69 results about "Array transducer" patented technology

The invention provides an acoustic coalescence elimination method for hydrogen bubbles in molten aluminum, and belongs to the technical field of molten aluminum bubble elimination. According to the method, sound field collaborative focusing is achieved by arranging a phase control array transducer set in a molten aluminum smelting furnace, primary gathered sound waves and efficient coalescence sound waves are applied in stages according to bubble size evolution in a double-frequency scanning mode, and the hydrogen bubbles in the molten aluminum are eliminated. A target frequency is dynamically adjusted in combination with a bubble resonance frequency optimization model to match the inherent frequency of a bubble, a sound-bubble coupling dynamic tracking system is used for monitoring bubble evolution triggering stage switching in real time, and a sound field focus point dynamically scans and covers a three-dimensional space area through phase delay control. A delay detection method is adopted to eliminate cavitation bubble interference and accurately measure the hydrogen content, sound intensity and frequency parameters are optimized according to a sound field parameter self-adaptive regulation and control model, and the technical problem that hydrogen bubbles in a molten aluminum deep area are difficult to be effectively driven by sound waves and cannot be fully coalesced and eliminated is solved.

The present invention relates to an endoscopic probe for photoacoustic tomography of cavity side walls, characterized by comprising a hollow tubular probe housing with a closed front end; N acoustic wave receiving windows and M laser output windows formed on the side wall of the tubular probe housing; an array of linear laser output ports connected to a pluggable optical fiber connector via an optical fiber bundle; and an ultrasonic transducer array connected to a multi-channel signal connector via a signal harness. The present invention employs a method of arranging array transducers and array laser outputs on the side wall of the probe, eliminating the need for a reflector. The probe is less than 2 centimeters in size and can be placed in close proximity to the prostate through the rectum for photoacoustic imaging of the prostate, or in close proximity to the inner wall of the rectum for photoacoustic imaging of the inner wall of the rectum. The endoscopic probe provided by the present invention, combined with a photoacoustic imaging system host, utilizes photoacoustic endoscopic imaging technology to perform real-time transrectal prostate imaging and rectal imaging, achieving ideal imaging results.

The invention discloses a multi-modal ultrasonic Lamb wave imaging spatial resolution quantification method, and relates to the technical field of ultrasonic Lamb wave imaging, and the method specifically comprises the steps: 1, employing an array transducer to carry out point-by-point excitation and receiving on the basis of a full-focus method data collection mode, collecting complete full-matrix data, building a multi-modal Lamb wave propagation model, and carrying out the calculation of the multi-modal Lamb wave propagation model; the method comprises the following steps: step 1, constructing a corresponding Fisher information matrix based on partial derivative information of each channel in combination with observation noise variance, and step 2, carrying out CRLB numerical calculation by adopting an MATLAB platform based on a derivation result of the Fisher information matrix. Physical relations among the defect imaging precision, the wavelength and the modal characteristics are established theoretically, and a quantitative basis is provided for multi-modal selection and system design.

The present invention discloses a wireless cross-domain acoustic communication system and method based on acoustic holography. The acoustic holographic device used for cross-domain acoustic communication consists of a single-layer acoustic holographic phase plate, an array transducer, and a camera vision module, wherein each array element of the array transducer has two states: on / off. After receiving the communication coding signal transmitted in the water, the transducer array elements at the corresponding positions can be sequentially selected and the dynamic regulation of the incident sound field can be realized. Then, the sound is transmitted to the water-air interface through the single-layer holographic phase plate and phase-modulated. Under the action of the acoustic radiation force, the interface will deform. The camera vision module is used to capture and parse and decode the deformation of the water surface, completing the wireless reception of information across the water-air interface. The present invention can directly transmit underwater information to the air. The equipment is simple and the relative position requirements of the transmitting and receiving devices are not strict. It is applicable to liquid environments of any temperature, salinity, and density.

