阅读说明：本技术 一种用于改善乳腺超声信号的超声探头及其工作方法 (Ultrasonic probe for improving mammary gland ultrasonic signal and working method thereof ) 是由 岳骊腾 于 2021-03-26 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明属于超声诊断技术领域,具体涉及一种用于改善乳腺超声信号的超声探头及其工作方法,其中涉及的超声探头包括T/R开关；超多阵元换能器,用于将线缆端发射的高压信号转化为声信号,晶体接收反射的声信号后产生电信号；高压开关,所述高压开关分别与超多阵元换能器和T/R开关相连接,用于将接收链路和发射链路的信号通道数复用映射到超多阵元换能器；放大电路,所述放大电路与T/R开关连接,用于将接收链路的信号放大；调谐网络,分别与线缆端和放大电路连接,并对电信号进行调节处理；本发明能够避免信号衰减问题,提高整个系统的信噪比,降低信号畸变,获取更好的探头性能。(The invention belongs to the technical field of ultrasonic diagnosis, and particularly relates to an ultrasonic probe for improving mammary gland ultrasonic signals and a working method thereof, wherein the related ultrasonic probe comprises a T/R switch; the super multi-array element transducer is used for converting a high-voltage signal transmitted by the cable end into an acoustic signal, and the crystal receives the reflected acoustic signal and then generates an electric signal; the high-voltage switch is respectively connected with the super multi-array element transducer and the T/R switch and is used for multiplexing and mapping the number of signal channels of the receiving link and the transmitting link to the super multi-array element transducer; the amplifying circuit is connected with the T/R switch and is used for amplifying the signal of the receiving link; the tuning network is respectively connected with the cable end and the amplifying circuit and is used for adjusting the electric signals; the invention can avoid the problem of signal attenuation, improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the whole system, reduce the signal distortion and obtain better probe performance.)

1. An ultrasound probe for improving breast ultrasound signals, comprising:

a T/R switch;

the super multi-array element transducer is used for converting a high-voltage signal transmitted by the cable end into an acoustic signal, and the crystal receives the reflected acoustic signal and then generates an electric signal;

the high-voltage switch is respectively connected with the super multi-array element transducer and the T/R switch and is used for multiplexing and mapping the number of signal channels of the receiving link and the transmitting link to the super multi-array element transducer;

the amplifying circuit is connected with the T/R switch and is used for amplifying the signal of the receiving link;

and the tuning network is respectively connected with the cable end and the amplifying circuit and is used for adjusting and processing the electric signals.

2. An ultrasound probe for improving breast ultrasound signals according to claim 1, wherein the T/R switch has a number, each T/R switch comprising a TX switch and an RX switch, respectively;

in the transmitting link, a TX switch is turned on, an RX switch is turned off, and a T/R switch is switched to a transmitting state;

in the receiving link, the RX switch is turned on, and the TX switch is turned off, so that the T/R switch is switched to a receiving state.

3. The ultrasonic probe for improving the breast ultrasonic signal as claimed in claim 2, wherein the high voltage switches are provided in a plurality and are arranged in one-to-one correspondence with the T/R switches.

4. An ultrasound probe for improving breast ultrasound signals according to claim 2, characterized in that the amplification circuit comprises a low noise amplifier, which is connected with the RX switch and the tuning network, respectively.

5. An ultrasound probe for improving breast ultrasound signals according to claim 1, wherein the transmit chain is used to transmit high voltage signals through the T/R switch to the ultra multi-element transducer.

6. An ultrasound probe for improving breast ultrasound signals according to claim 1, wherein the receiving link is adapted to transmit the electrical signals generated by the ultra multi-element transducer to the amplifying circuit via the T/R switch.

7. The ultrasonic probe for improving the breast ultrasonic signal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the number of the array elements of the super multi-array element transducer is 3-5 times that of the conventional probe, and the signal channel number of the low transmitting link is multiplexed and mapped onto the array element channel of the high super multi-array element transducer through a high-voltage switch.

8. The ultrasonic probe for improving the mammary gland ultrasonic signal of claim 1, wherein the ultra-multi-element transducer generates the high-voltage signal into an acoustic signal by utilizing an inverse piezoelectric effect, and the acoustic signal is reflected to generate an electric signal by utilizing a positive piezoelectric effect of a crystal.

