmitter for receiving reflected waves of the ultrasound beam. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising a receiver, a reception delay circuit that delays signals received by the receiver, and an image generation means for obtaining a tomographic image of a subject from the output signal of the reception delay circuit. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising a waveform monitor that monitors waveform abnormalities of each transmission signal corresponding to each ultrasonic transducer, and displays an abnormality when the waveform monitor detects a waveform abnormality.