Non-destructive inspection of welded rail joints by ultrasound phase-array transducers in one device, precise positioning non-destructive inspection probes and moving the probes in longitudinal and transverse directions. Two scanners have ultrasound phase-array transducers and emission control unit for sequential or simultaneous inspection of welded joints using (i) two ultrasound phase-array transducers are directed to each other and operate separately, wherein the transducers provide a beam sector of 36-75 degrees; (ii) two ultrasound phase-array transducers are directed to each other and operate separately, wherein the transducers provide a beam sector of 26-24 degrees from the tread surface during longitudinal movement; and / or (iii) two ultrasound phase-array transducers are directed to each other, one transducer emits a transverse wave with a predetermined angle from the tread surface to the base of the rail, while the other transducer receives a longitudinal wave that occurs only when a vertical crack exists in the rail.

This invention relates to an ultrasound endoscope probe, an ultrasound endoscope system, and its working method. The ultrasound endoscope probe includes multiple convex array transducers arranged in an array on a mounting plate. The mounting plate has a retracted position and an extended position. When the mounting plate is in the retracted position, the connecting surface is abutted against the mating inclined surface. When the mounting plate is in the extended position, the working surface is perpendicular to the central axis of the endoscope catheter. The ultrasound endoscope system includes a signal synchronization module, a data acquisition module, a data processing module, and a display module. By constructing a mapping relationship between the probe coordinate system and the BEV global coordinate system, a three-dimensional voxel mesh is generated to segment blood vessels and tumor tissue, ultimately achieving three-dimensional reconstruction. This invention overcomes the shortcomings of traditional ultrasound imaging, such as low vascular discrimination and large three-dimensional reconstruction errors, effectively improving imaging and segmentation accuracy, clearly displaying the relationship between lesions and adjacent blood vessels, shortening operation time, improving the safety of minimally invasive operations, reducing the burden of diagnosis and treatment for patients, and demonstrating significant clinical application value.

The invention relates to the technical field of ultrasonic phased array nondestructive testing, and discloses a metal pipe inner wall defect ultrasonic phased array detection probe and a metal pipe inner wall defect ultrasonic phased array detection method, the probe comprises an array transducer and a wedge block, the array transducer is connected with the wedge block through a connector, and the curvature radius of the end face of the bottom of the wedge block is the same as that of a metal pipe. The curvature of the end part of the probe provided by the invention is the same as that of the outer diameter of the pipe, so that good acoustic coupling can be realized, an oblique incidence sound beam forming a certain angle with the radial direction of a detected object can be formed, and ultrasonic waves can obliquely enter the side surface of a defect; the full-focus algorithm is adopted for imaging in the axial direction of the pipe, the detection sensitivity of inner wall shallow surface defects can be effectively improved, and the detection efficiency and reliability are improved.

The invention discloses a wireless cross-domain acoustic communication system and method based on acoustical holography. The acoustical holography device used for cross-domain acoustic communication is composed of a single-layer acoustical holography phase plate, an array transducer and a camera vision module, each array element of the array transducer has a connected state and a non-connected state, and after a communication coding signal transmitted in water is received, the single-layer acoustical holography phase plate is connected with the camera vision module through the single-layer acoustical holography phase plate. The transducer array elements at the corresponding positions can be sequentially gated according to the sequence, dynamic regulation and control of an incident sound field are realized, the incident sound field passes through the single-layer holographic phase plate and is subjected to phase modulation to be transmitted to a water-air interface, the interface is deformed under the action of acoustic radiation force, and the camera vision module is used for capturing, analyzing and decoding the water surface deformation condition, so that the water surface deformation condition is obtained. And information wireless receiving across a water-air interface is completed. According to the invention, underwater information can be directly transmitted to the air, the equipment is simple, the requirement on the relative position of transmitting-receiving equipment is not strict, and the device is suitable for a liquid environment with any temperature, salinity and density.

