An ultrasonic imaging device includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged in an array of a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, the array being divided into a plurality of sub-arrays of neighboring transducers, each including a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, the device including, for each sub-array: a single transmit and/or receive circuit; and a combiner selector and/or splitter selector circuit configurable to couple any, alone, of the transducers of the sub-array to the transmit and/or receive circuit of the sub-array, or to simultaneously couple a plurality of the transducers of the sub-array to the transmit and/or receive circuit of the sub-array. The device further includes a control circuit adapted to individually controlling the combiner selector and/or splitter selector circuits of the different sub-arrays.

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.

The invention refers to a driving circuit (2) for a piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer (4) in an ultrasonic transducer system (1), comprising: a transformer (21) having at least one primary-side winding (22, 22′, 22″); a switching unit having a semiconductor switch (24′, 24″) connected to the at least one primary-side winding (22, 22′, 22″) via a switched connection (A′, A″); and, a control unit (5) which is configured to alternately apply an operating voltage (U.sub.B) to the at least one primary-side winding (22, 22′, 22″) or to disconnect it therefrom, a protection circuit (25) which is electrically coupled to the switched connection (A′, A″) and which has a Zener diode (ZD1) which limits a switch-off voltage at the switched connection (A′, A″) in terms of magnitude to a limiting voltage (U.sub.G) which corresponds to at least twice the operating voltage.

Ultrasound transducer element arrays using acoustic ensonification drive patterns via a patient interface for sonosensitizer activation in sonodynamic therapy. Incoherent acoustic field generation varying phase, frequencies, and/or amplitude via controlled delivery of low intensity planar acoustic waves. Method includes generating a first and a second signal to generate respective acoustic ensonification drive patterns with phase, frequency, and amplitude and generating at least one relative phase, frequency or amplitude difference to generate a third incoherent acoustic ensonification pattern to activate a sonosensitizer. Calibration and complementary therapy procedures to improve cell susceptibility of cells to sonodynamic therapy are disclosed.

A method includes receiving, by a piezoelectric stack of a transducer, a first piezoelectric voltage. The transducer has a base structure and a first layer, the base structure having a first displacement between a first portion of the base structure and the first layer. The method also includes transmitting, by the transducer, a first ultrasound frequency while receiving a first piezoelectric voltage, and receiving, by the transducer, a first bias voltage. The received first bias voltage alters the first displacement between the first portion of the base structure and the first layer, and the altered first displacement is smaller than the first displacement. The method further includes receiving, by the piezoelectric stack of the transducer, a second piezoelectric voltage to the transducer, and transmitting, by the transducer, a second ultrasound frequency while receiving the first bias voltage and the second piezoelectric voltage.

A piezoelectric film integrated device include a substrate; a first electrode provided on the substrate; a second electrode provided on the substrate; a first monocrystalline piezoelectric film provided on the first electrode; a second monocrystalline piezoelectric film provided on the second electrode and having a crystal structure different from a crystal structure of the first monocrystalline piezoelectric film; a third electrode provided on the first monocrystalline piezoelectric film; and a fourth electrode provided on the second monocrystalline piezoelectric film.

An ultrasonic apparatus includes an ultrasonic transducer, a transmitting circuit, a receiving circuit, a Q-factor measuring circuit, and a frequency measuring circuit. The ultrasonic transducer is a three-terminal ultrasonic transducer that includes a transmitting electrode, a receiving electrode, and a common electrode. The transmitting circuit outputs a driving signal to the transmitting electrode to cause the ultrasonic transducer to transmit ultrasonic waves. The receiving circuit receives a receive signal from the receiving electrode. The frequency measuring circuit measures a resonant frequency of the ultrasonic transducer from a reverberation signal in the receive signal. The Q-factor measuring circuit measures a Q factor of the ultrasonic transducer from the reverberation signal in the receive signal.

An ultrasonic transducer having a piezoelectric element for use on a vehicle is disclosed. The transducer has a control and evaluation circuit for generating a control voltage for the piezoelectric element, which generates and emits an ultrasonic signal based on the control voltage, and for outputting an output signal on the basis of an echo signal received at the piezoelectric element. A gyrator circuit is included for providing a compensation inductance for adapting the control and evaluation circuit, for compensating for a parasitic connection capacitance of the piezoelectric element. The gyrator circuit has a variable compensation inductance. A method for compensating for an ultrasonic transducer having a piezoelectric element for adapting a reception sensitivity is also disclosed. The method involves recording a measurement variable for adapting the reception sensitivity, and compensating for the ultrasonic transducer by changing the compensation inductance of the gyrator circuit based on the recorded measurement variable.

Devices for providing an acoustic wave to a target location include at least one transducer device and at least one beam-forming processor to cause the at least one transducer device to produce a first acoustic wave, the first acoustic wave includes a plurality of pulses having a pulse repetition frequency, where a pulse width of each pulse is in a range of 10 ns to 10 μs and the pulse repetition frequency is in a range of 1 Hz to 50 Hz, receive data associated with a second acoustic wave, wherein the second acoustic wave is a reflection of the first acoustic wave, determine a characteristic of the second acoustic wave, and determine whether to change a beam path of an acoustic wave produced by the at least one transducer device based on the characteristic of the second acoustic wave. Methods and computer program products are also disclosed.

The present invention relates to an improved fetal heart rate transducer that overcomes shortcomings of prior transducers in several ways including utilizing an ultra slow-cure epoxy in combination with a piezo-electric disc bonding method to improve ultrasound transmission and reception characteristics, utilizing a slow-cure epoxy in combination with a frontend PCB bonding method to improve transducer reliability, utilizing a metal insert design in combination with molding-in techniques versus press fitting to improve the mechanical stability of the transducer, and utilizing a failsafe LVDS circuit to improve cable error detection and thus improve fetal monitor system reliability. In addition, a method of use of the present invention includes quantitively determining the integrity of each of the piezo-electric disc bonds with the plastic substrate as well as the integrity of the ultrasound field using various height water phantoms that simulate the human body.