阅读说明：本技术 超声波内窥镜系统和超声换能器 (Ultrasonic endoscope system and ultrasonic transducer ) 是由 马腾 黄继卿 李永川 王丛知 刘佳妹 刘项力 杨晔 于 2019-12-10 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供了一种超声换能器,超声晶片环绕环形布置的背衬环外周面,内电极层位于超声晶片的内圈,通入电脉冲激励超声晶片的内表面,外电极层位于超声晶片的外周面,通入电脉冲激励超声晶片的外表面,内电极层的电极方向与外电极层的电极方向垂直布置,通过将内电极层和外电极层在超声晶片的激励位置变化,可对超声换能器在周向和聚焦位置进行调节,从而使得超声换能器在声场区域的成像均匀一致。本发明还提供了一种超声波内窥镜系统。(The invention provides an ultrasonic transducer, wherein an ultrasonic wafer is arranged around the peripheral surface of a backing ring in an annular mode, an inner electrode layer is positioned at the inner ring of the ultrasonic wafer, electric pulses are introduced to excite the inner surface of the ultrasonic wafer, an outer electrode layer is positioned at the peripheral surface of the ultrasonic wafer, electric pulses are introduced to excite the outer surface of the ultrasonic wafer, the electrode direction of the inner electrode layer is perpendicular to the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer, the circumferential direction and the focusing position of the ultrasonic transducer can be adjusted by changing the excitation positions of the inner electrode layer and the outer electrode layer on the ultrasonic wafer, and therefore the ultrasonic transducer can be imaged uniformly in a sound field area. The invention also provides an ultrasonic endoscope system.)

1. An ultrasonic transducer is characterized by comprising a backing ring arranged in an annular manner and an ultrasonic wafer attached to the outer circumference of the backing ring, wherein an inner electrode layer surrounding the outer circumference of the backing ring is arranged at the inner ring of the ultrasonic wafer, and an outer electrode layer is attached to the outer ring of the ultrasonic wafer in the circumferential direction of the ultrasonic wafer;

the electrode direction of the inner electrode layer is arranged along the axial direction of the backing ring, and the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer is arranged around the circumferential direction of the backing ring.

2. The ultrasonic transducer according to claim 1, wherein said inner electrode layer comprises a central electrode, and a plurality of sets of side electrodes symmetrically disposed on both sides of said central electrode;

the width of the center electrode is arranged in proportion to the width of each of the side electrodes.

3. The ultrasonic transducer of claim 2, wherein the width of the center electrode is 2 times the width of each of the side electrodes.

4. The ultrasonic transducer of claim 3, wherein said side electrodes comprise first and second side electrodes proximate to respective inner and outer sides of said center electrode;

the inner electrode layer comprises a central lead led out by the central electrode, a first side lead led out by the first side electrode and a second side lead led out by the second side electrode.

5. The ultrasonic transducer according to claim 1, wherein a ground electrode lead for applying an excitation electric field to the ultrasonic wafer is led out from the inner electrode layer, and a positive electrode lead for applying an excitation electric field to the ultrasonic wafer is led out from the outer electrode layer.

6. The ultrasonic transducer according to claim 4, wherein a plurality of electrode array elements are arranged in parallel on the outer electrode layer, and an electrode lead is led out from each electrode array element.

7. The ultrasonic transducer according to claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic wafer comprises a plurality of strip-shaped ultrasonic array elements which are arranged along the axial direction of the backing ring along the length direction, and the plurality of ultrasonic array elements are uniformly arranged around the circumference of the backing ring;

the outer diameter of the ultrasonic wafer is not more than 13mm, and the center frequency of the ultrasonic wafer is 3-15 MHz.

8. The ultrasonic transducer according to claim 1, wherein the outer periphery of the outer electrode layer is further laminated with a first matching layer, a second matching layer, and an acoustic lens in this order.

9. An ultrasonic endoscope system, comprising an endoscope ultrasonic excitation system, an optical imaging system, a display and a puncture needle system, wherein the puncture needle system comprises an insertion part which can be inserted into a detected body, a front hard part, a bending part and a flexible tube part which are arranged at the front end of the insertion part, and a ring array ultrasonic transducer is arranged in the front hard part, and is characterized in that the ultrasonic transducer as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8 is arranged in the ring array ultrasonic transducer.

10. The ultrasonic endoscopic system of claim 9 wherein the endoscopic ultrasound excitation system comprises a two-stage excitation system that separately excites the inner and outer electrode layers.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of endoscope technology, and more particularly, to an ultrasonic endoscope system and an ultrasonic transducer.