A multi-array transducer for ultrasound guided intervention includes a transducer head, a housing unit, and a cable. The transducer head includes a plurality of arrays. A method for real-time visualization of needle insertion in biopsy includes: providing a multi-array transducer, the multi-array transducer including a plurality of arrays; and generating a plurality of ultrasound images by using the plurality of arrays for visualizing the insertion in real time.

The invention discloses a multi-mode composite excitation high-temperature magnetostrictive guided wave transducer and a guided wave detection system, and belongs to the field of measurement. The guided wave transducer generates guided waves in different modes by utilizing the first guided wave transduction module and the second guided wave transduction module, and after one-time installation is realized, defect detection of various corrosion trends with different orientations is realized by adopting two times of excitation, so that the cost is saved, the sensitivity and comprehensiveness of pipeline defect detection can be improved, the detection and monitoring efficiency is improved, and the detection and monitoring efficiency is improved. Therefore, the problem that an existing transducer of a single fixed mode type cannot accurately master comprehensive information of defect expansion is solved. After a plurality of groups of guided wave transducers are arranged along the circumferential direction of the pipeline, 1 / 2 of the array number which needs to control different modal excitation originally is reduced, and the maintenance problem of a large number of array transducers in detection and monitoring is solved. The guided wave detection system comprises a plurality of transducer circumferential arrays formed by circumferentially arranging the multi-mode composite excitation high-temperature magnetostrictive guided wave transducers.

The invention relates to a curved surface structure upper surface positioning method based on a non-uniform angle plane wave technology, and the method comprises the following steps: generating a plane wave emission angle sequence based on a non-uniform distribution function according to a maximum deflection angle and the total number of sampling angles; sequentially transmitting plane waves to the curved surface structure according to an angle sequence through an array transducer, and recording echo signals received by a full array element at each angle; performing envelope extraction on the received echo signal to obtain an envelope signal; performing imaging reconstruction on the envelope signal through a time domain delay superposition algorithm to obtain a composite imaging result; and extracting echo envelope intensity distribution according to a composite imaging result, reconstructing a space contour of the upper surface of the curved surface, and realizing positioning of the upper surface of the curved surface structure. Compared with the prior art, under the condition of limited angle number, the sound field contribution in the direction of a large deflection angle is remarkably enhanced, the reflected signal intensity and the imaging definition of a curved surface structure area are improved, and the method is suitable for nondestructive testing of a complex curved surface structure.

The utility model relates to the technical field of ultrasonic transducers, in particular to a flexible wearable ultrasonic array transducer, which comprises a mounting shell and a wearable mechanism, a plurality of groups of array transducer bodies are arranged at the inner upper part of the mounting shell, and a vibrating body is arranged at the upper end of the mounting shell. The left portion and the right portion of the lower end of the installation shell are each provided with two T-shaped clamping blocks, the installation shell is movably connected with the wearing mechanism through the T-shaped clamping blocks, and a fixing belt is arranged in the middle of the rear end of the installation shell. According to the flexible wearable ultrasonic array transducer, the T-shaped clamping block and the T-shaped clamping groove are matched to achieve rapid and stable clamping connection of the installation shell, the flexible wearable belt is conveniently fixed through the hook-and-loop fastener, the tightness degree can be adjusted, the fixing belt and the attaching part are attached to enhance the stability, and the use convenience and stability are improved; meanwhile, the array transducer bodies distributed in a staggered mode enlarge the monitoring range, the monitoring effect is improved, and richer and more accurate data are provided for medical health monitoring.

A method employing the principle of mechanical reciprocity to image the relative acoustic attenuation called shear wave reciprocity imaging (SRI). SRI does not require the pre-stored sample signal for acoustic attenuation evaluation. In SRI, sequential marching pushes similar to acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging are excited from an array transducer, and the reciprocal displacements are collected similarly to the plane wave single-track location method (p-STL).

