External Ultrasonic Probe Covering Material Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ultrasonic probes have a wide living-body contact surface due to the use of materials like silicone rubber and polymethylpentene, which limits operability and increases patient burden during imaging, especially when scanning thoracic viscera, and are prone to transducer failure from impact.
Innovation Solution
An external ultrasonic probe design with a covering material that divides the transducer array width into two equal parts, using a synthetic resin like polymethylpentene for acoustic matching, and a filling layer with a slower sound speed to reduce the contact surface width while maintaining image quality and S/N ratio, and integrating a recessed surface for reduced impact propagation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If silicone rubber is used as acoustic lens material, then acoustic impedance matching is improved, but adhesion strength to plastic covering material deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The probe structure is divided into distinct segments: the acoustic lens made of silicone rubber, the plastic covering material, and a separately provided adhesive layer. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently - the silicone rubber for acoustic properties and the plastic for structural integrity, while the adhesive layer specifically addresses the adhesion weakness between them.
Solution Approach 2:
An adhesive layer is introduced as an intermediary between the silicone rubber acoustic lens and the plastic covering material. This intermediate layer specifically addresses the poor adhesion between these two materials, providing strong bonding while allowing each material to maintain its optimal properties for its intended function.
2Reliability
If acoustic lens with plastic covering material is used, then water resistance is improved, but living-body contact surface width increases
Solution Approach 1:
The adhesive layer is extracted as a separate functional component rather than being integrated into the acoustic lens or covering material themselves. This allows the contact surface dimensions to be optimized independently of the adhesion requirements, as the adhesive is applied only in the necessary bonding area.
Solution Approach 2:
The adhesive layer is applied locally at the bonding interface between the acoustic lens and covering material, rather than uniformly across the entire probe structure. This localized application maintains water resistance where needed while minimizing the impact on contact surface width.
3Ease of operation
If operator tilts ultrasonic probe by larger angle to scan behind costae, then intercostal space imaging is improved, but imaging area shifts from intercostal space
Solution Approach 1:
The probe structure is segmented with a distinct adhesive layer that provides a secure bonding interface, allowing the operator to tilt the probe at larger angles without the contact surface shifting or detaching. This structural segmentation enables greater operational flexibility while maintaining reliable contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The adhesive layer is applied in advance to create a strong bonding interface between the acoustic lens and covering material. This preliminary bonding action ensures that when the operator tilts the probe for intercostal imaging, the contact surface remains stable and does not shift, maintaining proper imaging area coverage.
4Loss of information
If ultrasonic probe is deeply pressed onto patient to narrow blind angle, then blind angle is reduced, but burden on patient increases
Solution Approach 1:
The acoustic lens is designed with a curved surface that naturally conforms to the body surface contours. This curvature allows the probe to maintain contact and reduce blind angles through the natural shape of the lens rather than requiring excessive pressing force, thereby reducing patient burden while maintaining imaging coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The adhesive layer strength is enhanced to allow the probe to maintain stable contact at optimized angles without requiring excessive pressing force. By changing the adhesion parameter, the probe can achieve proper imaging coverage with reduced mechanical pressure on the patient.
5Adaptability or versatility
If silicone rubber acoustic lens is used, then flexibility is improved, but impact resistance to transducers deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The plastic covering material serves as a protective shell that cushions and absorbs impact forces before they reach the transducers. This beforehand protection allows the silicone rubber lens to maintain its flexibility while the plastic structure prevents impact propagation to the sensitive transducer elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The probe is segmented into the flexible silicone rubber acoustic lens and the protective plastic covering structure. This segmentation allows the lens to be flexible for adaptability while the plastic covering provides impact resistance, with the adhesive layer bonding these two materials with different mechanical properties.
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 design improves operability by reducing the contact surface width, minimizing blind angles during imaging, and enhancing the probe's durability against impact, thus alleviating patient burden and maintaining image quality and signal integrity.
Implementation Method 1
each of the 1D and 1.5D probes includes an acoustic lens converging the ultrasonic beam along a scan surface and obtaining a thin tomographic surface
Implementation Method 2
a one-dimensional array probe (1D probe) in which transducers are arrayed in one direction (azimuth direction)
Data Source
AI summary
An external ultrasonic probe includes a transducer array including multiple transducers arranged along an azimuth direction, the multiple transducers transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves; and a covering material having a projecting surface touchable with a living body, formed of a single member, covering an entire front-surface side of the transducer array, and covering at least a part of a side-surface side of the transducer array. In a section dividing a width of the transducer array in the azimuth direction substantially into two equal parts, a width between two points on the projecting surface falling down from a top of the projecting surface by 2 mm is larger than a width of the transducer array in an elevation direction. A difference between the width between the two points and the width of the transducer array in the elevation direction is 5 mm or less.