JPS61145454A - Apparatus for measuring and inspecting ultrasonic probe - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily and rapidly perform measurement and inspection, by measuring the time between transmitting and receiving signals and the amplitude of a reflected signal in arbitrary arrangement positions at least at two points or more with respect to the arrangement direction of the vibrator of an ultrasonic probe and operating a posture control apparatus on the basis of the measured data by an automatic control means. CONSTITUTION:The drive pulse generated from a transmission part 23 is reflected by a reflector 4 through the vibrator 3 of an ultrasonic probe 1 and the reflected signal from the reflector 4 is inputted to a measuring circuit 25 through a receiving part 24. Timing selecting at least two or more points of scanning positions is formed in a timing generation circuit 26 and the data obtained by the circuit 25 is stored in a measured data memory circuit 27 and operated by an operational processing circuit 28 to be inputted to a posture control circuit 29. The signal for controlling the pulse motors 14, 20 of a posture control apparatus 6 is formed in the circuit 29 to respectively drive motors 14, 20 and, by this operation, a probe 1 is revolved around a pin 11 along with a shaking frame 7 and the inclined position of the vibrator 3 of the probe 1 to the reflector is controlled to allow the vibrator 3 to be parallel to the reflector 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic device, particularly an electronic scanning type ultrasonic diagnostic device in which a plurality of transducers are arranged in parallel to transmit ultrasonic waves and receive reflected waves thereof. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe measurement and inspection device used in the device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Electronic scanning type ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses are extremely useful in diagnostic medicine because they can obtain tomographic images of a subject in a short period of time. In such a scanning ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, variations in characteristics (sensitivity, distance resolution, azimuth resolution, etc.) occur between scanning positions. This variation between scanning positions can be caused by the main body of the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus or by the ultrasound probe, which is an ultrasound transmitting/receiving sensor, but in general, most of the variation is due to the ultrasound probe. Recently, ultrasonic diagnostic equipment has been provided that has an electronic switch built into the ultrasound probe that selects the transducers arranged in the scanning direction. In addition, variations between electronic switches can no longer be ignored, and the cause of variations in the ultrasound probe as a whole is viewed as a problem.

Therefore, it is necessary to measure and inspect variations in the characteristics of the ultrasonic probe. For ease of understanding, this type of conventional measurement/inspection device will be explained with reference to Fig. 2.
A signal supply cable is connected to an electronic linear scanning type ultrasound probe 1 that is the object of measurement and inspection, and a plurality of transducers 3 are arranged in the scanning direction of the ultrasound probe 1.
A reflector 4 made of a glass block or the like is provided within a water tank (not shown) at a predetermined distance from the surface. Then, ultrasonic waves are emitted from each transducer 3 at each scanning pitch, and the amplitude or reflected waveform of the reflected signal from the reflector 4 is observed to evaluate characteristics such as sensitivity or distance resolution. It has become. By the way, in this measurement/inspection device, it is necessary to place the surfaces of the plurality of vibrators 3 arranged in the scanning direction and the reflector 4 in an accurate parallel state in both the scanning direction X and the short axis direction Y. This is important when performing measurement inspections. .

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the past, in order to set the surface of the transducer 3 and the reflector 4 in an accurate parallel state, it was necessary to check the relative position or angle of the surface of the transducer 3, that is, the ultrasonic probe, using an oscilloscope. Alternatively, this was done manually while looking at the waveform and image displayed on an imaging device such as a diagnostic device. Therefore, this measurement and inspection work is troublesome and time consuming, and there are problems such as poor measurement accuracy.

Therefore, the present invention provides an ultrasonic probe measurement and inspection device that can easily and quickly automatically control the relative position or angle of an ultrasonic probe and improve measurement accuracy. That is.

Means for solving the problems and technical means of the present invention for solving the above problems include a reflector disposed facing a plurality of parallel transducers of an ultrasonic glove, and a an attitude control device that controls the attitude of an ultrasonic glove so that the transducer surface of the ultrasonic probe is parallel to the reflector; a transmitting unit that transmits ultrasonic waves from the transducer of the ultrasonic probe to the reflector; and a reflector. a receiving section that receives reflected waves from the ultrasonic probe via an ultrasonic probe, and measures the time between the transmitted and received signals and the amplitude of the received signals at at least two or more arbitrary array positions with respect to the array direction of the transducers. It has a measuring means, and an automatic control means for operating the attitude control device to control the attitude of the vibrator surface with respect to the reflector based on the measurement by the measuring means.

