An ultrasonic system has an ultrasonic stack excited by a power supply. The ultrasonic stack has a plurality of components, including an ultrasonic converter, a booster and an ultrasonic horn. A method of controlling the ultrasonic system with the power supply includes upon replacing any of the components of the ultrasonic stack with a replacement component, inputting an amplitude parameter of the replacement component into the power supply, determining with the power supply an amplitude of an AC excitation signal at which to excite the ultrasonic converter based on amplitude parameters of the components including the amplitude parameter of each replacement component. The power supply then sets the amplitude of the AC excitation signal at this determined amplitude.

An ultrasound system, probe and method are provided. The ultrasound system includes a transducer with piezoelectric transducer elements polarized in a poling direction. A bipolar transmit circuit is configured to generate a transmit signal having first and second polarity segments. The first and second polarity segments have corresponding first and second peak amplitudes. A bias generator is configured to generate a bias signal in a direction of the poling direction. The bias signal is combined with the transmit signal to form a biased transmit signal that is shifted in the direction of the poling direction and still includes both of positive and negative voltages over a transmit cycle.

An ultrasound transducer with at least one piezoelectric element configured to convert received acoustic signals into an electric potential, a shield connectable to ground and overlying the at least one piezoelectric element through which the acoustic signals pass before being received by the at least one piezoelectric element, the shield having acoustic conductivity and electrical attenuation characteristics that enable the acoustic signals to propagate therethrough while reducing a 100 volt per centimeter electric field to below a threshold level so that the piezoelectric element is exposed to a threshold electrical potential at least less than or equal to 10 V, and a housing accommodating the at least one piezoelectric element and shield.

The invention provides a system for determining an identification characteristic of a medical device carrying at least an ultrasound emitter/sensor element. The identification characteristic is based on a detection signal from the ultrasound emitter/sensor element upon a drive signal. The system can identify the medical device from a database of known medical devices. Furthermore, the system can update the duration and frequency of use of the medical device and it can prohibit further use of the medical device (when a predetermined limit of use is exceeded.

Various sensors, sensor controllers, and sensor control methods are provided with model-based sideband balancing. In one illustrative embodiment, a controller for a piezoelectric transducer includes a transmitter, a receiver, and a processing circuit coupled to the transmitter and receiver. The processing circuit performs calibration and echo detection, the calibration including: sensing the piezoelectric transducer's phase response as a function of frequency; deriving equivalent circuit parameters for the piezoelectric transducer from the phase response; and determining a sideband imbalance based on one or more of the equivalent circuit parameters. Once the sideband imbalance is identified, the processing circuit may perform echo-detection processing that accounts for the sideband imbalance.

An ultrasound machine for generating push-pulses to excite shear wave stimulation employs separated angled beams that converge at the target region to generate the push-pulses. In one embodiment, the beams are modulated by a set of apodization functions to reduce side lobes caused by the narrowing of the apertures of the beam as well as transducer heating by reducing the average energy deposited in each transducer element.

Control consoles and methods for supplying a drive signal to a surgical tool are provided. The control console comprises a transformer with primary and secondary windings. The primary winding receives an input signal from a power source and induces the drive signal in the secondary winding to supply the drive signal to the surgical tool. A first current source comprising a leakage control winding is coupled to a path of the drive signal. The primary winding induces a first cancellation current in the leakage control winding to inject into the path of the drive signal to cancel leakage current. A sensor coupled to the path of the drive signal outputs a sensed signal to provide feedback related to leakage current. The sensor may connect to a second leakage current cancellation source and/or a fault detection stage. The power source may be variable and may also energize the second current source.

A method for identifying a mechanical impedance of an electromagnetic load may include generating a waveform signal for driving an electromagnetic load, the waveform signal comprising a first tone at a first driving frequency and a second tone at a second driving frequency. The method may also include during driving of the electromagnetic load by the waveform signal or a signal derived therefrom, receiving a current signal representative of a current associated with the electromagnetic load and a back electromotive force signal representative of a back electromotive force associated with the electromagnetic load. The method may further include determining amplitude and phase information of the current signal responsive to the first tone and second tone, determining amplitude and phase information of the back electromotive force signal responsive to the first tone and second tone, and identifying parameters of the mechanical impedance of the electromagnetic load based on the amplitude and phase information of the current signal and the amplitude and phase information of the back electromotive force signal.

The invention provides a system (1) for determining an identification characteristic of a medical device (3) carrying at least an ultrasound emitter/sensor element (321). The identification characteristic is based on a detection signal from the ultrasound emitter/sensor element (321) upon a drive signal. The system (1) can identify the medical device from a database (211,511) of known medical devices. Furthermore, the system (1) can update the duration and frequency of use of the medical device (3) and it can prohibit further use of the medical device (3) when a predetermined limit of use is exceeded.

An array of piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducers (PMUTs) has a layer of piezoelectric material that requires poling during fabrication in order to properly align the piezoelectric dipoles to create a desired ultrasonic signal. The PMUT may have an interconnected set of lower electrodes that are fabricated between a processing layer of the PMUT and the piezoelectric layer. An upper electrode is fabricated overlaying the piezoelectric layer, and a poling voltage is applied between the upper electrode and the interconnected set of lower electrodes. After poling is complete, portions of the interconnected set of lower electrodes are removed to permanently isolate permanent lower electrodes from each other.