Background

An ultrasonic Endoscope (EUS) is a medical device that integrates ultrasonic and Endoscopic examinations. When the endoscope enters the body cavity, the wall of the internal organ or the adjacent visceral organs are subjected to tomography scanning under the direct vision of the endoscope, so that ultrasonic images of all layers below the mucous membrane of the wall of the internal organ and the adjacent visceral organs around the wall of the internal organ, such as mediastinum, pancreas, bile duct, lymph node and the like, are obtained, and the ultrasonic diagnostic device has great advantages in the staging of gastrointestinal tract tumors and the judgment of the nature of the tumors originated from the intestinal wall.

The early ultrasonic endoscope system mainly adopts a mechanical scanning mode, utilizes a micro motor to drive a connecting rod, and drives a single ultrasonic transducer at the top end of an endoscope to realize 360-degree rotation so as to obtain an annular sectional image vertical to an axis; the advantage of this scanning approach is that the transducer design is simple, but requires high precision mechanical connections and drives, is prone to damage, and the resulting image is not stable enough, but is still heavily used today due to the late advent of new technologies.

In the 21 st century, companies such as fuji, olympus, bingde, etc. have successively developed a 360-degree electronic ring scanning ultrasonic probe, and in combination with color doppler ultrasonic diagnostic equipment using a fully digital image processing technology, a novel fully digital ultrasonic endoscope imaging system is realized.

The transducer used by the 360-degree annular ultrasonic endoscope generally consists of dozens to hundreds of strip-shaped array elements which are uniformly arranged into a circle along a radial cylindrical surface, the outer diameter of the array is generally not more than 13mm, the central frequency is 3-15 MHz, each array element is independently led out, and the array elements can be respectively excited by electric pulses to obtain a 360-degree annular scanning image. The mode does not need to be driven by a direct current motor, and the defect of mechanical ring scanning ultrasonic endoscope is avoided. The electronic ring scanning type ultrasonic endoscope is suitable for large-scale scanning, integral evaluation and judgment and the like.

The existing ultrasonic probes are only arranged in a 1D linear array in the scanning direction, so that the existing ultrasonic probes only have good electronic focusing capacity in the array direction, but the aperture size cannot be changed in the Elevation direction (Elevation) and focusing cannot be realized, and the problem can be solved by a 1.5D phased array. The 1.5D array can not only change the aperture size in the elevation direction, but also realize sound beam focusing in the elevation direction, thereby obtaining better acoustic images than the 1D array. The resolution will also be higher than for conventional 1D line array probes.

Endoscopic ultrasound transducers are limited in size by the objective factors of the probe being inside the body, such as the need for an ultrasound gastroscope to be inserted from the mouth, through the esophagus and into the stomach cavity. Generally, the diameter of the transducer and the whole insertion part cannot be larger than 13mm, cables need to be connected with the transducer to enter the human body during array endoscopy, the cables have a certain wire diameter, and when hundreds of cables are twisted into one strand, the whole size and the lead difficulty of the cables are important factors for the development of limiting endoscopes to more array elements and wider dimensions.

1.5D planar phased array probes have found some applications in the field of medical ultrasound, but have found relatively few applications in ultrasonic endoscopic systems, and in particular, 360-degree circular array ultrasonic endoscopic systems have been few. The main difficulty is that it is very difficult to introduce a large number of cables in a limited space.

Therefore, how to improve the imaging effect of the ultrasonic transducer is a problem to be solved urgently by those skilled in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the present invention provides an ultrasound transducer to improve the imaging effect of the ultrasound transducer; the invention also provides an ultrasonic endoscope system.

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

an ultrasonic transducer comprising a backing ring arranged annularly and an ultrasonic wafer attached to an outer circumference of the backing ring, an inner electrode layer arranged around the outer circumference of the backing ring at an inner ring of the ultrasonic wafer, and an outer electrode layer attached around a circumference of the outer ring of the ultrasonic wafer;

the electrode direction of the inner electrode layer is arranged along the axial direction of the backing ring, and the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer is arranged around the circumferential direction of the backing ring.

Preferably, in the ultrasonic transducer, the inner electrode layer includes a central electrode, and a plurality of sets of side electrodes symmetrically disposed on both sides of the central electrode;

the width of the center electrode is arranged in proportion to the width of each of the side electrodes.

Preferably, in the ultrasonic transducer described above, the width of the center electrode is 2 times the width of each of the side electrodes.

