Ultrasonic probe having dual-motion transducer

Claim 2

An ultrasonic probe comprising an elongated housing having an acoustic window at one end thereof, an ultrasonic transducer located in said housing for emitting an acoustic beam through said acoustic window, drive means (5) located at the other end of said housing for providing a swing motion, and means for coupling the swing motion to said transducer (4), characterized in that said drive means (2) provides dual motions having a first force component in the longitudinal directions of said housing and a second force component in the transverse directions of the housing, and in that said coupling means (9; 9a, 9b; 46; 64, 67; 85) transmits the first and second force components to said transducer (4) to cause it to swing in orthogonal directions, whereby the acoustic beam is steered in a raster form.

Claim 3

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said first force component is a reciprocating motion and said second force component is said swing motion, and in that said coupling means comprises: a drive shaft (9; 9a,9b; 46; 64,67; 85) connected at one end to said dual motion drive means to transmit said reciprocating and swing motions to the other end thereof; and means (8) for movably mounting said transducer at the other end of said drive shaft so that said transducer is swingable in a first plane in response to said reciprocating motion and in a second plane normal to said first plane in response to said swing motion.

Claim 4

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said transducer (4) is oriented so that said beam is emitted at an angle to the longitudial axis of said housing.

Claim 5

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said housing comprises a head portion (3a), a hand-grip portion (2) and an intermediate portion (3b) therebetween, said intermediate and hand-grip portions being aligned longitudinally of said housing, said transducer being located, in said head portion and said dual motion drive means (5) being located in said hand-grip portion.

Claim 6

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, characterized in that said acoustic window opens in a direction normal to the longitudinal axis of said housing.

Claim 7

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that said head portion is fluid-tightly sealed against said intermediate portion and filled with liquid.

Claim 8

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that said head portion and said intermediate portions are fluid-tightly sealed by a member (76) against said hand-grip portion and filled with liquid (12), and in that said coupling means comprises a drive shaft (67) and said dual motion drive means comprises a rotary motor (65) and a cam (66) having an inclined cam face, said cam being coupled to said motor, one end of said drive shaft being in camming contact with said cam face to transmit said reciprocating motion to the other end thereof, and means for swingably coupling said transducer to the other end of said drive shaft, said drive shaft and said cam being submerged in said liquid.

Claim 9

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said acoustic window comprises a diaphragm (11).

Claim 10

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that said transducer is formed with an opening (4a) extending in the transverse direction of the housing, said mounting means comprising: a pivot member (8) extending through said transducer and said drive shaft in said transverse direction; and an arcuate guide member (10) spaced from said pivot member, the guide member extending through said opening so that said transducer is swingable about said guide member in response to said reciprocating motion and further swingable about the axis of said drive shaft in response to said swing motion.

Claim 11

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 9, further characteriszed by a flexible sealing member (13) for providing sealing with inner walls of said head portion and side walls of said transducer, the sealing member being located adjacent said arcuate guide member (10) to define a chamber with the said inner walls and said window, said chamber being filled with liquid.

Claim 12

ll. An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that said sealing member (13) is in the form of a corrugated, bellows-like shape.

Claim 13

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that said coupling means comprises: a rotary drive shaft (64) connected at one end to said dual motion drive means to transmit said swing motion to the other end thereof; a linear drive shaft (67) connected at one end to said dual motion drive means to transmit said swing motion to the other end thereof; and in that said mounting means comprises: a first generally U-shaped member (68), the web portion of the U being fixedly connected to the other end of said rotary drive shaft; first pivot means (73) for rotatably supporting said transducer between the limb portions of the first U-shaped member (68) so that said transducer is swingable about a pivot point aligned with the axis of said rotary drive shaft and further swingable about said first pivot means, said first pivot means being aligned with said pivot point; a second generaly U-shaped member (71, 72), the web portion of the U being engageable with said transducer in motion transmitting relationship; and second pivot means (73) for rotatably mounting the limb portions of said second U-shaped member on opposite inner side walls of said housing, said second U-shaped member being operatively connected to the other end of said linear drive shaft to transmit said reciprocating motion to said transducer to cause it to swing about said first pivot means.

Claim 14

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that said coupling means compirses a first drive shaft (9a) connected at one end to said dual motion drive means and a second drive shaft (9b) tilted with respect to said first drive shaft, means (8) for rotatably coupling said transducer to said second drive shaft, and means (30) for transmitting reciprocating and swing motions of said first drive shaft to said second drive shaft, and in that said acoustic window is open in a direction inclined toward said intermediate portion.

Claim 15

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 2 or 3, characterized in that said transducer is oriented so that the acoustic beam is emitted in the longitudinal direction of said housing, further comprising an acoustic reflector (47), means (47) for rotatably mounting said reflector on said transducer for movement therewith to provide identical motions so that the acoustic beam from the transducer is reflected upon said reflector, and means (41, 44) for tilting said reflector as a function of said reciprocating motion of said drive means.

Claim 16

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 14, characterized in that said tilting means comprises a shaft (44) and means (41) for moving same at a speed slightly higher than the speed of movement in the reciprocating motion of the transducer.

Claim 17

An ultrasonic probe as claimed in claim 4, further characterized by means (80) for detatchably coupling said intermediate portion and said hand-grip portion together, and in that said coupling means comprises: an open-ended cylinder (84) having a closed end fixedly coupled to said drive means; a hollow drive shaft (85) having one end coupled to said transducer; means (86) for detatchably engaging the other end of said hollow drive shaft with the open end of said cylinder; an electrical cable (87) extending through the interior of said hollow drive shaft from said transducer to said cylinder; and means (88) for electrically detatchably coupling said cable in said cylinder to a second cable.