JPS6225000A - Method of cutting ultrasonic vebrator material - 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 [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a method for cutting an ultrasonic probe material used in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

In recent years, ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses have been used to obtain tomographic images of, for example, patients. This ultrasonic diagnostic device obtains ultrasonic images of abdominal organs inside the body of a patient, etc., and uses them as data for treatment, surgery, etc. Its principle is to apply a driving voltage to what is called an ultrasonic transducer. This system generates ultrasonic waves and emits them from outside the patient's body, for example, to the affected area, and makes a diagnosis based on the reflected echoes and the like.

Such ultrasonic transducers include a single disk transducer, a rectangular linear array transducer, etc. depending on their shape. Recently,
With the increasing sophistication of technology, in order to improve the resolution of ultrasound images at each distance from the ultrasonic transducer, for example, in the ultrasonic diagnostic equipment described above, a technique called multi-stage dynamic aperture focus has been introduced to improve the resolution of the ultrasonic image at each distance from the ultrasonic transducer. Control methods have come into use, and ring-shaped vibrators whose aperture and focus can be varied in the same way in the lens direction and scan direction have been used.

However, when manufacturing the ring-shaped vibrator, it is impossible to use conventional mechanical cutting methods such as a diamond cutter due to the material (ceramic etc.).
Normally, for example, a method of cutting using pulsed laser light is used, but thermal cutting methods such as pulsed laser light heat the ultrasonic transducer, resulting in depolarization, electrode peeling, etc. There was a problem that occurred.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic transducer cutting method that can cut an ultrasonic transducer material into a ring shape in a short time without heating the ultrasonic transducer. .

[Summary of the invention]

The outline of the present invention for achieving the above object is that a water jet device includes a spout for spouting a fluid, and a part of the ultrasonic transducer material is cut by the pressure of the fluid spouted from the spout. A fluid blocking plate having a notch is placed on the ultrasonic transducer material, fluid is started to be ejected from the spout at a portion other than the notch of the fluid blocking plate, and the jetting port is moved to the notch. At the same time, the ejection port and the ultrasonic transducer material are moved relative to each other to cut the ultrasonic transducer material along the notch using the ejection pressure of the ejected fluid. This is characterized by stopping the ejection of fluid from the outlet.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an explanatory diagram of a fluid cutting device used in the cutting method of the present invention. In the same figure, the water jet device includes a supply pipe 1 that supplies industrial water, a pressure intensifier 2 that adds pressure to the industrial water led by the supply pipe 1, and an industrial water jet that is brought to high pressure by the pressure intensifier 2. It has an accumulator 3 that adjusts the pressure to a constant level when sending water to a nozzle 4, which is a spout, and the pressure intensifier 2 is connected to a hydraulic oil tank via a hydraulic motor 6 driven by an electric motor 5. A hydraulic oil supply pipe 6a for introducing the hydraulic oil sent out from the hydraulic oil pump 7 and a hydraulic oil discharge pipe 7a for discharging this hydraulic oil are connected.

FIG. 2 is a plan view including the end face of the nozzle 4. FIG. In the figure, the nozzle 4 is an example of a nozzle 4 capable of cutting by sucking fine particles of an abrasive material such as garnet or silica together with the industrial water. This nozzle 4 mixes, for example, industrial water supplied from the direction of arrow A and an abrasive material from the direction of arrow B, and cuts the ultrasonic vibrator.

This X-Y table 12 has, for example, a circular table shown in FIG. A screw is provided, and the table can be moved freely in the horizontal direction by controlling the rotation of a motor attached to the ball screw, which is attached near the center of the table.

Further, this XY table is connected to and controlled by a control device (not shown).

Note that the abrasive material is used as necessary.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of the cutting method according to the present invention. In the same figure, a masking plate 8, which is a ring-shaped fluid blocking plate, is mounted on the upper surface of the cylindrical ultrasonic transducer material 9.
This is provided, for example, by clamping (not shown) the ultrasonic transducer material 9 and the masking plate 8. The nozzle 4 is disposed above the ultrasonic transducer material 9 and the masking plate 8, so that the ultrasonic transducer material 9 can be cut. Further, an X-Y table 12 is provided on the lower surface of the ultrasonic transducer material 9 and can be driven and controlled in any curve, for example, so that it can be rotated at the center of the ultrasonic transducer material 9. .

