Electromagnetic pressure pulse source
First Claim
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1. An electromagnetic pressure pulse source comprising:
- a housing containing an acoustic propagation medium;
electrically conductive membrane means disposed for interacting with said propagation medium and coil means, forming in combination an annular array having a plurality of annular zones, for generating pressure pulses in said acoustic propagation medium, said pressure pulses converging at a common acoustic focus having a position and size; and
means for energizing said coil means for respectively rapidly displacing said membrane means in said annular zones relative to said acoustic propagation medium in variable chronological relationship for selectively adjusting at least one of the position or size of said acoustic focus.
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Abstract
An electromagnetic pressure pulse source for generating focused pressure pulses as an electrically conductive membrane and a coil system which drives the membrane by rapidly displacing the membrane from the coil system. The coil system is formed by an annular array having a number of annular zones which can be individually activated to cause the generation of pressure pulses in variable chronological relation to each other, which permits the location of the focus of the resulting shockwave to be adjusted with a range, and/or the diameter of the focus to be changed.
38 Citations
34 Claims
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1. An electromagnetic pressure pulse source comprising:
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a housing containing an acoustic propagation medium; electrically conductive membrane means disposed for interacting with said propagation medium and coil means, forming in combination an annular array having a plurality of annular zones, for generating pressure pulses in said acoustic propagation medium, said pressure pulses converging at a common acoustic focus having a position and size; and means for energizing said coil means for respectively rapidly displacing said membrane means in said annular zones relative to said acoustic propagation medium in variable chronological relationship for selectively adjusting at least one of the position or size of said acoustic focus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An electromagnetic pressure pulse source comprising:
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a housing containing an acoustic propagation medium; a plurality of individually energizable annular coils; an electrically conductive common membrane disposed between said coils and said propagation medium for interacting with said propagation medium for generating pressure pulses in said propagation medium, said pressure pulses converging at a common acoustic focus having a position and size, and said annular membrane having a plurality of annular zones respectively in registry with said coils; and means for selectively individually energizing said coils for respectively rapidly displacing said membrane in said annular zones relative to said acoustic propagation medium in variable chronological relationship for selectively adjusting at least one of the position or size of said acoustic focus. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. An electromagnetic pressure pulse source comprising:
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a housing containing an acoustic propagation medium; a carrier disposed in said housing having a surface curved around a geometrical focus; electrically conductive membrane means disposed for interacting with said propagation medium and coil means, forming in combination an annular array having a plurality of annular zones disposed on said surface of said carrier, for generating pressure pulses in said propagation medium, said pressure pulses converging at a common acoustic focus; and means for energizing said coil means for respectively rapidly displacing said membrane means in said annular zones relative to said acoustic propagation medium in variable chronological relationship for selectively adjusting the position of said acoustic focus of said pressure pulses relative to said geometrical focus.
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33. An electromagnetic pressure pulse source comprising:
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a housing containing an acoustic propagation medium; a planar carrier disposed in said housing; electrically conductive membrane means disposed for interacting with said propagation medium and coil means, forming in combination an annular array having a plurality of planar annular zones disposed on said planar carrier, for generating pressure pulses in said propagation medium; focusing means disposed in the propagation path of said pressure pulses in said propagation medium for focusing said pressure pulses onto a geometrical focus; and means for energizing said coil means for respectively rapidly displacing said membrane means in said annular zones relative to said acoustic propagation medium in variable chronological relationship for causing said pressure pulses to substantially coincide at a common acoustic focus having a position which is selectively adjustable relative to said geometric focus.
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34. An electromagnetic pressure pulse source comprising:
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a housing containing an acoustic propagation medium; a cylindrical electrically conductive membrane means disposed for interacting with said propagation medium and cylindrical coil means, forming in combination an annular array having a plurality of annular zones, for radially emitting pressure pulses in said propagation medium; an acoustically reflecting surface surrounding said membrane means and said coil means for reflecting said radially emitted propagation pulses onto a geometrical focus; and means for energizing said coil means for respectively rapidly displacing said membrane means in said annular zones relative to said acoustic propagation medium in variable chronological relationship for causing said pressure pulses to substantially converge at a focus having a position which is selectively adjustable relative to said geometrical common acoustic focus.
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Specification