Function The present invention uses a measuring means to measure the time between transmitted and received signals and the amplitude of the received signal at at least two or more arbitrary array positions of the transducers of the ultrasonic probe with the above-described configuration,
A control signal is created by an automatic control means based on this data, and an attitude control device is actuated by this control signal to automatically control the scanning direction and the tilt position of the transducer of the ultrasonic probe with respect to the reflector in the short axis direction. I can do it.

EXAMPLE An example of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an electronic linear scanning type ultrasonic probe to which a signal supply cable 2 is connected.

A reflector 4 made of a glass block or the like is installed in a water tank 5 at a predetermined distance from a plurality of transducers 30 arranged in the scanning direction of the ultrasound probe 1 .

Here, measurement and inspection of the transmitted and received signals at two points at both ends in the scanning area of the vibrator 3 will be explained. FIG. 3(a) shows the waveforms of the vibrator drive pulse D1 from the left end of the vibrator 3 in FIG. 2 and the reflected signal E1 from the reflecting object 4 due to this pulse D1. Similarly, the waveforms of the vibrator driving pulse D2 from the right end of the vibrator 3 and the reflected signal E2 from the reflecting object 4 due to this pulse D2 are shown in FIG. and the reflector 4 are in accurate parallel condition, and the surfaces of each arranged vibrator 3 are aligned, the time Ts1 between the leftmost vibrator drive pulse D1 and the reflected signal E1, and the rightmost vibrator drive Pulse D2
The time Ts2 between the reflected signal 82 and the reflected signal 82 should be equal.

If the parallel condition between the transducer 30 surface and the reflector 4 is not completely satisfied, there will be a difference between Tsl and "82" as shown in the figure.In other words, the transducers in the ultrasound probe 1 are arranged so as to reduce this time difference. It is sufficient to control the inclination of the scanning direction All you have to do is find the maximum R value of the amplitude vM1*VM2. Therefore, at least two points of the attitude control device of the ultrasonic probe 1 with respect to the reflector 4 and the transducer 3 arranged in the scanning direction. In other words, the measurement means for measuring the time difference and amplitude between the transducer drive pulses on each side of the scanning position and the reflected signals, and the measurement of the transducer 3 based on the data measured by this measurement means. In order to control the attitude of the surface in the scanning direction X and short axis direction Y, an attitude control means is provided to automatically control the attitude control device.

To explain an example of the posture control device 6 of the ultrasonic probe 1, fixing screws 9 are screwed into a pair of legs 8 of the swing frame 7, and the ultrasonic probe 1 is fixed by the fixing screws 9. . A support portion 10 installed at the middle portion of the upper surface of the swing frame 7 is swingably supported by a pin 11 at the middle portion of the swing frame 12 . A compression spring 13 is interposed between one side of these swing frames 7 and 12. A pulse motor 14 is attached to a machine frame (not shown) on the opposite side of the compression spring 13 to the bottle 11, and this pulse motor 14 is connected to a pressing member 16 via means (not shown) for converting its rotational force into linear motion. The pressing member 15 is connected to the upper surface of the swing frame 7.

A movable frame 17 is disposed between a pair of support parts 16 at the upper part of the swing frame 12 in a direction perpendicular to the swing frame 12 (perpendicular to the plane of the paper), and the support part 16 of the swing frame 12 is disposed on this movable frame 17. It is swingably supported by a bin 18. A compression spring 19 is interposed between the swing frame 12 and one side of the movable frame 17 in the same way as between the swing frames 7 and 12. A pulse motor 20 is attached to the machine frame on the opposite side of the compression spring 19 to the bottle 18, and this pulse motor 2o is connected to the pressing member 21 via means (not shown) for converting its rotational force into linear motion.
The pressing member 21 is connected to the upper surface of the swing frame 12 . The movable frame 17 is supported so as to be slidable only on a shaft 22 which is horizontally attached to the machine frame in the scanning direction X. Therefore, by sliding the movable frame 17 along the axis 22, the transducer 3 of the ultrasound probe 1 can be made to correspond to the reflector 4. In addition, by driving the pulse motor 14 and advancing the suppressing member 16, the swing frame 7 and the ultrasonic probe 1 are rotated about the bottle 11 against the elasticity of the compression spring 13. By retracting 16, the swing frame 7 and the ultrasound probe 1 can be rotated in the opposite direction to the above due to the elasticity of the compression spring 13. That is, the tilt position of the transducer 5 of the ultrasound probe 1 in the scanning direction, which is the X-axis, can be adjusted. Further, by driving the pulse motor 2o and advancing the suppressing member 21, the swing frame 12.7 and the ultrasonic probe 1 are rotated about the bottle 18 against the elasticity of the compression spring 19; By retracting the suppressing member 21, the swing frame 1
2.7 and the ultrasonic probe 1 can be rotated in the opposite direction to the above due to the elasticity of the compression spring 19. That is, the tilt position of the transducer 5 of the ultrasound probe 1 in the short axis direction, which is the Y axis, can be adjusted.

