Ultrasound probe
AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation
InventorHiroyuki Shikata
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrasound probe having a forced cooling system for circulating a liquid through a probe cable. The ultrasound probe comprised of a handle unit including a plurality of ultrasound transducers, a flexible cable connected to the handle unit and a connector unit coupled to the cable. The cable includes a plurality of electric signal lines and a cooling liquid circulation flow channel. The circulation flow channel is comprised of an outward path for transmitting the cooling liquid from the connector unit to the handle unit, and a return path for transmitting the cooling liquid from the handle unit to the connector unit. At least either one of the outward path or the return path is comprised of a plurality of thin tubes.
Claims13
An ultrasound probe comprising:
- a handle unit including a plurality of transducers to transmit and receive ultrasound;
- a flexible cable directly connected to the handle unit;
- a connector unit directly connected to the cable for coupling the flexible cable to an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus;
- and
- a cooling liquid circulating system configured to circulate a liquid between the handle unit and the connector unit;
- wherein the cable includes a plurality of electric signal lines and a liquid circulation flow channel for the cooling liquid circulating system;
- wherein the liquid circulation flow channel is comprised of;
- a cooling liquid outward path configured to flow the cooling liquid from the connector unit to the handle unit, and
- a cooling liquid return path configured to flow the liquid from the handle unit to the connector unit,
- wherein at least either one of the cooling liquid outward path and the liquid return path is consisting of a plurality of thin flow tubes having a substantially smaller diameter than that of the cable and the plurality of the electric signal lines.
A cable for connecting an ultrasound probe comprising:
- electric cables each having an external cable diameter for transmitting electrical signals;
- a first cooling liquid path located at a first location within the cable for flowing a cooling liquid in a first direction along the cable;
- and
- a second cooling liquid path located at a second location within the cable for flowing the cooling liquid in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction along the cable, wherein at least one of said first cooling path and said second cooling path further consists of the electrical cables and a plurality of tubes ranging from seven (7) to fifty (50) in number and each of the tubes whose external diameter ranges from 0.38 millimeter to 1.35 millimeters and an internal diameter ranges from 0.28 millimeter to 0.75 millimeter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.