JPH0332337Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to an improvement in mechanical scanning of a transducer of an ultrasonic probe.

[Prior art] A transducer is excited to generate ultrasonic pulses, which are sent into a living body, and reflected echoes due to differences in acoustic impedance of living tissues are received by the same transducer to determine the state of the living tissues. Ultrasound diagnostic methods for obtaining information are well known.

Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment obtains the information necessary for diagnosis by mechanically or manually changing the position of the probe and mechanically changing the orientation of the transducer, depending on the area to be diagnosed. There is.

However, in conventional ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, the main switch of the ultrasound diagnostic equipment also serves as the switch of the transducer scanning device, so it is necessary to Even after obtaining information and before stopping the equipment,
Mechanical scanning of the transducer will be performed.

Therefore, unnecessary scanning time is included in the durability of the transducer scanning device, resulting in a problem that the probe is inefficiently used and uneconomical.

The present invention has been devised in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide an ultrasonic probe with high utilization efficiency.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a scanning device that scans the transducer and a scanning device that scans the transducer in an ultrasound probe that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves from the transducer to the living body. a detection device that detects the oscillator and allows the transducer to scan;
It is characterized by including.

[Example] Hereinafter, a preferred example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an ultrasonic probe according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a detection device.

In the embodiment, the ultrasound probe 10 includes a transducer 12 that transmits and receives ultrasound waves to and from a living body, a scanning device that scans the living body by changing the orientation of the transducer 12 depending on the region to be diagnosed, and Detection device 14 to detect
and a case 16 that covers these.

In FIG. 1, the direction of the transducer 12 is changed by a geared motor 18, which is a scanning device, and a probe 12 is moved by an ultrasonic diagnostic device (not shown).
The desired information is obtained by combining this with the change in the position of .

There are various methods for detecting living organisms, but in recent years, technological development has been widely advanced for methods that utilize far-infrared rays emitted from living organisms, and infrared detection elements have been developed for electro-optical applications. A pyroelectric infrared detection element 20 (hereinafter referred to as a pyroelectric element) using a dielectric material is useful.

The pyroelectric element 20 has the characteristics of good sensitivity and response speed, but since the far infrared rays emitted by a living body decrease in proportion to the square of the distance, it can only be used within a distance of several tens of centimeters from the living body. It is possible to detect living organisms.

In the embodiment, the detection device 14 detects infrared rays emitted from a living body using a pyroelectric element 20, as shown in the block diagram of FIG.
The signal output from the pyroelectric element 20 is amplified by a band-limiting amplifier, the signal processing circuit determines whether the output signal from the pyroelectric element 20 comes from a living body, and the result is sent to the transducer scanning drive circuit. It is output through a relay circuit.

In addition, since human movement is included in the range of 0.1 to 10 Hz, the amplifier is a band-limited amplifier having a peak in this range.

With the detection device 14 having such a configuration, the relay circuit is turned on and the transducer scanning drive circuit is turned on while the pyroelectric element 20 is detecting far infrared rays emitted from the living body.

That is, the transducer 12 can be scanned only when the living body and the pyroelectric element 20 are within a predetermined distance range, and when the pyroelectric element 20 is more than a predetermined distance away from the living body, the transducer 12 cannot be scanned. It becomes possible to stop.

As shown in FIG. 1, the detection device 14 includes a pyroelectric element 20 that detects far infrared rays, and a high input resistance type input circuit of a band-limiting amplifier (not shown) provided in close proximity to the pyroelectric element 20. a field effect transistor (hereinafter referred to as FET) 22, and a lead wire 24 that connects both to the geared motor 18 via a band-limiting amplifier.
and a light pipe 26 that protects the pyroelectric element 20.
It is equipped with.

In FIG. 1, the detection device 14 is attached to the case 16, the case 16 and the detection device 14 are attached to the case 16, and the case 16 and the detection device 1 are attached to the case 16.
4, a resin 28 is sealed between them.

As described above, by attaching the detection device 14 to the probe 10, the transducer 12 scans only when the probe 10 is within a predetermined distance from the living body.
When the probe 10 moves away from the living body by a predetermined distance or more, the scanning of the transducer 12 is stopped.

The unique feature of the present invention is that unnecessary scanning of the transducer can be omitted by using an ultrasonic probe that includes a detection device that detects a living body and allows the scanning of the transducer. be.

That is, in the present invention, the detection device is configured to include a pyroelectric element which is an infrared detection element, and while the pyroelectric element is detecting far infrared rays emitted from the living body, the transducer is scanned and the pyroelectric element is detected. It is possible to stop the scanning of the transducer while the element does not detect far infrared rays.

In this invention, even if the living body and the probe are not in contact with each other, if the distance between them is within a certain range, the transducer can scan the transducer without being affected by the scanning start delay time of the scanning system. Diagnosis can be started as soon as the living body and the probe come into contact.

Therefore, according to the present invention, by attaching the detection device to the probe, it is possible to increase the utilization efficiency of the probe, which is very economically advantageous.

Note that it is possible to use other infrared detection elements as the pyroelectric element, and it is also possible to use other detection means as the means for detecting a living body.

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to increase the utilization efficiency of the probe.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus with high probe usage efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an ultrasonic probe according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a detection device. 10... Probe, 12... Vibrator, 14... Detection device, 16... Case, 18... Geared motor, 20... Pyroelectric element, 22... FET, 26...
...Light pipe.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) In an ultrasonic probe that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves from a transducer to a living body, a scanning device that scans the transducer and a device that detects the living body and permits scanning of the transducer. What is claimed is: 1. An ultrasonic probe comprising: a detection device, wherein scanning of the transducer is performed only when the distance between the living body and the probe is within a predetermined range. (2) The ultrasonic probe according to claim (1), wherein the detection device includes an infrared detection element.