The ultrasonic probe 1 is connected to a transmitter 2 via a cable 2.
3 and the receiving section 24 are connected, and the receiving section 24 is connected to the measuring circuit 26.
It is connected to the. A timing generation circuit 26 is connected to the measurement circuit 26, and the measurement circuit 25 is connected to a measurement data storage circuit 27, an arithmetic processing circuit, and an attitude control circuit 29. This attitude control circuit 29 is connected to the attitude control circuit 29. Connected to pulse motor 14.20. Also, the receiving section 2
4 is connected to a measurement data processing circuit 30, and this measurement data processing circuit 3o is connected to a recorder 31.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

The transmitter 23 applies a transducer drive pulse and a scanning timing signal to the ultrasound probe 1, and the transducer 3 emits an ultrasound pulse to the reflector 4 using the transducer drive pulse. The reflected signal from the reflector 4 is received by the ultrasonic probe 1, and the received reflected signal is input to the receiving section 24. The signal that has passed through the receiver 24 is input to a measurement circuit 26 that measures the time between the vibrator drive pulse and the reflected signal from the reflector 4 and the amplitude of the reflected signal. The timing generation circuit 26 is for generating a control signal for determining the scan position to be measured, and creates timing for selecting at least two or more scan positions. The data obtained by the measurement circuit 25 is stored in the measurement data storage circuit 27, and the arithmetic processing circuit 28 calculates the time difference between the transmitted and received signals and the maximum amplitude of the reflected signal at each scanning position. Enter. The attitude control circuit 29 generates signals for controlling the pulse motors 14 and 20e of the attitude control device 6. The pulse motors 14 and 20 of the attitude control device 6 are driven by this control signal, thereby rotating the ultrasonic probe 1 together with the swing frame 7 about the pin 11, and the transducer 30 of the ultrasonic probe 1 is reflected. body 4
The tilt position in the scanning direction
2 and the swing frame 7, the ultrasonic probe 1 is rotated about the bin 18, and the tilt position of the ultrasonic probe 1 in the short axis direction Y with respect to the transducer 30 and the reflector 4 is controlled.
can be made completely parallel to the reflector 4. By satisfying the parallelism condition between the ultrasonic globe 1 and the reflector 4, the reflected signal from the receiving section 24 is transmitted to the measurement data processing circuit 30.
Through this, the characteristics of variations in sensitivity and distance resolution among the arranged vibrators 3 are recorded on the recorder 31.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, a reflector is disposed opposite to a plurality of parallel transducers of an ultrasonic probe, and the transducer surface of the ultrasonic probe is aligned with the reflector. The attitude control device is used to control the position so that it is parallel to the
The ultrasonic probe causes the transmitter to transmit to the reflector, and the reflected wave is received by the receiver. The amplitude of the reflected signal is measured by the measuring means, and based on this data, the automatic control means operates the attitude control device to satisfy the condition of parallelism between the transducer of the ultrasonic probe and the reflector. Therefore, measurement inspection can be performed easily and quickly, and measurement accuracy can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of the ultrasonic probe measurement and inspection device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a principle diagram for explaining the ultrasonic probe measurement and inspection, and Fig. 3 (, ) and (b) are vibrations, respectively. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the timing of a child drive pulse and a reflected signal from a reflector. 1... Ultrasonic probe, 2... Cable, 3... Vibrator, 4... Reflector, 5
...Aquarium, 6...Attitude control device, 7.
...Swinging frame, 9...Fixing screw, 12...
...Swinging frame, 14... River pulse motor, 17...
...Movable frame, 20...Pulse motor, 23
. . . Transmitting section, 24 . . . Receiving section, 26.
...Measurement circuit, 26...Timing generation circuit, 27...Measurement data storage circuit, 28...
... Arithmetic processing circuit, 29 ... Posture control circuit, 30 ... Measurement data processing circuit, 31 ...
...Recorder.

Claims (1)

[Claims] a reflector disposed to face a plurality of parallel transducers of the ultrasonic probe; and a posture that controls the attitude of the ultrasonic probe so that the transducer surface of the ultrasonic probe is parallel to the reflector. a control device, a transmitter that transmits ultrasonic waves from the transducer of the ultrasonic probe to the reflector, a receiver that receives the reflected waves from the reflector via the ultrasonic probe, and a transmitter that transmits ultrasonic waves from the transducer of the ultrasonic probe to the reflector; a measuring means for measuring the time between the transmitted and received signals and the amplitude of the received signal at at least two or more arbitrary array positions; 1. An ultrasonic probe measurement and inspection device comprising automatic control means for operating a control device.