9. The working method of the ultrasonic probe for improving the breast ultrasonic signal according to any one of claims 1 to 8, is characterized by comprising the following steps:

s1, transmitting the high-voltage signal transmitted by the cable end to the ultra-multi-array element transducer through the T/R switch by the transmitting link;

s2, the super multi-array element transducer generates an acoustic signal by utilizing the inverse piezoelectric effect of the received high-voltage signal, and the acoustic signal is reflected and then generates an electric signal by utilizing the positive piezoelectric effect of the crystal;

s3, transmitting the electric signal to an amplifying circuit through a receiving link and amplifying the electric signal;

and S4, utilizing the tuning network to adjust the amplified electric signal.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

the low system channel number is multiplexed and mapped to the high probe array element channel through a high-voltage switch arranged between the T/R switch and the ultra-multi-array element transducer, and parameter adjustment is carried out through a tuning network.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of ultrasonic diagnosis, and particularly relates to an ultrasonic probe for improving mammary gland ultrasonic signals and a working method thereof.

Background

At present, most of the ultrasonic probes in the industry adopt cables of about 2 meters to transmit signals, which brings about larger signal attenuation, and the signals generate extra distortion due to parasitic parameters of the cables. Aiming at the problem of signal attenuation, an easily-conceived mode is to adopt a signal amplification circuit inside a sound head to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, but because the space inside the sound head of a common probe is narrow, the existing integrated circuit is difficult to place in the sound head, so the common probe is not adopted with the technology at present; aiming at the problem of signal distortion, the industry mainly introduces a tuned reactance element at the ultrasound system end so as to obtain a good system bandwidth within a specified frequency, so as to maintain the integrity of a good signal and reduce distortion.

For example: patent document CN201310573065.0 discloses a breast ultrasound machine and an ultrasound diagnostic system, including: an ultrasonic transducer; the ultrasonic beam former is connected with the ultrasonic transducer and is used for synthesizing the echo signals received by the transducer; the ultrasonic transducer driving unit is connected with the ultrasonic transducer and used for driving the ultrasonic transducer to move; a storage unit for storing the position of the ultrasonic transducer; the method is characterized in that: the ultrasonic transducer, the ultrasonic beam former, the ultrasonic transducer driving unit and the storage unit are located in the same shell. However, the breast ultrasound machine cannot solve the problem of signal attenuation due to an ultra-long cable.

For the mammary gland ultrasonic machine appearing in recent years, due to the structural particularity, most mammary gland probes adopt cables about 5 meters, which brings about signal attenuation much larger than that of a common probe, so that the signal-to-noise ratio of an ultrasonic electric signal is sharply reduced, and parasitic parameters much larger than that of the common probe are introduced into the ultra-long cables and the built-in digital switch chip, so that the signals are severely distorted. Therefore, in order to solve the defects in practical application, the invention provides a sound head design scheme which aims at improving the signal-to-noise ratio and reducing the signal distortion of the mammary gland ultrasonic probe.

Disclosure of Invention

Based on the above disadvantages and shortcomings in the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to at least solve one or more of the above problems in the prior art, in other words, to provide an ultrasound probe for improving breast ultrasound signals and a method for operating the same, which satisfies one or more of the above requirements.

In order to achieve the purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme:

an ultrasound probe for improving breast ultrasound signals, comprising:

a T/R switch;

the super multi-array element transducer is used for converting a high-voltage signal transmitted by the cable end into an acoustic signal, and the crystal receives the reflected acoustic signal and then generates an electric signal;

the high-voltage switch is respectively connected with the super multi-array element transducer and the T/R switch and is used for multiplexing and mapping the number of signal channels of the receiving link and the transmitting link to the super multi-array element transducer;

the amplifying circuit is connected with the T/R switch and is used for amplifying the signal of the receiving link;

and the tuning network is respectively connected with the cable end and the amplifying circuit and is used for adjusting and processing the electric signals.

Preferably, the T/R switch has a plurality of T/R switches, and each T/R switch comprises a TX switch and an RX switch respectively;

in the transmitting link, a TX switch is turned on, an RX switch is turned off, and a T/R switch is switched to a transmitting state;

in the receiving link, the RX switch is turned on, and the TX switch is turned off, so that the T/R switch is switched to a receiving state.

