Stressed-Skin Backing Panel for Ultrasound Image Artifact Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ultrasound transducer systems suffer from image artifacts due to echoes reflected from the rear structure, which cannot be filtered by the imaging system, and in intracardiac applications, acoustic waves propagate through the entire transducer structure, insonifying human body structures outside the region of interest, leading to spurious signals.
Innovation Solution
A stressed-skin backing panel is introduced, comprising a core layer made of highly attenuating material sandwiched between two stiff skin layers, designed to trap and attenuate sound energy through strong acoustic impedance mismatch, minimizing spurious echoes and providing mechanical stiffness and heat dissipation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional backing panel is used, then the transducer structure is simple, but image artifacts occur due to reflected echoes and spurious signals
Solution Approach 1:
The backing panel is segmented into three distinct layers: a first skin layer, a core layer with attenuating material, and a second skin layer. This segmentation allows each layer to perform its specific function - the skin layers provide structural integrity while the core layer absorbs acoustic energy, thereby reducing image artifacts without requiring a completely different structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The backing panel uses composite materials, specifically a core layer made of highly attenuating material sandwiched between two skin layers. This composite structure combines the mechanical strength of skin layers with the acoustic absorption properties of the core layer material, achieving both structural requirements and artifact reduction.
2Reliability
If the backing panel is made thinner to reduce artifacts, then image quality improves, but mechanical stiffness decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The composite sandwich structure provides high mechanical stiffness relative to its thickness. The two skin layers act as rigid shells while the core layer provides acoustic attenuation, creating a structure that is both thin enough to reduce artifacts and stiff enough to maintain structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the backing panel have different properties optimized for their specific functions. The skin layers are designed with high mechanical strength to provide stiffness, while the core layer is designed with high acoustic attenuation to reduce artifacts. This local optimization allows the panel to be thin overall while maintaining necessary mechanical properties.
3Volume of moving object
If a thin absorbing backing is used, then space is saved and mechanical stiffness is sufficient, but heat dissipation capability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The composite structure incorporates thermally conductive materials in the core layer that provide both acoustic attenuation and heat dissipation pathways. This allows the thin backing panel to maintain adequate thermal management capabilities despite its reduced thickness.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The stressed-skin backing panel significantly reduces the amplitude of spurious echoes by over 60 dB, enhances back/front rejection, and maintains mechanical stiffness, effectively preventing image artifacts and heat buildup in ultrasound transducers.
Implementation Method 1
designed to trap and attenuate sound energy through strong acoustic impedance mismatch
Implementation Method 2
providing mechanical stiffness and heat dissipation
Data Source
AI summary
A backing panel for a transducer of an ultrasound scanner probe, comprising a core layer sandwiched by a first skin layer and a second skin layer. The transducer may comprise a front portion and a rear portion, where the front portion points to a direction of a target for the ultrasound scanner probe, and the first skin layer is adjacent to the rear portion of the transducer.