Preferably, in the above ultrasonic transducer, the side electrodes include first and second side electrodes respectively close to inner and outer sides of the center electrode;

the inner electrode layer comprises a central lead led out by the central electrode, a first side lead led out by the first side electrode and a second side lead led out by the second side electrode.

Preferably, in the ultrasonic transducer, a ground electrode lead for applying an excitation electric field to the ultrasonic wafer is led out from the inner electrode layer, and a positive electrode lead for applying an excitation electric field to the ultrasonic wafer is led out from the outer electrode layer.

Preferably, in the ultrasonic transducer, a plurality of electrode array elements are arranged in parallel on the outer electrode layer, and an electrode lead is led out from each electrode array element.

Preferably, in the ultrasonic transducer, the ultrasonic wafer includes a plurality of strip-shaped ultrasonic array elements arranged along the axial direction of the backing ring in the length direction, and the plurality of ultrasonic array elements are uniformly arranged around the circumferential direction of the backing ring;

the outer diameter of the ultrasonic wafer is not more than 13mm, and the center frequency of the ultrasonic wafer is 3-15 MHz.

Preferably, in the above ultrasonic transducer, the outer periphery of the outer electrode layer is further laminated with a first matching layer, a second matching layer, and an acoustic lens in this order.

An ultrasonic endoscope system comprises an endoscope ultrasonic excitation system, an optical imaging system, a display and a puncture needle system, wherein the puncture needle system comprises an insertion part which can be inserted into a detected body, a front-section hard part, a bending part and a tube bending part which are arranged at the front end of the insertion part, and a ring array ultrasonic transducer is arranged in the front-end hard part.

Preferably, in the above ultrasonic endoscope system, the endoscope ultrasonic excitation system includes a two-stage excitation system that excites the inner electrode layer and the outer electrode layer, respectively.

The ultrasonic transducer provided by the invention comprises a backing ring arranged in an annular manner and an ultrasonic wafer attached to the outer circumference of the backing ring, wherein an inner electrode layer surrounding the outer circumference of the backing ring is arranged on the inner ring of the ultrasonic wafer, and an outer electrode layer is attached to the outer ring of the ultrasonic wafer surrounding the outer circumference of the ultrasonic wafer; the electrode direction of the inner electrode layer is arranged along the axial direction of the backing ring, and the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer is arranged around the circumferential direction of the backing ring. The ultrasonic wafer surrounds the peripheral surface of the backing ring which is annularly arranged, the inner electrode layer is positioned at the inner ring of the ultrasonic wafer, electric pulses are introduced to excite the inner surface of the ultrasonic wafer, the outer electrode layer is positioned at the peripheral surface of the ultrasonic wafer, the electric pulses are introduced to excite the outer surface of the ultrasonic wafer, the electrode direction of the inner electrode layer is perpendicular to the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer, the inner electrode layer and the outer electrode layer are changed at the excitation position of the ultrasonic wafer, the circumferential direction and the focusing position of the ultrasonic transducer can be adjusted, and therefore imaging of the ultrasonic transducer in a sound field area is uniform and consistent.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an arrangement structure of an ultrasonic transducer provided by the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an expanded structure of the inner electrode layer of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an electrode line lead-out structure of the inner electrode layer in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an expanded structure of the outer electrode layer in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an arrangement of an ultrasonic endoscope system provided by the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of an end structure of the ring array ultrasonic transducer in fig. 5.

Detailed Description

The invention discloses an ultrasonic transducer, which improves the imaging effect of the ultrasonic transducer; the invention also provides an ultrasonic endoscope system.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments of the present invention without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic view of an arrangement structure of an ultrasonic transducer provided by the present invention.

The embodiment provides an ultrasonic transducer, comprising a backing ring 1 arranged annularly and an ultrasonic wafer 2 attached on the outer circumference of the backing ring 1, wherein the inner ring of the ultrasonic wafer 2 is provided with an inner electrode layer 3 surrounding the outer circumference of the backing ring 1, and the outer ring of the ultrasonic wafer 2 is attached with an outer electrode layer 4 surrounding the circumference thereof; the electrode direction of the inner electrode layer 3 is arranged along the axial direction of the backing ring 1, and the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer 4 is arranged around the circumferential direction of the backing ring 1. The ultrasonic wafer 2 surrounds the peripheral surface of the backing ring 1 which is annularly arranged, the inner electrode layer 3 is positioned at the inner ring of the ultrasonic wafer 2, electric pulses are introduced to excite the inner surface of the ultrasonic wafer 2, the outer electrode layer 4 is positioned at the peripheral surface of the ultrasonic wafer 2, the electric pulses are introduced to excite the outer surface of the ultrasonic wafer, the electrode direction of the inner electrode layer 3 is perpendicular to the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer 4, the inner electrode layer 3 and the outer electrode layer 4 are changed at the excitation position of the ultrasonic wafer, the circumferential direction and the focusing position of the ultrasonic transducer can be adjusted, and therefore the ultrasonic transducer can be uniformly imaged in a sound field area.

