Apparatus for examining bodies through scanning by means of ultrasound

Claim 1

Apparatus for examining bodies through scanning by means of ultrasound comprising an ultrasonic applicator comprising at least one row of adjacently arranged ultrasonic transducer elements and an actuating system for group-actuation of the transducer elements, whereby the actuating system for actuating the transducer elements of the ultrasonic applicator is constructed in such symmetrical configurations with an even-numbered and odd-numbered count of transducer elements that the symmetry axes of the configurations of simultaneously energized transducer elements, at one time, become placed in the gaps between the adjacent transducer elements, and, another time, in the centers of the transducer elements, whereby the actuation proceeds in such a manner that, during a scan cycle over the entire length of the applicator, the symmetry axes occupy, at least once, every possible position in the gaps between two transducer elements, or in the centers of the transducer elements, respectively, with the possible exception of only the transducer elements of the first half of the first, and the second half of the last transducer element group of the applicator, characterized in that, the actuating system (6; 10 through 25; 27, 28), in an interlaced transmitting/receiving clock pulse sequence activates groups with an even-numbered and groups with an odd-numbered count of transducer elements (W1 through Wn) in a chronologically interlaced fashion such that each connected even-numbered or odd-numbered group, in relation to the previously connected group, in a first clock pulse interval, acts first as a receiver for the echo signals of the transmitting beam of the preceding group, and in a following clock pulse interval, is switched over to transmission.