The invention belongs to the technical field of ultrasonic instruments, and provides an area array transducer and a preparation method. The area array transducer comprises a piezoelectric wafer, an anisotropic conductive backing and an integrated circuit chip, the anisotropic conductive backing is arranged below the piezoelectric wafer, the anisotropic conductive backing comprises an insulating substrate and conductors, and the conductors are uniformly distributed in the insulating substrate; the conductor is columnar and is vertically arranged, and the top and the bottom of the conductor penetrate through the insulating substrate; the integrated circuit chip is disposed under the anisotropic conductive backing. According to the area array transducer, the piezoelectric wafer and the integrated circuit chip are arranged on the upper surface and the lower surface of the anisotropic conductive backing respectively, the anisotropic conductive backing serves as a complex of the acoustic sound absorption layer and the electrical interconnection layer, a traditional layered structure is broken through, the piezoelectric wafer and the anisotropic conductive backing are directly connected, and a good sound absorption effect can be achieved.

The invention discloses a double-frequency phased array composite pulse histotripsy system and a double-frequency phased array composite pulse histotripsy method. Comprising a double-frequency phased array transducer, a driving control module, a focus control module and a real-time monitoring module, wherein the double-frequency phased array transducer is a double-frequency hundreds of array element phased array transducer or a double-frequency split array transducer; the double frequency multiplication phased array transducer comprises a fundamental frequency array element group and a frequency multiplication array element group, the driving control module is used for outputting driving signals with corresponding frequencies to two groups of array elements, the focus control module is used for regulating and controlling the positions and the number of focuses, and the real-time monitoring module is used for tracking the effect; the double-frequency phased array composite pulse histotripsy system adopts a four-stage composite pulse time sequence to cooperatively control the working states of a fundamental frequency array element group and a frequency multiplication array element group, and is realized in combination with a multi-focus control strategy; according to the method, the defect of fogging zone front cavitation shielding possibly caused by double-frequency millisecond long-pulse tissue damage and the defect that instant B-ultrasonic monitoring is affected by slow bubble dissipation after treatment are overcome.

A resin composition according to an embodiment is a resin composition being a precursor of an acoustic matching layer for an ultrasound transducer element included in an ultrasound transducer element unit having an array transducer element including a piezoelectric body and an electrode. The resin composition includes resin and inorganic material particles, while satisfying 2.3≤Z / √ρ≤3.4 where Z denotes an acoustic impedance of the acoustic matching layer, whereas ρ denotes the density of the inorganic material particles.

The application relates to the technical field of ultrasonic transducers, in particular to a self-focusing medical ultrasonic diagnostic array transducer, which comprises, from bottom to top, a backing layer, a piezoelectric layer, a matching layer and an outer layer, the piezoelectric layer is connected with the backing layer and the matching layer in a precise gluing mode, a plurality of array elements are formed by longitudinally slicing and dividing the piezoelectric layer and the matching layer into small squares, the backing layer is composed of a plurality of layers of composite materials with different acoustic impedance rates arranged linearly in the longitudinal direction, the piezoelectric layer is composed of piezoelectric composite materials arranged linearly in the longitudinal direction, and the matching layer is composed of composite materials with different acoustic impedance rates arranged linearly in the longitudinal direction. The core of the application is to control the parameters of the matching layer and the backing material, so that the longitudinal sensitivity is distributed in a certain way, the longitudinal self-focusing is realized, the longitudinal beam characteristics of the transducer are improved, the method is simple, and the manufacturing cost is not high.

The invention relates to the technical field of ultrasonic detection, and discloses a Fresnel array transducer information acquisition system, a manufacturing method and a working method.The system comprises an ultrasonic transducer and a Fresnel array transducer, the Fresnel array transducer is arranged on the side close to a sound wave emitting face of the ultrasonic transducer, and the Fresnel array transducer is arranged on the side close to the sound wave emitting face of the ultrasonic transducer. The ultrasonic transducer is used for transmitting first sound waves, and the Fresnel array transducer is used for focusing the first sound waves and transmitting second sound waves and has the capability of receiving external sound waves. The first sound wave emitted by the ultrasonic transducer can be focused by the Fresnel array transducer, the focusing intensity of ultrasonic imaging is improved, and then the imaging resolution is improved; the ultrasonic transducer and the Fresnel array transducer respectively emit a first sound wave and a second sound wave with different frequencies to form respective optimal imaging depths, so that the acquisition range is expanded.

