JPS60128796A - Ultrasonic probe - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remove shift of resonance due to coating of a protective layer by polymerizing and fixing a adjustable layer thinner than the most suitable thickness on each element and sticking a protective layer on the entire clearance between said upper layer and the element to make it a composite adjustable layer with the most suitable thickness. CONSTITUTION:Each piezoelectric ceramic element 1 is arranged on a packing material 2 in series so that respective elements 1 can hold the prescribed clearance each other, and an adjustable layer 3 is formed in a thickness thinner than the most suitable one. Each upper surface of adjustable layer 3 and clearance are entirely coated by a protective layer 4 so that an air gap 5 will be formed in clearance between respective elements 1. The entire thickness summing up two types of thickness, that is, the adjustable layer 3 and the protective layer 4, turns out to be the most suitable thickness of a composite adjustable layer. As a result, the element 1 can be prevented from falling down and shift of resonance can be removed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic glove installed in an ultrasonic diagnostic cutting device.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

In recent years, in order to spread the characteristics of ultrasound emitted from an ultrasound probe to the crystal band, it has been proposed to sequentially reduce the acoustic impedance of a piezoelectric ceramic that emits ultrasound to the acoustic impedance of a subject. In response to this proposal, a matching layer was formed on the piezoelectric ceramic that emits ultrasonic waves in order to lower the acoustic impedance and obtain optimal ultrasonic characteristics, and the thickness of this matching layer was: It is optimal to adjust the wavelength λ of the ultrasonic wave propagating within the matching layer to be, for example, approximately.

By the way, for example, in a sector-scanning ultrasonic probe, the spaces between a plurality of piezoelectric ceramic elements cut into strips are filled with air. This is to prevent deterioration of the directivity (element factor) per element. The air gap between each element of the piezoelectric ceramic reduces the reinforcing relationship between the elements, causing phenomena such as the elements to fall over, so a matching layer of the optimum thickness was laminated and fixed on each element. Later, a thin protective layer was further coated on top of this to strengthen the reinforcing relationship between the elements and prevent elements from sagging.

However, since the reinforcing protective layer also functions as a matching layer, a protective layer as a matching layer is further laminated on top of the matching layer with an optimal thickness, and as a result, the matching layer as a whole becomes thicker. (As a result, the resonance points of each piezoelectric ceramic element are shifted, resulting in a problem that desired ultrasonic characteristics cannot be obtained.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and aims to eliminate the resonance shift caused by the coating of the inner layer,
An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic probe that can obtain desired ultrasonic characteristics.

[Summary of the invention]

The outline of the present invention for achieving the above object is to provide an ultrasonic probe in which each element of an ultrasonic transducer is arranged with a gap, in which a matching layer thinner than the optimum thickness is polymerized and fixed on each element. A composite matching layer having an optimum thickness as a whole is obtained by attaching a crushing layer to the entire top surface of the matching layer and over the gap.

[Embodiments of the invention]

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

The drawing is a sectional view showing one embodiment of the vibrating part in the ultrasonic glove according to the present invention. In the drawings, reference numeral 1 denotes piezoelectric ceramic elements obtained by cutting rectangular piezoelectric ceramic into strips, and the piezoelectric ceramic elements 1 are arranged in parallel on a backing material 2 with a predetermined spacing between them. Reference numeral 3 denotes a matching layer laminated and fixed on each of the piezoelectric ceramic elements 1, and the matching layer 3 is formed in advance to be thinner than the optimal thickness as a matching layer. 4 is a protective layer further deposited on the matching layer 3, and this protective layer 4 is formed on each piezoelectric ceramic element 1 so that an air gap 5 is formed between each piezoelectric ceramic element 1. The entire top surface and gaps of each matching layer 3 are coated over the entire surface. Then, the thickness of the matching layer 3 and the thickness of the protective layer 4 are adjusted to form a composite matching layer having an optimum thickness as a whole.

The ultrasonic probe configured as described above prevents each piezoelectric ceramic element 1 with a matching layer 3 from falling over by the preservation layer 4FC, and also has an optimal thickness by combining the matching layer 3 and the preservation layer 4. Since the layer functions as a matching layer having the following characteristics, desired ultrasonic characteristics can be obtained without shifting the resonance as in the conventional case.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, the matching layer is formed in advance to be thinner than the optimum thickness, and the protective layer adhered thereon is configured to have the optimum thickness as a whole. It is possible to provide an ultrasonic probe that eliminates the resonance shift caused by the ultrasonic wave and can obtain desired ultrasonic characteristics.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawing is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the vibrating part of the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention. Sleeping layer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an ultrasonic probe in which each element of an ultrasonic transducer is arranged with a gap, a matching layer thinner than the optimum thickness is polymerized and fixed on each element, and the upper surface of the matching layer and... An ultrasonic glove characterized in that a binding layer is attached to the entire surface to form a composite matching layer having an optimal thickness as a whole.