Further, the nozzle 4 is attached to, for example, a linear actuator, such as an air cylinder 13, so as to be movable, for example, in the directions of arrows A and B shown in the figure.

In the cutting method of the present invention having the above configuration, when cutting, for example, on the inner circumference of the ring-shaped masking plate 8 and at the center opening of the ultrasonic transducer 9, the nozzle 4 is Place it outside the perimeter and wait. Next, at that position, the pressure of the fluid to be ejected from the nozzle 4, the nozzle diameter, the cutting feed rate, the distance from the nozzle 4 to the surface to be cut, etc. are set in advance, and the start of ejection of the fluid is controlled and stabilized.

Next, the nozzle 4 is driven and controlled by the linear actuator and moved to the position shown in the figure. At the same time as the movement of the nozzle 4 starts or at the same time as the movement is completed, the X-Y table 12 is driven and controlled to start rotating the center opening of the ultrasonic transducer material 9, and at the same time as the end of one rotation, the nozzle 4 is rotated. It is driven and controlled to move in the direction of the middle arrow B, and the ejection of the fluid is stopped. At this time, the nozzle 4 is A with respect to the circumference of the vibrator 9 to be cut.
Assume that it enters in the tangential direction of direction B and exits in the tangential direction of direction B.

During the cutting process, the masking plate 8 has the function of protecting parts other than the cutting circumference from the pressure of the fluid ejected from the nozzle 4 when the nozzle 4 is controlled to move on the cutting circumference, for example. It is made of aluminum or the like.

The above cutting method eliminates problems such as depolarization and electrode peeling due to heating in conventional cutting methods using pulsed laser light, for example, by using a fluid that does not generate heat, such as industrial water, or using this industrial water and the abrasive material. This can be solved by cutting without generating heat by combining it with Furthermore, as described above, setting the fluid jetting conditions outside the cutting circumference to make the fluid jetting constant and then moving it to the part to be cut is, for example, by starting the fluid jetting at the nozzle position shown in Fig. 3. The ultrasonic transducer material 9 is made of a material with high hardness, such as a ceramic material, and if the cutting process is started under conditions that are not compatible with this material, undesirable problems such as cracks and irregularities in the cut surface may occur. It is.

Experimental data obtained using the method for cutting an ultrasonic transducer according to the present invention will be shown below.

(Hereinafter referred to as margins) As described above, according to the cutting method of the present invention, it is possible to increase the cutting feed rate, and cutting can be performed in a short time.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the one embodiment described above, but includes various modifications within the scope of the gist of the present invention. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, masking plates 10 and 11 are provided on the top surface of the ultrasonic transducer 9 on the inside and outside of the cutting circumference, respectively, to cut off the starting position of the fluid jet from the nozzle 4. Since it can be set inside the circumference, drive control can also be performed in the directions of arrows A and B passing through the center of the ultrasonic transducer 9 in the figure. Also, the above X-
The cutting may be performed by moving the nozzle 4 in a circular motion on the ultrasonic transducer material 9 in a plane parallel to the upper surface of the ultrasonic transducer material 9 without rotating the Y table.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, cutting can be performed without generating heat during cutting, thereby eliminating occurrences of depolarization, electrode peeling, etc., and by using a masking plate. This ultrasonic transducer does not start cutting on the cutting circumference when cutting, which eliminates cracks in the ultrasonic transducer material and irregularities in the cut surface that occur when cutting starts on the cutting circumference. can provide a cutting method.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the fluid cutting device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view including a cross section of the nozzle of the fluid cutting device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an illustration of the ultrasonic vibration of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view for explaining the operation of a method for cutting an ultrasonic transducer according to the present invention. FIG. 4... Jet nozzle, 8... Fluid blocking plate, 9... Ultrasonic transducer material. Agent Patent Attorney Noriyuki Chika Yudo Norio Ogo Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] When cutting the ultrasonic transducer material by the pressure of the fluid ejected from the ejection port provided in the water jet device, the fluid shielding plate having a notch in a part is subjected to the ultrasonic vibration. The fluid is placed on the child material, starts ejecting fluid from the ejection port other than the notch of the fluid blocking plate, moves the ejection port to the notch, and connects the ejection port with the ultrasonic transducer material. The ultrasonic transducer material is cut along the notch by relatively moving the jetting fluid, and the jetting of the fluid from the jetting port is stopped at a portion other than the notch after cutting is completed. How to cut ultrasonic transducer material.