Touch TGC Module for Sealed Ultrasound Gain Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging systems face mechanical wear and contamination issues with traditional mechanical TGC controls, such as slide potentiometers, which are prone to deterioration and accumulate contaminants in a hospital environment.
Innovation Solution
A modular TGC control system with touch sensors on a polymeric base replaces mechanical slide pots, providing tactile adjustment without slots or openings, ensuring reliability and ease of cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional mechanical slide potentiometers are used for TGC control, then tactile feedback is provided during adjustment, but mechanical wear and contamination issues occur over time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical slide potentiometers with a capacitive touch sensor system. The touch sensors detect finger proximity or contact through capacitive coupling, eliminating mechanical moving parts that wear and create openings in the control panel. This substitution maintains tactile feedback capability while removing the source of mechanical failure and contamination.
Solution Approach 2:
The control panel surface uses a capacitive touch interface layer that allows tactile interaction without physical openings. The flexible or thin-film capacitive sensor layer enables touch detection while maintaining a sealed control panel surface, preventing dust and contaminants from entering internal components.
2Ease of operation
If mechanical slide pots are used for TGC adjustment, then tactile sensation is provided to the sonographer, but the sliders move along slots that accumulate dust and particles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical slider system with capacitive touch sensors that detect finger contact without requiring physical movement along slots. This eliminates the slots that accumulate dust and particles while preserving tactile feedback through capacitive coupling between the finger and sensor surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the tactile feedback function from the mechanical slider mechanism and implements it through capacitive sensing. This separates the tactile interaction capability from the mechanical moving parts, allowing tactile operation without the harmful slots that generate and accumulate contaminants.
3Ease of operation
If slide potentiometers are used for TGC control, then gain adjustment is achieved, but the mechanical components are subject to wear and deterioration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical slide potentiometers with solid-state capacitive touch sensors and digital signal processing. This substitution eliminates mechanical wear and deterioration while maintaining full TGC gain adjustment capability through electronic control of the ultrasonic receiver gain.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the operational principle from mechanical resistance variation to capacitive coupling detection. The touch sensors detect changes in capacitance when a finger approaches or contacts the surface, and this signal is processed to adjust TGC gain parameters electronically, eliminating mechanical component wear.
Data Source
AI summary
A TGC control system for an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system has TGC controls which are constructed as a single elongated module with periodic enlarged regions spaced along the elongated module. The number of enlarged regions is equal to the number of TGC zones to be controlled. Touch sensors are located on opposite sides of each enlarged region and a user can touch one side of an enlarged region to increase the gain in a TGC zone, and touch the other side of the enlarged region to decrease the TGC gain in the zone. The amount of gain adjustment is determined by the height at which the user touches the enlarged region.