The invention discloses a single-focus and multi-focus reverse synthesis method and a single-focus and multi-focus reverse synthesis device based on an ultrasonic array transducer in the technical field of acoustic focusing equipment. Deriving an array transducer sound field distribution calculation formula based on a simple harmonic signal sound pressure calculation formula and binomial approximation conditions; sound field energy distribution of a target focus mode is set, and focus complex sound pressure when the sound intensity gain is maximum is obtained through an optimization algorithm; reversely solving the amplitude and phase of the driving signal of each array element based on the obtained array transducer sound field distribution calculation formula; and loading a driving signal to realize single-focus or multi-focus emission. According to the invention, accurate control of sound field distribution is realized, multiple modes such as a single focus or multiple focuses are supported, and the system is suitable for application scenes such as microbubble-mediated ultrasonic blood-brain barrier opening, nerve regulation and control, drug delivery and the like.

The present invention discloses a multi-modal composite excitation high-temperature magnetostrictive guided wave transducer and a guided wave detection system, which belong to the field of measurement. The guided wave transducer utilizes a waveguide transducer module 1 and a waveguide transducer module 2 to generate guided waves of different modes. After one installation, two excitations are used to realize defect detection of multiple corrosion trends with different directions. This not only saves costs, but also improves the sensitivity and comprehensiveness of pipeline defect detection, and improves the inspection and monitoring efficiency, thereby overcoming the problem that the existing single fixed mode type transducer cannot accurately grasp the comprehensive information of defect expansion. After multiple groups of guided wave transducers are arranged along the circumference of the pipeline, the number of arrays that originally need to control different mode excitations will be reduced by 1 / 2, solving the maintenance problem of a large number of array transducers in inspection and monitoring. The guided wave detection system includes a plurality of transducer circumferential arrays formed by the circumferential arrangement of the above-mentioned multi-modal composite excitation high-temperature magnetostrictive guided wave transducers.

The invention discloses a magnetostrictive array transducer based on torsional mode guided waves. The magnetostrictive array transducer comprises neodymium iron boron permanent magnets, inflection coils and nickel sheets. The neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets are bearing bush-shaped permanent magnets, the plurality of bearing bush-shaped neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets matched with the pipe diameter to be detected provide a static magnetic field along the circumferential direction of the pipeline, and meanwhile, the transducer shell needing 3D printing is convenient for assembling the permanent magnets; the inflection coil is a double-layer multi-turn inflection coil and is realized by using a flexible circuit board, and the width of each cluster of coil in the longitudinal direction of the pipeline is a quarter of the wavelength of a to-be-excited modal guided wave; the nickel sheets are sectional type high-permeability nickel sheets, the eight nickel sheets are uniformly arranged along the circumferential direction of the pipeline, and the corresponding eight inflection coils are respectively clung to each nickel sheet; and the eight bearing bush-shaped neodymium iron boron permanent magnets are arranged right above the sectional nickel sheets. According to the method, pure modal guided waves can be excited on the pipeline, circumferential positioning of defects is achieved, meanwhile, possibility is provided for defect imaging, and the problem of defect characterization at the supporting and shielding position of the pipeline is particularly solved.

