Signal processing apparatus for an ultrasound transducer, ultrasound receiver and method for operating an ultrasound receiver

• US 20060036171A1
• Filed: 07/25/2005
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Betriebsforschungsinstitut Vdeh-Institute Fr Angewandte Forschung
• Original Assignee: Betriebsforschungsinstitut Vdeh-Institute Fr Angewandte Forschung
• Inventors: Coen, Gunther, Flohr, Guido, Oberhoff, Dietmar
• Granted Patent: US 7,586,813 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/437
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/2412 using the magnetostrictive properties of the material to be examined, e.g. electromagnetic acoustic transducers [EMAT]; investigating the presence of flaws using eddy currents G01N27/90, magnetostrictive transducers B06B1/08, measuring magnetostrictive properties G01R33/18
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/36 Detecting the response signal , e.g. electronic circuits specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H03D 3/007 by converting the oscillations into two quadrature related signals H03D3/245 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 11/00 Transmission systems employing sonic, ultrasonic or infrasonic waves

Abstract

To reduce signal interference and improve the signal-to-noise ratio in the transmitted signal, the analog signals produced by an ultrasound transducer are promptly digitized. In accordance with the invention, the demodulator is already shielded from the ultrasound transducers, immediately after the preamplifier, which is itself shielded from the ultrasound transducers, by an analog to digital converter, for example.

Claims

1. A signal processing apparatus for an ultrasound transducer, comprising a first preamplifier for amplifying an analog signal produced by an ultrasound transducer to generate an amplified analog signal;

and a first analog-to-digital converter directly connected to the preamplifier for producing a first digital signal from the amplified analog signal.

2. The signal processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a demodulator for producing a demodulated digital signal from the digital signal.

3. The signal processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the analog-to-digital converter has at least a 14-bit resolution and at least a 50 MHz clock frequency.

4. The signal processing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the demodulator carries out a Hilbert transformation of the digital signal.

5. The signal processing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the demodulator has an NOC, an I/Q mixer and CIC filter, and an FIR filter and Cartesian-to-polar coordinate converter.

6. The signal processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a median filter for of filtering a sequence of digital signals.

7. The signal processing apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a switch-controlled bypass for the median filter.

8. The signal processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an Ethernet connection for connecting digital signals in the ultrasound receiver to a network.

9. The signal processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a second ultrasound transducer generating a second analog signal;

a second preamplifier amplifying the second analog signal to produce an amplified analog signal; and

a second analog-to-digital converter directly connected to the second preamplifier for producing a second digital signal from the amplified analog signal produced by the second preamplifier.

10. The signal processing apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a multiplier for adjusting the first digital signal to produce a multiplied signal;

a delay element for adjusting the second digital signal to produce a delayed signal; and

an adder for adding the multiplied signal and the delayed signal to produce an addition signal.

11. The signal processing apparatus of claim 10, wherein the multiplier has an adjustable multiplication factor.

12. The signal processing apparatus of claim 10, wherein the delay element has an adjustable delay.

13. The signal processing apparatus of claim 10, further comprising an analyzer for observing the first and the second digital signal.

14. The signal processing apparatus of claim 10, wherein the multiplier has an adjustable multiplication factor, further comprising an analyzer for observing the first and the second digital signal, which analyzer determines the multiplication factor.

15. The signal processing apparatus of claim 10, wherein the multiplier has an adjustable multiplication factor, further comprising an analyzer for observing the first and the second digital signal, which analyzer controls the multiplication factor.

16. The signal processing apparatus of claim 10, wherein the delay has an adjustable delay, further comprising an analyzer for observing the first and the second digital signal, which analyzer determines the delay.

17. The signal processing apparatus of claim 10, wherein the delay has an adjustable delay, further comprising an analyzer for observing the first and the second digital signal, which analyzer controls the delay.

18. The signal processing apparatus of claim 10, further comprising means for manually controlling at least one of said adjustments to the first and second digital signals for observing the addition signal.

19. The signal processing apparatus of claim 18, wherein at least one of said adjustments to the first and second digital signals has a predetermined value.

20. A signal processing apparatus for an ultrasound transducer, comprising a first analog-to-digital converter producing a first digital signal from an analog signal produced by an ultrasound transducer and a demodulator producing a first demodulated digital signal from a digital signal.

21. The signal processing apparatus of claim 20, wherein the demodulator executes a Hilbert transformation of the digital signal.

22. The signal processing apparatus of claim 20, wherein the demodulator includes an NOC, an I/Q mixer and CIC filter, and an FIR filter and a Cartesian-to-polar coordinate converter.

23. The signal processing apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a median filter for filtering a sequence of the digital signals to produce a filtered digital signal.

24. The signal processing apparatus of claim 23, further comprising a switch-controlled bypass for the median filter.

25. The signal processing apparatus of claim 20, further comprising an Ethernet connection for connecting digital signals in the ultrasound receiver to a network.

26. The signal processing apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a second analog-to-digital converter producing a second digital signal from an analog signal produced by a second ultrasound transducer.

27. An ultrasound receiver, comprising:

an ultrasound transducer adapted to produce an analog signal;

a preamplifier for amplifying the analog signal to provide an amplified analog signal; and

an analog-to-digital converter directly connected to the preamplifier for producing a digital signal from the amplified analog signal.

28. An ultrasound receiver, comprising:

an ultrasound transducer adapted to produce an analog signal;

an analog-to-digital converter for producing a digital signal from the analog signal; and

a demodulator for producing a demodulated digital signal from the digital signal.

29. A signal processing method, comprising the steps of:

producing an analog signal from an ultrasound transducer;

amplifying the analog signal in a preamplifier to an amplified analog signal; and

immediately providing the amplified analog signal to an analog-to-digital converter to produce a digital signal from the amplified analog signal.

30. A signal processing method, comprising the steps of:

producing an analog signal from an ultrasound transducer;

supplying the amplified analog signal to an analog-to-digital converter to produce a digital signal from the analog signal; and

supplying the digital signal to a demodulator to produce a demodulated digital signal.