Acoustic Windows with Limited Acoustic Attenuation for Ultrasound Probes
AssigneeBfly Operations, Inc.
InventorsSimon Esteve, Jaime Scott Zahorian, Nikhil Apte, Farah Qureshi, Sarp Satir
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Abstract
An ultrasound probe includes an ultrasound transducer stack comprising one or more ultrasound transducers emitting an acoustic signal, and an acoustic window passing the acoustic signal. The acoustic window is composed of a butadiene-based compound. In one or more embodiments, the acoustic window is made of butadiene rubber. Butadiene rubber has acoustic characteristics that may be suitable for acoustic windows, as subsequently discussed. Specifically, the use of butadiene rubber may result in desirable acoustic attenuation, acoustic velocity and acoustic impedance.
Claims22
An ultrasound probe, comprising:
- an ultrasound transducer stack comprising one or more ultrasound transducers that emit an acoustic signal;
- and
- an acoustic window that passes the acoustic signal, wherein the acoustic window is composed of a butadiene-based compound;
- and
- the acoustic window is secured to the ultrasound probe by an acoustic coupling layer.
The ultrasound probe of claim 89, wherein the specified thickness is 20 mm.
(canceled)
A method of manufacturing an acoustic window comprising;
- generating a butadiene-based compound by,
- providing an unfilled butadiene rubber and adding at least one stabilizing agent and a carbon black filler, wherein the carbon black filler is approximately 10% of the butadiene-based compound, and
- molding the butadiene-based compound into a rectangular acoustic window wherein,
- standoffs are disposed on at least one edge of a backside of the acoustic window,
- a tissue-facing footprint of the acoustic window is no more than 30×20 mm, and
- an array-facing footprint of the acoustic window is approximately 40×23 mm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.