DAMPER FOR MEDICAL ULTRASONIC PROBE

• US 20150182200A1
• Filed: 12/30/2013
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Birglehner, Erich, Rittenschober, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 10,292,686 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4444 related to the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4483 characterised by features of the ultrasound transducer
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/546 involving monitoring or regulation of device temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52079 Constructional features constructional features of transducers B06B; mounting transducers G10K11/00; constructional features of ultrasonic medical diagnostic devices A61B8/44
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/004 Mounting transducers, e.g. provided with mechanical moving or orienting device mountings specially adapted to a particular sound-producing device, see the preceding groups G10K1/00 - G10K9/00, e.g. G10K1/26, G10K1/28, G10K9/22; arrangements of sonic watch equipment on submarines B63G8/39; buoys B63B22/00

Abstract

A medical ultrasonic probe includes an ultrasonic probe having a probe head and a connector. The connector includes a fluid cooling system comprising a pump configured to pump a cooling fluid between the connector and the probe head. A damper including a housing has a first portion defining a cavity receiving the cooling fluid and a second portion including a gas that is separated from the first portion by a membrane.

Claims

1. A medical ultrasonic probe:

an ultrasonic probe having a probe head;

a connector including;

a fluid cooling system comprising;

a pump configured to pump a cooling fluid between the connector and the probe head;

a damper including a housing having a first portion defining a cavity receiving the cooling fluid and a second portion including a gas separated from the first portion by a membrane.

2. The medical ultrasonic probe of claim 1 wherein the membrane is an elastomeric material.

3. The medical ultrasonic probe of claim 2 wherein the elastomeric membrane is comprised of a flouropolymer rubber.

4. The medical ultrasonic probe of claim 2 wherein the first portion of the housing includes an inlet for receiving the cooling fluid and a separate outlet for the cooling fluid to exit the housing, the inlet and outlet being non-colinear.

5. The ultrasonic probe of claim 4 wherein damper has a cylindrical shape with a circular side wall and two planer end walls, the membrane being mounted intermediate and generally parallel to the end walls in a first position.

6. The ultrasonic probe of claim 5 wherein the damper includes a first half shell threadably secured to a second half shell, a periphery of the membrane being captured between the juncture of the two half shells, hermetically sealing the first portion from the second portion.

7. The ultrasonic probe of claim 5 wherein the cooling fluid inlet and a cooling fluid outlet are adjacent one another in the circular sidewall of the first portion.

8. The ultrasonic probe of claim 7 wherein the inlet and outlet are closely adjacent to each other, each of the inlet and outlet having a longitudinal axis that intersect within the first portion of the damper.

9. The ultrasonic probe of claim 8 wherein the inlet and outlet both lie in a common plane which is parallel to the end walls of the chamber.

10. The ultrasonic probe of claim 4 wherein the pump pumps the cooing fluid having a laminar flow into the inlet, the first portion causing the flow of the cooling fluid to become turbulent within the first portion, the cooling fluid having a laminar flow as it exits the outlet.

11. The ultrasonic probe of claim 1, further including a cable connecting the probe head with the connector;

the probe head including a first heat exchanger, the connector including a second heat exchanger, the first heat exchanger and second heat exchanger being in fluid communication with a first conduit extending through the cable, the pump being operatively connected to a reservoir and pumping the cooling fluid into the damper through the inlet into the first portion of the housing and out the outlet to the heat exchanger through a second conduit.

12. A vibration damper for an ultrasonic probe comprising;

a damper located within a connector of a portable medical ultrasonic probe, the damper forming an interior chamber;

an elastomeric membrane mounted in the chamber separating the chamber into a first compartment having a sealed air compartment and a second compartment having a fluid inlet port and a fluid outlet port for respectively receiving and releasing a cooling fluid.

13. The vibration damper of claim 12 wherein the chamber has a cylinder like shape with a circular side wall and two planer end walls, the membrane being mounted generally parallel to the end walls.

14. The vibration damper of claim 12 wherein the fluid flow within the first compartment between the fluid inlet port and the fluid outlet port is turbulent.

15. The vibration damper of claim 13 wherein the fluid ports comprise an inlet and an outlet that are closely adjacent to each other and lie in a common plane which is parallel to the end walls of the chamber, a longitudinal axis of the fluid inlet port and a longitudinal axis of the fluid outlet port are not collinear.

16. The vibration damper of claim 12 wherein the cooling elastomeric membrane is comprised of a flouropolymer rubber.

17. The vibration damper of claim 12 wherein the first compartment of the chamber is designed to accept laminar flow cooling fluid at its inlet, cause the flow to become turbulent in the interior of the chamber and then to become laminar again at its outlet, the membrane and second compartment absorbs vibrations within the cooling fluid as it passes through the first compartment.

18. A process for providing fluid cooling to a medical ultrasonic probe comprising:

providing a medical ultrasonic probe having a probe head with a first heat exchanger;

providing a connector containing a cooling system connected to the medical ultrasonic probe by fluid lines and comprising;

a second heat exchanger;

a pump;

a damper which absorbs vibrations induced in a cooling fluid within by the operation of the pump; and

operating the pump to drive the cooling fluid through the damper, the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger through the fluid lines.

19. The process of claim 18 wherein the vibration damper comprises an elastomeric membrane, separating the damper into a first chamber receiving the cooling fluid therein and a second sealed chamber containing gas.

20. The process of claim 18 further including pumping the cooling fluid with a laminar flow from the pump into the first chamber through a fluid inlet, circulating the cooling fluid within the first chamber in a turbulent flow, absorbing the vibrations in the cooling fluid by the membrane and discharging the cooling fluid in a laminar flow from the first chamber to the first heat exchanger.