Method and apparatus for a motorized multi-plane transducer tip

An ultrasonic phased array imaging transducer device comprising:

• a housing having a longitudinal axis, a tip end and a base end;
• said housing including a fluid volume containing:
• a phased array transducer disposed in the tip end of said housing and oriented so as to provide a sound path extending perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the housing, said transducer including a peripheral gear;
• a fluid immersed motor for rotating the transducer;
• an encoder for determining positional information with respect to the transducer, said encoder including an encoder gear engaged with said peripheral gear of said transducer and a mechanical abutment arrangement for providing mechanical limiting of the rotation of the transducer;
• a flexible cable electrically connected to said transducer and coiled relative to said transducer so as to permit transducer rotation of more than 180 degrees;
• a torque limitation device for limiting torque transmitted to the transducer;
• and
• a static flexible membrane for sealing the fluid volume, said flexible cable extending through the flexible sealing membrane.

An ultrasonic phased array imaging transducer device comprising:

• a housing having a longitudinal axis, a tip end and a base end;
• said housing including a fluid volume containing:
• a phased array transducer disposed in the tip end of said housing and oriented so as to provide a sound path extending perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the housing;
• a fluid immersed motor for rotating the transducer;
• an encoder for determining positional information with respect to the transducer, said encoder comprising a single encoder disk coupled to said transducer so as to permit transducer rotation of more than 360°;
• a flexible cable electrically connected to said transducer and coiled relative to said transducer so as to permit transducer rotation of more than 360°;
• a torque limitation device for limiting torque transmitted to the transducer;
• and
• a static flexible membrane for sealing the fluid volume, said flexible cable extending through the flexible sealing membrane.