A three-dimensional high-resolution underwater acoustic imaging system disclosed by the present invention comprises a watertight electronic cabin, an area array transducer deployed under the watertight electronic cabin, and an upper computer, the area array transducer comprises a receiving area array and a transmitting area array, and eight Archimedes spirals are drawn by taking a sound center as a base point, taking eight array elements closest to the area array elements on each spiral as optimized receiving array elements, and determining a receiving area array; an arc between two adjacent array elements on the outermost periphery of the receiving area array is equally divided into five parts, transmitting array elements are designed on equal division points, the receiving array elements serve as the transmitting array elements at the same time, and a transmitting area array is determined; the watertight electronic cabin comprises a signal processing board, and the signal processing board is used for processing signals received by the receiving area array, so that plane sound waves are driven by one transmitter to be transmitted, vortex phase modulation is carried out on each piece of received snapshot data, and vortex phase modulated snapshot data with the topological charge number of 1 is obtained; and the upper computer processes each piece of snapshot data based on an underwater acoustic correlated imaging algorithm to realize three-dimensional high-resolution underwater acoustic imaging.

The invention provides a buried target detection and positioning method and system based on a liquid-solid interface wave, and relates to the technical field of underwater target detection, and the method comprises the steps: S1, exciting a transducer through an interface wave normal force source to emit an interface wave signal, exciting an interface wave signal transmitted along the sea bottom, and transmitting the interface wave signal to an underwater target; when the interface wave signal encounters a target, an interface wave scattering signal is generated; and S2, forming a transducer array in a mode of combining a plurality of interface wave particle vibration receiving transducers, receiving the interface wave scattering signals by the transducer array, and processing the interface wave scattering signals through a delay superposition algorithm to realize detection and positioning of a seabed buried target. According to the invention, the liquid-solid interface wave can be used as an information carrier, the scattering echo signal of the target is used for seabed imaging, and the interface wave is used for realizing detection and positioning of the seabed buried target.

The invention provides an ultrasonic imaging method and system based on a ring array and a synthetic aperture technology, and the method comprises the steps: sequentially controlling all transmitting array elements in a ring array transducer based on a preset sequence, so as to enable each transmitting array element to sequentially transmit an ultrasonic signal to a corresponding imaging region; the method comprises the following steps: when any current transmitting array element transmits a current ultrasonic signal, acquiring a corresponding echo signal matrix through a plurality of receiving array elements corresponding to the current transmitting array element, and generating a region image of a current imaging region corresponding to the current transmitting array element according to the plurality of echo signal matrixes on the basis of a delay superposition mode, the echo signal matrix is composed of echo signals of all preset pixel points in the current imaging area, and the receiving array element itself is also a transmitting array element; and generating a complete ultrasonic imaging result graph according to the regional image corresponding to each transmitting array element, thereby improving the resolution ratio and real-time imaging frame rate of intravascular ultrasonic imaging.

The invention discloses a device and a method for testing the sensitivity of an array transducer based on a multi-pulse sequence. The device comprises a signal generator, a transmitting system, a receiving system and a data processing unit, the signal generator is used for generating and outputting a characteristic multi-frequency pulse sequence comprising a plurality of frequency points to be measured, the characteristic multi-frequency pulse sequence comprises a frequency point sequence of which the frequencies are arranged from small to large, the front end of the characteristic multi-frequency pulse sequence is provided with a characteristic signal of which the time width is T, and the time length of a single-group discrete pulse sequence is (n + 1) * T (n is the total number of the frequency points to be measured); and the transmitting system comprises a signal source, a power amplifier and a transmitting sound source which are connected in sequence, and is used for converting the characteristic multi-frequency pulse sequence into an underwater acoustic signal for transmitting. The invention solves the problems of poor adaptability, low data accuracy and low efficiency of a single array element sensitivity test system after array transducer array forming in the prior art, provides the array transducer sensitivity test system based on the multi-pulse sequence, and realizes efficient and accurate measurement of the sensitivity of a single transducer in an array.

Continuous wave (CW) Doppler analysis is performed using an ultrasound system with a linear array transducer probe. The linear array may be curved or flat. The array transducer has more transducer elements than the number of channels of a beamformer of the ultrasound system. To accommodate this difference, some of the elements of the array are multiplexed to the beamformer such that only one of a pair of elements is coupled to the beamformer at any one time. The plurality of elements of the array transducer are not multiplexed and are directly coupled to the beamformer. During imaging, both multiplexed and unmultiplexed transducer elements may be used to generate a signal for an image, and during CW Doppler analysis, only unmultiplexed transducer elements are used for CW Doppler transmit and receive apertures.