Preferably, the high-voltage switches are provided with a plurality of high-voltage switches and are arranged in one-to-one correspondence with the T/R switches.

Preferably, the amplifying circuit comprises a low noise amplifier, and the low noise amplifier is respectively connected with the RX switch and the tuning network.

Preferably, the transmitting chain is used for transmitting the high-voltage signal to the ultra-multi-array element transducer through the T/R switch.

Preferably, the receiving chain is used for transmitting the electric signals generated by the ultra multi-array element transducer to the amplifying circuit through the T/R switch.

As a preferred scheme, the number of the array elements of the super multi-array element transducer is 3-5 times that of the array elements of a conventional probe, and the number of signal channels of a low transmitting link is multiplexed and mapped onto the array element channels of the high super multi-array element transducer through a high-voltage switch.

Preferably, the super multi-array element transducer generates an acoustic signal by utilizing an inverse piezoelectric effect of a high-voltage signal, and the acoustic signal is reflected and then generates an electric signal by utilizing a positive piezoelectric effect of a crystal.

The invention also provides a working method of the ultrasonic probe for improving the mammary gland ultrasonic signal, which comprises the following steps:

s1, transmitting the high-voltage signal transmitted by the cable end to the ultra-multi-array element transducer through the T/R switch by the transmitting link;

s2, the super multi-array element transducer generates an acoustic signal by utilizing the inverse piezoelectric effect of the received high-voltage signal, and the acoustic signal generates an electric signal by utilizing the positive piezoelectric effect of the crystal after being transmitted;

s3, transmitting the electric signal to an amplifying circuit through a receiving link and amplifying the electric signal;

and S4, utilizing the tuning network to adjust the amplified electric signal.

Preferably, the method further comprises the following steps:

the low system channel number is multiplexed and mapped to the high probe array element channel through a high-voltage switch arranged between the T/R switch and the ultra-multi-array element transducer, and parameter adjustment is carried out through a tuning network.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has the beneficial effects that:

the ultrasonic probe for improving the mammary gland ultrasonic signal provided by the invention utilizes the low-noise amplifier on the receiving link to minimize the signal attenuation caused by the long cable of the mammary gland probe, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the whole system.

According to the ultrasonic probe for improving the mammary gland ultrasonic signals, due to the fact that the T/R switch and the low-noise amplifier are added, certain parasitic parameters are introduced, the influence of the parasitic parameters is reduced through the tuning network added at the sound head, signal distortion is reduced, and the bandwidth and the performance of the probe are improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasound probe for improving breast ultrasound signals according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

in the figure: the system comprises a T/R switch 1, a super multi-array element transducer 2, a high-voltage switch 3, an amplifying circuit 4 and a tuning network 5.

Detailed Description

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention, the following description will explain the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some examples of the invention, and that for a person skilled in the art, other drawings and embodiments can be derived from them without inventive effort.

The first embodiment is as follows:

as shown in fig. 1, the present embodiment provides an ultrasound probe for improving breast ultrasound signals, including:

a T/R switch 1;

the ultra-multi-array element transducer 2 is used for converting a high-voltage signal transmitted by a cable end into an acoustic signal, and the crystal receives the reflected acoustic signal and then generates an electric signal;

the high-voltage switch 3 is respectively connected with the super multi-array element transducer and the T/R switch and is used for multiplexing and mapping the number of signal channels of the receiving link and the transmitting link to the super multi-array element transducer;

the amplifying circuit 4 is connected with the T/R switch and is used for amplifying the signals of the receiving link;

and the tuning network 5 is respectively connected with the cable end and the amplifying circuit and is used for adjusting the electric signals.

Specifically, the T/R switch 1 is provided with a plurality of T/R switches, and each T/R switch 1 comprises a TX switch and an RX switch respectively; the T/R switch 1 is used for switching between a transmitting link and a receiving link, and integrates the transmitting link and the receiving link; in a transmitting link, a TX switch is turned on, an RX switch is turned off, and a T/R switch is switched to a transmitting state; in the receiving link, the RX switch is turned on, and the TX switch is turned off, so that the T/R switch is switched to a receiving state.