As shown in fig. 2-4, fig. 2 is a schematic view of an expanded structure of the inner electrode layer in fig. 1; FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an electrode line lead-out structure of the inner electrode layer in FIG. 2; fig. 4 is a schematic view of an expanded structure of the outer electrode layer in fig. 1.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the inner electrode layer 3 includes a central electrode 33, and a plurality of sets of side electrodes symmetrically disposed on two sides of the central electrode; the width of the center electrode 33 is arranged in proportion to the width of each side electrode. The electrode direction of inner electrode layer 3 is arranged along the axial of backing ring 1, set up central electrode 33 and the symmetrical multiunit side electrode that is located central electrode 33 both sides with its inner electrode layer, every group side electrode is including two side electrodes that are located central electrode 33 width direction both sides respectively the symmetry, arrange in proportion through the width with central electrode 33 and the width of every side electrode, the electrode of the different degree of depth of axial direction along ultrasonic transducer is encouraged to the electric pulse of accessible difference, adjust ultrasonic transducer's formation of image in its axial, realize the focus of supersound on the different degree of depth.

Specifically, the width of the center electrode 33 is 2 times the width of each side electrode. The radial imaging requirement of the 1.5D ultrasonic transducer is met, the width of the central electrode 33 is set to be 2 times that of the side electrodes, and the 1.5D-to-1D imaging scheme can be realized by using the ultrasonic transducers with the same size.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the side electrodes include a first side electrode 32 and a second side electrode 31 adjacent to the inner side and the outer side of the center electrode 33, respectively; the inner electrode layer 3 includes a center lead Y3 drawn from the center electrode 33, a first side lead Y2 drawn from the first side electrode 32, and a second side lead Y1 drawn from the second side electrode 31. According to the medical imaging requirements of the ultrasonic transducer, a first side electrode 32 and a second side electrode 31 are symmetrically arranged on two sides of a central electrode 33, the first side electrode 32 comprises two electrodes symmetrically positioned in the width direction of the central electrode 33, and the second side electrode 31 also comprises two electrodes symmetrically positioned in the central electrode and positioned on the outer side of the first side electrode 32.

The electrode lead of the inner electrode layer 3 is provided with a central electrode 33, and the central lead Y3 is independently led out, two lead-out electrode wires of the first side electrode 32 are combined into a first side lead Y2, and two lead-out electrode wires of the second side electrode 31 are combined into a second side lead Y1.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the inner electrode layer 33 has three electrode leads of Y1, Y2 and Y3, Y1 is the second side lead of the second side electrode 31 at the outermost layer of the inner electrode layer, Y2 is the first side lead of the first side electrode 32 of the inner electrode layer 33, and Y3 is the center lead of the center electrode 33, and by performing different electrode excitations on Y1, Y2 and Y3, electric fields can be formed at different positions of the ultrasonic wafer in the axial direction, so that depth adjustment of the imaging of the ultrasonic transducer in the axial direction is realized.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a ground electrode lead for applying an excitation electric field to the ultrasonic wafer is led out from the inner electrode layer 33, and a positive electrode lead for applying an excitation electric field to the ultrasonic wafer is led out from the outer electrode layer 4.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a plurality of electrode array elements 41 are arranged in parallel on the outer electrode layer 4, and an electrode lead is led out from each electrode array element 41. The electrode direction of outer electrode layer 4 encircles the circumference of backing ring 1, is perpendicular arrangement structure with the axial electrode of inner electrode layer 3, sets up a plurality of electrode array elements 41 that the parallel was arranged on outer electrode layer 4, all sets up the electrode lead on every electrode array element 41, lets in the electric pulse through different electrode leads, encircles the electrode array element of its different positions of circumference on the outer electrode layer and is excited.

The position of the excitation electric field generated on the inner electrode layer 3 is adjusted in the axial direction of the backing block 1, the position of the excitation electric field generated on the outer electrode layer 4 is adjusted in the circumferential direction of the backing block 1, and the excitation electric field generate ultrasonic waves at the common excitation position of the ultrasonic wafers, so that focusing and circumferential deflection of ultrasonic imaging in the depth direction can be realized, and better image quality is obtained.