The invention discloses a bone health evaluation system and method based on a photoacoustic guided wave frequency-wave number spectrum. The bone health evaluation system comprises a computer, a transmitting and receiving control circuit, an analog-to-digital converter, a broadband tunable laser, a laser beam focusing light spot dynamic focusing system, a laser output head, a bone tissue to be detected, an ultrasonic array transducer and a multi-channel signal amplifier. The computer controls the wavelength and energy of a laser beam output by the broadband tunable laser through the transmitting and receiving control circuit, and meanwhile controls the laser beam focusing spot dynamic focusing system to adjust the spot size of the laser beam output to the bone tissue to be detected, so that photoacoustic guided wave excitation under different laser beam radiuses and wavelengths is realized; the transmitting and receiving control circuit synchronously controls the analog-to-digital converter to perform analog-to-digital conversion on the signal from the multi-channel signal amplifier, and inputs the signal into the computer for processing; the ultrasonic array transducer detects and obtains a photoacoustic guided wave time-space wave field signal matrix; and the computer performs frequency wave number spectrum processing on the received laser excitation photoacoustic guided wave signals with different beam radiuses and wavelengths, and executes a multi-mode photoacoustic bone quality evaluation method to realize bone health diagnosis.

A cutting groove is formed in a shape memory alloy tube of a transnasal ultrasonic endoscope body, so that the axial structure of the transnasal ultrasonic endoscope body is regarded as a flexible joint, a driving wire is connected with the top end of the shape memory alloy tube to control bending deformation of the flexible joint, and an ultrasonic transducer module is fixed to the front end of the shape memory alloy tube; the ultrasonic transducer module comprises an ultrasonic transducer and an electric appliance unit thereof, the ultrasonic transducer is a linear array probe, and the linear array probe realizes trapezoidal imaging through electronic delay; the control module is used for controlling the tensioning length of the driving wire; and the cable is connected with the driving host and the ultrasonic imaging host so as to realize control of the control module and ultrasonic imaging. According to the endoscope, a super-elastic memory alloy pipe grooving structure serves as an endoscope body, bending deformation of the endoscope body is controlled through a driving wire, a miniature high-frequency ultrasonic array transducer is integrated in front of the endoscope body, and high-resolution and large-view-field ultrasonic imaging in a limited space is achieved with the assistance of a trapezoidal imaging technology.

The application provides a high-performance transparent piezoelectric composite material, an array transducer and a preparation method thereof, and comprises the following steps: step 1, performing optical-grade polishing treatment on a piezoelectric material to obtain a polished piezoelectric material; step 2, preparing electrodes on the upper and lower surfaces of the polished piezoelectric material to obtain a piezoelectric material provided with electrodes; step 3, performing transparent treatment on the piezoelectric material provided with electrodes to obtain a transparent piezoelectric layer; step 4, arranging one surface of the transparent piezoelectric layer on a substrate, and performing optical-grade polishing treatment on the other surface of the transparent piezoelectric layer until the designed thickness is reached to obtain a polished transparent piezoelectric layer; and step 5, cutting the polished surface of the polished transparent piezoelectric layer according to a preset matrix structure to obtain a high-performance transparent array piezoelectric composite material; and the application can greatly improve the performance of the transparent transducer.

A method (100) for object (e.g., needle) positioning using ultrasound, the method comprising: (i) transmitting (120) a beam from elements of a single element of an array transducer of an ultrasound system (200); (ii) receiving (130) echo signals from the emitted beam at a single element of the array transducer, where at least some of the echo signals are reflected from a needle located at least partially within the patient; (iii) analyzing (140), by a processor of the ultrasound system, the received echo signal; and (iv) determining (150) a distance of the needle relative to the array transducer in the patient based on the analysis.