The high-voltage switch 3 has a plurality of, and lay with T/R switch 1 one-to-one, because the area ratio general inspection position of breast is very much, the array element number in the super multi-array element transducer is more than ordinary probe, the array element number is 3 ~ 5 times of conventional probe, on the signal channel number multiplexing mapping of transmitting link was high to the array element passageway of super multi-array element transducer through utilizing high-voltage switch 3, realize multiplexing to the signal to carry out parameter control through tuning network 5.

Due to the parasitic parameters introduced by the high-voltage switch 3 and the T/R switch 1, the parameters of the reactance tuning element can be adjusted according to the actual indexes of the system through the tuning network 5 arranged at the cable end, so that the influence of the parasitic parameters of various digital chips is reduced, and the bandwidth and the performance of the probe are improved.

The amplifying circuit 4 comprises a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) which is respectively connected with the RX switch and the tuning network 5, the LNA is used for amplifying weak signals in a receiving link by a certain multiple, the signal-to-noise ratio of the whole system is enhanced, and meanwhile, the LNA can be protected from the influence of high-voltage transmitting pulses through the T/R switch 1.

The ultrasonic signal link in the embodiment comprises a transmitting link and a receiving link, wherein the transmitting link is used for transmitting a high-voltage signal to the ultra-multi-array element transducer through the T/R switch; the receiving chain is used for transmitting the electric signals generated by the super multi-array element transducer to the amplifying circuit through the T/R switch.

Specifically, the transmitting voltage on the Cable end is transmitted to a high-voltage switch through a TX switch, a high-voltage signal is mapped through a T/R switch and the high-voltage switch and then is transmitted to an expected array element position of the ultra-multi-array-element transducer, the ultra-multi-array-element transducer generates a diagnosis sound wave by utilizing an inverse piezoelectric effect after receiving the high-voltage signal, and the ultra-multi-array-element transducer generates a weak electric signal by utilizing a positive piezoelectric effect of a crystal and enters a receiving link through an RX switch after the diagnosis sound wave is reflected back from a human body; in a receiving link, the T/R switch is switched to a state that the RX switch is turned on and the TX switch is turned off, and a weak electric signal enters the LNA after passing through the high-voltage switch and the T/R switch, so that the weak signal is amplified by a certain multiple, and the signal-to-noise ratio of the system is improved.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiment has the following beneficial effects:

the embodiment integrates various novel technologies, fully utilizes the space inside the breast probe, and can greatly improve the breast probe compared with a common probe; for the mammary gland probe with the ultra-long cable, an amplifying circuit is integrated at the sound head end, so that the signal-to-noise ratio of the system is improved, the attenuation caused by the cable is counteracted, the influence caused by parasitic parameters introduced by using a switch chip is avoided, the signal distortion is reduced, and the better probe performance is obtained; the bandwidth and the performance of the probe are improved through the tuning network, so that diagnostic images with higher quality are obtained.

Example two:

the embodiment provides an operating method of an ultrasonic probe for improving breast ultrasonic signals, which comprises the following steps:

s1, transmitting the high-voltage signal transmitted by the cable end to the ultra-multi-array element transducer through the T/R switch by the transmitting link;

s2, the super multi-array element transducer generates an acoustic signal by utilizing the inverse piezoelectric effect of the received high-voltage signal, and the acoustic signal is reflected and then generates an electric signal by utilizing the positive piezoelectric effect of the crystal;

s3, transmitting the electric signal to an amplifying circuit through a receiving link and amplifying the electric signal;

and S4, utilizing the tuning network to adjust the amplified electric signal.

Further, the method also comprises the following steps:

the low system channel number is multiplexed and mapped to the high probe array element channel through a high-voltage switch arranged between the T/R switch and the ultra-multi-array element transducer, and parameter adjustment is carried out through a tuning network.

It should be noted that the working method of the ultrasound probe for improving breast ultrasound signals in this embodiment corresponds to the ultrasound probe in the first embodiment, and details are not repeated here.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects:

the invention utilizes the low noise amplifier on the receiving link to reduce the signal attenuation caused by the long cable of the breast probe to the minimum, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the whole system.

The T/R switch and the low noise amplifier are added to introduce certain parasitic parameters, and the influence of the parasitic parameters is reduced and the bandwidth and the performance of the probe are improved through the tuning network added at the sound head.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the preferred embodiments and principles of the present invention and it will be appreciated that those skilled in the art may devise variations of the present invention that are within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.