In a specific embodiment of the present case, the ultrasonic wafer 2 includes a plurality of strip-shaped ultrasonic array elements arranged axially along the backing ring in the length direction, and the plurality of ultrasonic array elements are uniformly arranged around the circumference of the backing ring; the outer diameter of the ultrasonic wafer is not more than 13mm, and the center frequency of the ultrasonic wafer is 3-15 MHz.

The ultrasonic wafer adopts rectangular form ultrasonic array element, the length of every ultrasonic array element should be unanimous with the width of interior electrode layer and the width of outer electrode layer, simultaneously, adapt to ultrasonic transducer and carry out medical application on ultrasonic endoscope system, the external diameter of ultrasonic wafer sets up and is not more than 13mm, the central frequency of ultrasonic wafer is 3 ~ 15MHz, thereby can have the ultrasonic transducer of interior electrode layer and outer electrode layer with this embodiment, replace current ultrasonic transducer, the realization utilizes current ultrasonic endoscope system to realize the imaging scheme that 1.5D phased array replaced 1D display.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 2 to 4, the inner electrode layer 3 is composed of a middle electrode, a first side electrode and a second side electrode, the electrode direction of the inner electrode layer is set to Y direction, the electrode lead wires thereof include three electrode lead wires of an inner middle lead wire Y3, a first side lead wire Y2 of two rows of adducted first side electrodes and a second side lead wire Y1 of two rows of second side electrodes at the extreme side, the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer 4 is set to X direction, the electrode array elements 41 are numbered from left to right in the order of X1, X2, X3 · Xn, the Y direction is applied with ground electrode pulses, the X direction is applied with positive electrode pulses, the X direction and the Y direction are combined into a position array wound around the circumference of the backing block 1, the ultrasonic transducer has N +3 electrode lead wires, the actual codeable array element number is 3N, so that when element manipulation is performed through the positive electrode lead wires and the ground electrode lead wires, addressing type excitation can be performed on the array composed of the X direction and the Y direction, the depth focusing of a Y-direction near field, a middle field and a far field and the focus deflection of an X-direction are realized, higher-quality and more complete image information is obtained medically, and the problem on the lead of the multi-array element array can be well solved through a lead mode of row-column addressing.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the outer periphery of the outer electrode layer 4 is further sequentially stacked with a first matching layer, a second matching layer, and an acoustic lens 6. The structure that adapts to ultrasonic endoscope system arranges the requirement, can encircle to arrange matching layer 5 and acoustic lens 6 in outer electrode layer 4 outer lane, satisfies ultrasonic transducer's structural requirement, and of course, the heap layer structure can increase and decrease according to ultrasonic transducer's actual structure.

As shown in fig. 5 and 6, fig. 5 is a schematic view of an arrangement structure of an ultrasonic endoscope system provided by the present invention; fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of an end structure of the ring array ultrasonic transducer in fig. 5.

Based on the ultrasonic transducer provided in the above embodiment, the present invention further provides an ultrasonic endoscope system, which includes an endoscope ultrasonic excitation system 12, an optical imaging system 13, a display 51 and a puncture needle system 52, wherein the puncture needle system 52 includes an insertion portion 23 capable of being inserted into a subject, a front hard portion 20 disposed at a front end of the insertion portion 23, a bending portion 21 and a flexible tube portion 22, a ring array ultrasonic transducer 201 is disposed in the front hard portion 20, and the ultrasonic transducer provided in the above embodiment is disposed in the ring array ultrasonic transducer 201.

The end of the distal end hard portion 20 is provided with a water jet hole 202, an air jet hole 203, a puncture hole 204, and a light source 205 for illuminating an optical camera 206, so that the distal end hard portion 20 enters the subject during sampling, and the puncture needle 30 extends from the puncture hole 204 to take a biopsy sample.

Since the ultrasonic endoscope system employs the ultrasonic transducer of the above embodiment, please refer to the above embodiment for the beneficial effect of the ultrasonic endoscope system brought by the ultrasonic transducer.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the endoscopic ultrasound excitation system includes a two-stage excitation system that separately excites the inner electrode layer and the outer electrode layer. The endoscope ultrasonic excitation system is provided with the ground electrode excitation system and the positive electrode excitation system, so that the addressing type excitation requirements of the inner motor layer and the outer electrode layer are met, and the 1.5D working requirement of the ultrasonic endoscope system is met.

The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.