JPS6389152A - Ultrasonic stone crushing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

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

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Field of Application) This invention relates to a device for crushing stones using ultrasonic waves.
In particular, a radiator that generates ultrasonic pulse waves must provide sufficient energy to fragment the stone. The present invention relates to a stone crushing device that can localize the location where stone crushing is possible.

(Prior Art) As a known example of a device that can be applied to crushing stones using ultrasonic waves, there is an ultrasonic pulse generator for crushing stones, which is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 145131/1983. In this device, a spherical piezoelectric transducer is used to generate a shock wave that is focused on a focal region. In this case, the center point of this spherical curvature becomes the focal region, and the stone is crushed by the concentration of the ultrasonic pulse waves. Therefore,
It is necessary to position the stone to be fragmented at the center of curvature. Therefore, the structure is such that the center of curvature exists in front of the spherical opening. On the other hand, the larger the spherical surface area, that is, the radiation area of the ultrasonic pulse, the more efficient the ultrasonic pulse can be emitted with high crushing energy. In order to radiate efficient ultrasonic pulses under the above-mentioned conditions, the shape that can be achieved with maximum efficiency is a hemispherical shape as shown in Fig. M3, and the radiation surface 31 is maximized under the condition that the aperture surface 33 is the same. However, in this case, the curvature center layer 2 force f
- Since it is within the plane of the MO plane 33, it is practically difficult to position the stone to be crushed at this location.

Usually, a curvature center point 35 as shown in FIG. 4 is set. At this time, if the aperture surface 36 of the radiation surface 34 is equal to the aperture surface 33 shown in FIG. 2, the area of the radiation surface 34 will be smaller than that of the radiation surface 31, and the energy of the ultrasonic pulse will be smaller. In order to obtain the same ultrasonic pulse energy, the drive power of the ultrasonic radiator must be increased, or the area of the radiator must be increased to make it equivalent.
Increasing the voltage of the drive circuit or increasing the aperture area increases the size of the device, which is accompanied by technical difficulties, and also limits the practical size when used in a living body, which is undesirable.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

In this way, with conventional technology, when using an ultrasonic pulse radiator for crushing stones, a radiator with a small aperture that can be attached to a living body to be treated has a small radiation area, so it is not sufficient to crush stones. However, it is difficult to obtain high energy, and it is necessary to increase the driving power, but it also affects the danger of high voltage to living organisms and the oscillator characteristics of the radiator. Furthermore, since high voltage drive circuits have poor cost performance, there is a need for a method of increasing energy that does not rely on these.

An object of the present invention is to provide a device that can increase the energy of emitted ultrasonic pulses without changing the aperture area and the positional relationship between the aperture surface and the focal point.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides an apparatus for crushing stones using focused ultrasonic pulse waves, in which subdivided vibrators are arranged in an annular group on the inner surface of a rotating body. to constitute an ultrasonic radiator, and the ultrasonic pulses emitted from each of the transducers are moved between the transducers so that they simultaneously reach a predetermined position on an axis outside the rotating body. An ultrasonic stone crushing device is provided, which is characterized in that it is driven by applying a phase amount.

(Function) In the present invention, geometrically equidistant distances are not required as in the conventional case, that is, the radiator is not limited to a spherical shape, and the radiator is not limited to a spherical shape, but the position where the ultrasonic pulse is concentrated, that is, the radiator is intended to be crushed. The radiator is composed of an ultrasonic transducer divided into small sections, and the radiator is composed of an ultrasonic transducer divided into small sections. The drive timings of the transducers are slightly different, and the drive timings are adjusted so that the time it takes for the ultrasonic pulses from each section to reach the actual focal point is all equal. In the present invention configured and adjusted as a sphere, by making the shape of the radiator a rotating body with a deeper depth than that of a sphere, a radiation area larger than that of a single sphere can be realized.
It becomes possible to increase the ultrasound energy concentrated in the focal point.

The sections of the vibrator on the radiation surface are axially symmetrical and are subdivided into annular sections having the same drive timing.

The number of division stages is determined by the size of the focal concentration range,
The larger the number of subdivisions, the smaller the focus.

(Example) An example of implementation of the present invention is shown in FIG.

On the inner surface of the rotating body 6, an n-dimensional function (however, n≠2) curve whose rotational axis is the central axis 7 such that the calculus 12 inside the living body 11 is on the axis, or a combination function curve of a plurality of functions. It is equipped with a radiator to which annular imagers 1a...1g are fixed. Interposing the ultrasonic wave propagation tube between the radiator and the living body is performed in the same manner as in the prior art. The vibrators 1a...1g each have a phase shifter 2a...2g.
are connected, and the transducer drive pulse from the ultrasonic drive pulse generator 4 passes through each phase shifter 2a...2g, giving a phase difference to each of the transducers 1a...Ig to drive the ultrasonic pulse. Occur. In this embodiment, the vibrator 1a close to the opening surface 13 has the largest phase shift, and the vibrator 1b toward the bottom surface sequentially
The amount of phase shift decreases as the distance increases, and the amount of phase shift becomes smaller at the vibrator 1g. This amount of phase shift is given by a phase shift amount control circuit 3, and is determined in advance based on the shape of the rotating shaft 6 and the position of the stone. Thus, the oscillator 1 located further away from the stone
The ultrasonic pulses are sequentially driven starting from g, and the emitted ultrasonic pulses reach the stone, that is, the virtual focus, at the same time, so that the stone is crushed.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the present invention, with vibrators 1a and 1a in each section.
...1g is each ultrasonic drive pulse generator 4a...
Powered by 4g. The drive timing generation circuit 5 generates a time delay in the drive timing given to the annular sensors 1a, .
...The ultrasonic pulses from 1g are controlled so that they reach the stone at the same time.

In either embodiment, it is possible to focus on a stone at any position on the shaft 7 by changing the phase shift amount of the phase shift amount control circuit 3 or by changing the time delay of the drive timing generation circuit 5. It is also possible to avoid restrictions on the distance between the stone and the radiator.

Note that the annular vibrator is not necessarily an integral vibrator, but even divided vibrators can achieve the object of the present invention if they are driven with the same phase or multiple timings.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Conventional spherical radiators require a larger aperture and an increase in driving power to increase ultrasonic energy, making them difficult to put into practical use; however, the present invention is suitable for mounting on living organisms. The surface area of the radiator can be increased by the opening surface, which allows more powerful ultrasonic energy for stone crushing to be obtained, and the radiator can be made smaller.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the invention, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration for obtaining the maximum effect according to the prior art, and Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram showing a practical configuration according to the prior art. 1a...1g...Subdivided vibrator, 2a...
...2g...phase shifter, 3...phase shift amount control circuit, 4,
4a...4g...Ultrasonic drive pulse generator, 5...
・Drive timing generation circuit, 6...Rotating body, 7...
Rotation axis, 11... Living body, 12... Stone, 13...
Aperture surface, 31... Spherical surface of living sphere, 32... Focus, 33
...Aperture surface, 34...Spherical surface, 35...Focal point. 36... Opening surface.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a device for crushing stones using focused ultrasonic pulse waves, an ultrasonic radiator is constructed by arranging subdivided vibrators in an annular group on the inner surface of a rotating body. The transducer is driven by giving a phase shift amount between each of the transducers so that the ultrasonic pulses emitted from each of the transducers reach a predetermined position on a shaft outside the rotary body at the same time. Ultrasonic stone crushing device. (2) The ultrasonic stone crushing device according to claim 1, characterized in that the drive timing of the vibrator group is changed so that the arrival times to a predetermined position on the shaft coincide with each other.