Ultrasound endoscope and ultrasound transducer with self-repairing acoustic lens

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11406359-B2
Application number	US-202016938400-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 24, 2020
Priority date	Feb 2, 2018
Publication date	Aug 9, 2022
Grant date	Aug 9, 2022

Abstract

An ultrasound transducer includes: a plurality of piezoelectric devices, each of the plurality of piezoelectric devices being configured to emit an ultrasonic wave according to an electrical signal input thereto, and convert an incident ultrasonic wave from an outside into an electrical signal; and an outer surface in which a material of a scanning surface transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave is constituted of a self-repairing material.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ultrasound transducer comprising:
a plurality of piezoelectric devices, each of the plurality of piezoelectric devices being configured to emit an ultrasonic wave according to an electrical signal input thereto, and to convert an incident ultrasonic wave from an outside into an electrical signal; and
an acoustic lens provided on a scanning surface for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave, the acoustic lens being configured to:
radiate the ultrasonic wave emitted from the plurality of piezoelectric devices to the outside; and
transmit the incident ultrasonic wave from the outside to the plurality of piezoelectric devices,

wherein the acoustic lens comprises a self-repairing material, and
the self-repairing material includes a cross-linking structure wherein cross-linking and uncross-linking of the cross-linking structure proceed reversibly in the cross-linking structure so as to repair a damaged portion without affecting acoustic characteristics.

2. The ultrasound transducer according to claim 1 , further comprising
a housing comprising a recess having an opening, the housing being configured to house the piezoelectric devices and the acoustic lens in the recess, wherein an edge of the opening of the housing is a contact surface configured to contact the acoustic lens, and the contact surface comprises a self-repairing material, and the contact surface being configured to be joined to the acoustic lens.

3. The ultrasound transducer according to claim 1 , wherein the self-repairing material includes a thermoplastic elastomer in which a cross-linking structure is formed between furan and maleimide by Diels-Alder reaction, and
cross-linking and uncross-linking proceed reversibly according to temperature in the cross-linking structure.

4. The ultrasound transducer according to claim 1 , wherein the self-repairing material includes polyrotaxane having a structure in which multiple ring molecules are threaded through a string-like polymer, and
cross-linking and uncross-linking proceed reversibly in the ring molecules.

5. An ultrasound endoscope comprising:
an insertion portion inserted into a body of a subject; and
an ultrasound transducer provided at a distal end of the insertion portion, the ultrasound transducer comprising:
a plurality of piezoelectric devices, each of the plurality of piezoelectric devices being configured to emit an ultrasonic wave according to an electrical signal input thereto, and to convert an incident ultrasonic wave from an outside into an electrical signal; and
an acoustic lens provided on a scanning surface for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave, the acoustic lens being configured to:
radiate the ultrasonic wave emitted from the plurality of piezoelectric devices to the outside; and
transmit the incident ultrasonic wave from the outside to the plurality of piezoelectric devices,

wherein the acoustic lens includes a self-repairing material, and
the self-repairing material includes a cross-linking structure wherein cross-linking and uncross-linking of the cross-linking structure proceed reversibly in the cross-linking structure so as to repair a damaged portion without affecting acoustic characteristics.

6. The ultrasound transducer according to claim 1 , wherein an acoustic impedance of the self-repairing material is 1.0 MRayl to 2.0 MRayl.

7. The ultrasound transducer according to claim 1 , wherein longitudinal wave velocity of the self-repairing material is 900 m/s to 1200 m/s.

8. The ultrasound transducer according to claim 1 , wherein an attenuation factor of the self-repairing material is 10 dB/(cmMHz) or smaller.

9. The ultrasound transducer according to claim 1 , wherein the acoustic lens is formed by molding, and a contraction factor at a time of the molding is 10% or smaller.

10. The ultrasound transducer according to claim 1 , wherein Shore A hardness of the self-repairing material is greater than 50.

11. The ultrasound transducer according to claim 1 , wherein the self-repairing material has an insulation property of 4 kV or higher at a thickness of 0.15 mm.

12. The ultrasound transducer according to claim 1 , wherein the self-repairing material has biocompatibility.

13. The ultrasound transducer according to claim 1 , wherein
the acoustic lens comprises:
a main body layer; and
a protection layer covering an outer surface of the main body layer; and

the protection layer is the scanning surface and formed of the self-repairing material.

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Yoshida Satoshi

Classifications

• B06B1/0622 Primary

  on one surface · CPC title

• A61B1/0008

  characterised by distal tip features · CPC title

• A61B8/445 Primary

  Details of catheter construction · CPC title

• B06B2201/76

  Medical, dental · CPC title

• G01S15/892

  the array being curvilinear · CPC title