Method of determining pressure within liquid containing vessel
AssigneeRasor Associates, Inc.
InventorErnest G. Tickner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Pressure within a liquid containing vessel is determined by adding a solid precursor for at least one bubble to the liquid, retaining the precursor in the liquid for a sufficient time for it to form at least one bubble and generate a sonic signal, metering a characteristic of the sonic signal which is representative of the pressure in the liquid and determining the pressure in the liquid from the measured characteristic.
Claims9
A method of determining pressure within a liquid containing vessel, comprising:
- adding a solid microbubble precursor to said liquid;
- retaining said precursor in said liquid for sufficient time to form a plurality of microbubbles thereby generating a plurality of sonic signals, said precursor forming said plurality of microbubbles at a plurality of times, wherein said precursor is formed to provide each of said microbubbles of a substantially equal selected size, said size being selected to be within a range from about 0.5 micron to about 325 microns;
- measuring a characteristic of said sonic signals representative of the pressure in the liquid, said measuring being of the ultrasonic frequency generated by formation of said microbubbles as a function of said times;
- and
- determining the pressure in the liquid from the measured characteristic, said determining being of the pressure in the liquid as a function of time.
A method of obtaining the substantially instantaneous volumetric flow rate in a cardiovascular system of a living being, comprising:
- adding a solid microbubble precursor to said system;
- retaining said precursor in said system for sufficient time to form a plurality of microbubbles and thereby generate a plurality of ultrasonic signals opposite a location in said system, each of said microbubbles being of a size within a range from about 0.5 micron to about 325 microns;
- obtaining an ultrasonic image representative of said ultrasonic signal, said image simultaneously providing a measurement of both the positions and velocities of said microbubbles opposite said location;
- and
- determining the substantially instantaneous volumetric flow rate at said location from said image.
A method of enhancing ultrasonic echographic imaging in a liquid enclosed in a vessel by increasing image contrast, comprising:
- adding a solid microbubble precursor to said liquid;
- retaining said precursor in said vessel for sufficient time to form a plurality of microbubbles in said liquid, each of said microbubbles being of a size within a range from about 0.5 micron to about 325 microns;
- and
- obtaining an enhanced ultrasonic echographic image of said liquid opposite a position therein containing said microbubbles by increasing the relative contrast between said liquid and said vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.