JPS58149749A - Electronic scanning type ultrasonic probe - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electronic scanning ultrasonic probe having a plurality of arranged transducers.

Electronic scanning ultrasound diagnostic equipment uses a transducer with multiple transducers arranged in the form of thin strips for both transmitting and receiving purposes.
Each transducer of the probe is excited with a predetermined delay time to electronically scan the subject with an ultrasound beam, and the transducers receive reflected echoes from the subject to display a tomographic image of the subject. This electronic scanning ultrasound diagnostic device can obtain approximately several dozen tomographic images per second, making it possible to display organs that move at high speed in real time.

However, since the transducer of the probe used in the above-mentioned electronic scanning ultrasound diagnostic equipment is used for both transmitting and receiving ultrasound signals, matching with the equipment itself can only be done on either the transmitting side or the receiving side. I can do it. For this reason, the sensitivity of the probe was reduced due to matching loss with the main body of the device, and the sensitivity of the entire device was also low.Also, since the transducer of the probe shares transmission and reception, so-called direct induction occurs during transmission. This causes noise to be generated in the probe, and this noise may significantly deteriorate the resolution of the device at short distances.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide an electronic scanning ultrasound probe having a plurality of arrayed transducers, in which a transmitting probe is excited and driven only when transmitting an ultrasound beam. The probe and the reception probe, which is excited and driven only during reception, are placed adjacent to each other in the same case, and the transmission and reception surfaces of both probes are arranged so that the transmission and reception directions intersect at the desired depth. A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1, 2, and 3 show a preferred embodiment of the present invention, with FIG. 1 showing a front view, FIG. 2 a right side view, and FIG. 3 a bottom view. ing.

In the figure, a transmission-only probe 1.0a, which has a plurality of transducers arranged in the form of thin rectangular strips, and a reception-only probe 1.
0b are provided separately within the probe case 12. A transmission input terminal 16a to which the cable 14a is connected, and a reception input terminal 16b to which the cable 14b is connected are provided on the upper front of the probe case 12.
Both terminals 16a and 16b are connected to the main body of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. This transmission cable 14a and transmission input terminal 1
6a, and the reception cable 14b and reception input terminal 16b, each transducer of the transmission-only probe 10a and each transducer of the reception-only probe 10b are connected to the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus main body and the matching circuit 18a. , 18b, and in this embodiment, the transmission signal from the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus main body is supplied to the transmission-only probe 10a via the matching circuit 18a, and the transmission signal is supplied to the reception-only probe 10b via the matching circuit 18a. Since the received signal is supplied to the main body of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus via the matching circuit 18b, no matching loss occurs between the receiving signal and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

Further, in this embodiment, the transmission surface lO of the transmission-only probe 10a
The angle of the reception surface 10β of the reception-only probe 10b can be adjusted by angle adjustment devices 20a and 20b. The back surfaces of the transmission-only probe 10a and the reception-only probe 10b are provided with support screws 22a and 22b loosely fitted to the back surface of the probe case 12 and the probe case 12, respectively.
It is fixed to a backing member 25 that is fixedly supported by support screws 24a and 24b loosely fitted to the front surface of the backing member 25. An angle adjustment knob 2 is provided at the tip of the support screws 24a and 24b.
6a.

26b is provided, and this angle adjustment knob 26a.

A pointer spring 28 that presses the probe case 12 is fixed to each of the tips 26b. The pointer portion of this pointer spring is a scale plate 30a fixed to the front of the probe case 12.
, 30b, the operator can determine the transmitting angle and receiving angle from the angle indicated by the pointer.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the 1' sound component of the ultrasonic beam transmitted by the transmitting-only probe is transferred to the receiving-only probe l.
A shield plate 32 is provided to separate the two from being received by the Ob.For the same purpose, the backing member 25 is also made of a sound absorbing material made of aluminum or a mixture of iron powder and plastic. .

Further, in this embodiment, attenuation of the ultrasonic signal with the subject is also taken into consideration. Transmission-only probe 10
Transmission surface 10α of a and reception surface 10 of reception-only probe iob
β is tightly attached to bags 34a and 34b filled with an ultrasonic transmission medium such as liquid paraffin or castor oil, and the lower surface of the bags 34a and 34b is covered with a thin film 36a made of polyurethane or the like for matching with the subject. , 36
covered by b. Note that the bag body 34a.

34b, the transmitting surface 10α, and the receiving surface 10β are coated with silicone grease in advance to prevent reflection of ultrasonic signals from occurring at the respective interfaces.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention has the above configuration, and its operation will be explained below; when a transmission signal is supplied from the main body of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus to the present probe, the transmission-only probe 10a A transmission signal with no matching loss is supplied to each vibrator by a matching circuit 18a. Then, an ultrasonic beam is emitted toward the subject from the transducer of the transmission-only probe 10a excited by the transmission signal.
a. Attenuation of the ultrasonic beam does not occur due to the thin film 36a.

Furthermore, when transmitting an ultrasonic beam, in this embodiment, since the transmitting and receiving functions are not combined, the above-mentioned direct guidance does not occur.
The acoustic shield plate 32 and the backing member 25 prevent noise from entering the reception-only probe 10b.

Since the reflected echo from the subject reaches the reception surface 1oβ of the reception-only probe 10b via the thin film 36b and the bag 34b, no transmission loss occurs. Further, the reception signal of the reception-only probe 10b is supplied to the main body of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus by the matching circuit 18b without any matching loss.

In this embodiment, the transmission direction of the ultrasonic beam can be adjusted and set by rotating the angle adjustment knob 26a.
The receiving direction of the reflected echo can be adjusted and set by rotating the angle adjustment knob 26b.

This adjustment of the transmitting angle and the receiving angle is particularly useful when transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals to a shallow, close-range site from the surface of the subject. This is because, in this embodiment, as described above, no direct guidance effect occurs, and as a result, the resolution of the short-distance part can be improved. This is because a received signal with high resolution can be obtained.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic scanning ultrasonic probe with high sensitivity and excellent resolution.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a right side view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 10a... Transmission-only probe 10b... Reception-only probe 10α... Transmission surface 10β... Receiving surface 18a, 18b... Matching circuit 20a, 20b... Angle adjustment device 32... ...Acoustic shielding plates 34a, 34b - bag body. Applicant Aloka Co., Ltd. Figure 3 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] +1) In an electronic scanning ultrasonic probe having a plurality of arrayed transducers, the transmitting probe is excited and driven only when transmitting an ultrasonic beam, and the probe is excited only when receiving. The driven receiving probes are arranged adjacent to each other in the same case, and the transmitting and receiving surfaces of both probes are positioned so that the transmitting and receiving directions intersect at a desired depth. An electronic running type ultrasonic probe. (2. The electronic scanning ultrasonic probe according to claim (1), characterized in that it is equipped with an angle adjustment device that adjusts the angle of at least either the transmitting surface or the receiving surface. ( 3) An electronic scanning ultrasonic probe according to claim (1) or (2), characterized in that an acoustic shield plate is provided between the transmitting probe and the receiving probe. (4) Claims (1), (2) or (3)
The electronic scanning ultrasonic probe according to the described apparatus further comprises a bag filled with an ultrasonic transmission medium between the probe and the subject.