Ultrasound probe with thermal and drop impact management
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.
InventorDennis Dean Clark
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems, methods, and apparatuses for conducting heat from an ultrasound transducer and reducing drop impact forces are disclosed. A thermal management system including a thermally conductive compliant component in an ultrasound probe is disclosed. The thermal management system may include thermally conductive compliant component coupled to a transducer assembly. A printed circuit assembly (PCA) may be coupled to the compliant component. The thermally compliant component may conduct heat from the transducer assembly to the PCA. The PCA may be further coupled to a cable that may conduct heat from the PCA and away from the ultrasound probe.
Claims20
An ultrasound probe, comprising:
- a transducer assembly at a distal end of the probe, the transducer assembly comprising:
- a lens;
- a transducer stack coupled to the lens, and
- a backing subassembly coupled to a side of the transducer stack opposite the lens,
- a printed circuit assembly (PCA) spaced from and coupled to the transducer assembly;
- a housing enclosing the PCA and at least a portion of the transducer assembly, wherein the housing defines an opening at the distal end of the probe to expose at least a portion of the lens through the opening;
- and
- a thermally conductive compliant component disposed between the transducer assembly and the PCA and coupling the transducer assembly to the PCA, wherein the thermally conductive compliant component is configured to bias the transducer assembly away from the PCA towards the opening in the housing.
An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
- an ultrasound probe comprising:
- a transducer assembly at a distal end of the probe, the transducer assembly comprising:
- a lens;
- a transducer stack coupled to the lens;
- and
- a backing subassembly coupled to a side of the transducer stack opposite the lens;
- a printed circuit assembly (PCA) spaced from and coupled to the transducer assembly;
- a housing enclosing the PCA and at least a portion of the transducer assembly, wherein the housing defines an opening at the distal end of the probe to expose at least a portion of the lens through the opening;
- and
- a thermally conductive compliant component disposed between the transducer assembly and the PCA and coupling the transducer assembly to the PCA, wherein the thermally conductive compliant component is configured to bias the transducer assembly away from the PCA towards the opening in the housing;
- an image processor configured to receive signals from the ultrasound probe and generate an image;
- and
- a display configured to display the image received from the image processor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.