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US 2010/0141093 A1Published application
Ultrasound transducer arrays
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorsJohn Fraser, Benoit Dufort
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrasonic transducer (104,313), transducer array (103) and an ultrasonic probe (100) are described.
Claims20
An ultrasonic transducer element (104,313), comprising:
- an active layer (201) having a first side and a second side;
- a first electrode (204,317) connected to the first side and a second electrode (205,319) connected to the first side;
- and
- a circuit (315) having a first output (316) connected to the first electrode and a second output (318) connected to the second electrode, wherein the first output provides a first voltage to the first electrode, the second output provides a second voltage to the second electrode and the circuit provides a voltage to the active layer that is equal to approximately a difference between the first voltage and the second voltage.
1 more element
An ultrasonic transducer array (103), comprising:
- a plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements (104,313), each of the plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements comprising:
- an active layer (201) having a first side and a second side;
- a first electrode (204,317) connected to the first side and a second electrode (205,319) connected to the first side;
- and
- a plurality of circuits (315) each of which is connected to a respective one of the plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements, and each of the circuits comprises:
- a first output (316) connected to the first electrode of the respective one of the plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements and a second output (318) connected to the second electrode of the respective one of the plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements, wherein each of the first outputs provides a first voltage, each of the second outputs provides a second voltage and each of the circuits provides a voltage to the active layer of its respective one of the plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements that is equal to approximately a difference between the first voltage and the second voltage.
3 more elements
An ultrasonic probe (100), comprising:
- a housing (102);
- ultrasonic transducer array (103) disposed in the housing and having a plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements (104,313), each of the plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements comprising:
- an active layer (201) having a first side and a second side;
- a first electrode (204,317) connected to the first side and a second electrode (205,319) connected to the first side;
- and
- a plurality of circuits (315) each of which is connected to a respective one of the plurality of elements, and each of the plurality of circuits comprises:
- a first output (316) connected to the first electrode of the respective one of the plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements and a second output (318) connected to the second electrode of the respective one of the plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements, wherein each of the first outputs provides a first voltage, each of the second outputs provides a second voltage and each of the circuits provides a voltage to the active layer of its respective one of the plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements that is equal to approximately a difference between the first voltage and the second voltage.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.