Fully wetted mechanical ultrasound scanhead
First Claim
1. An improved mechanical ultrasound scanhead of the type comprising a sealed housing, a rotor mounted in said sealed housing, said rotor having a plurality of ultrasound transducers mounted thereon, and said sealed housing being filled with an ultrasound coupling fluid, wherein the improvement comprises:
- (a) a motor mounted in said sealed housing, said motor being fully immersed in said ultrasound coupling fluid and said motor being coupled to said rotor by means of a drive belt; and
(b) means, on said rotor, for controlling the speed of said rotor, whereby said motor, said rotor, said drive belt, and said means for controlling the speed of said rotor are all fully wetted by said ultrasound coupling fluid.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A fully wetted ultrasound scanhead for medical applications is described in which the motor and the rotor are enclosed within a sealed housing filled with ultrasound coupling fluid. The invention includes a drive belt to drive the rotor from the motor, rather than a precision drive means. Speed adjustment means, including an encoder disk mounted on the rotor, provide feedback for an electronic speed controller. Accordingly, the speed of the motor can be adjusted as a direct consequence of the actual speed of the rotor.
219 Citations
8 Claims
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1. An improved mechanical ultrasound scanhead of the type comprising a sealed housing, a rotor mounted in said sealed housing, said rotor having a plurality of ultrasound transducers mounted thereon, and said sealed housing being filled with an ultrasound coupling fluid, wherein the improvement comprises:
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(a) a motor mounted in said sealed housing, said motor being fully immersed in said ultrasound coupling fluid and said motor being coupled to said rotor by means of a drive belt; and (b) means, on said rotor, for controlling the speed of said rotor, whereby said motor, said rotor, said drive belt, and said means for controlling the speed of said rotor are all fully wetted by said ultrasound coupling fluid. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification