432 results about "Pulse echo" patented technology

A surgical instrument for assessing tissue characteristics such as tissue density and volume is disclosed. The surgical instrument is hand-held and includes transducers adapted for emitting and / or receiving acoustic signals. The surgical instrument utilizes pulse-echo to determine tissue characteristics. The surgical instrument may be utilized to determine such things as the size of a lesion and whether the lesion has been completely removed or filled with graft material.

A method for ultrasound imaging of anatomical tissue. A first signal is received from a first imaging ultrasound wave which has been reflected from a location in the anatomical tissue during a first time period. A second signal is received from a second imaging ultrasound wave which has been reflected from the location in the anatomical tissue during a later second time period, following a discrete medical treatment. The second signal is subtracted from the first signal to form a difference signal. The difference signal may be scaled, spatially filtered, then used to generate an indication, the indication showing the effect of the medical treatment in the location in the anatomical tissue.

Pulse-echo imaging systems and methods are provided, including a transmit code sequencer and a pulse generation circuit, The transmit code sequencer is configured to input a transmit code sequence to the pulse generation circuit. A transducer is configured to receive electrical signals provided as pulses using coded excitation according to the transmit code sequence, and to transduce the electrical signals to pulses of energy other than electrical signals. The transducer is further configured to receive echoes of the pulses of energy other than electrical signals and convert the echoes to received electrical signals generate using coded excitation. A receive circuit is configured to receive the received electrical signals generate using coded excitation, perform analog sampling of the received electrical signals generate using coded excitation, and provide a weighted, summed digital signal by processing the analog samples. At least one example of a pulse imaging system described is configured for ultrasonic pulse-echoes. At least one example of a pulse imaging system described is a medical diagnostic imaging system.

An ultrasonic pulse echo inspection apparatus and method for detecting structural failures. A focus lens is coupled to the transducer to focus the ultrasonic signal on an area to be inspected and a stop is placed in the focus lens to block selected ultrasonic waves. Other waves are not blocked and are transmitted through the structure to arrive at interfaces therein concurrently to produce an echo response with significantly less distortion.

Improved methods, systems, and apparatus for inspecting a structure using angle beam shear wave through-transmission ultrasonic signals involves positioning transducers at offset positions on opposing sides of the structure and permits inspection of the inside of the structure beneath surface defects and features. Magnetic coupling can be used for supporting a pair of leader-follower probes and defining offset positions between angle beam shear wave transducers carried by the probes. Inspection data can be collected for supporting real-time generation of three-dimensional image representations of the structure and of internal defects and features of the structure. Image generation and resolution using inspection data from angle beam shear wave ultrasonic signals can be supplemented using pulse-echo ultrasonic inspection data.

New techniques are presented for detection methods employed in the control, automation and operation of scale Model railroad layouts that permit new types of capabilities to be incorporated into the railroad. The invention allows reliable detection of transponder devices on a model railroad layout using conveniently low values of transponder current pulses. Processing of the detected current pulse timing and direction characteristics and then comparing these with the expected or reference current direction for the layout section allows us to reject echo pulses caused by common impedances in the layout wiring. This method overcomes the pulse echoes that have caused the failure of previous attempts to reduce this technology to practice. Allowing additional acknowledgment pulses synchronized to any transponder address sent can further enhance Transponding technology. This provides extra communication capabilities that are not limited by the rate or timing of addresses sent to any particular transponder device.

A device for measuring a spatial location of a tissue surface, such as the interface between different types of tissues or between tissue and body fluids, generally includes an elongate catheter body having a distal end portion, a plurality of localization elements carried by the distal end portion, and at least one pulse-echo acoustic element carried by the distal end portion. The localization elements allow the catheter to be localized (e.g., position and / or orientation) within a localization field, while the acoustic element allows for the detection of tissue surfaces where incoming acoustic energy will reflect towards the acoustic element. A suitable controller can determine the location of the detected tissue surface from the localization of the distal end portion of the catheter body. Tissue thicknesses can be derived from the detected locations of multiple (e.g., near and far) tissue surfaces. Maps and models of tissue thickness can also be generated.

A method and system for imaging a sample. The method includes the steps of generating an ultrasonic signal, directing the signal into a sample, which signal is distorted and contains a first order and higher order component signals at first and higher frequencies respectively. The received distorted signal is processed, and an image is formed, and then displayed, from one of the higher order component signals of the received distorted signal.

Improved methods, systems, and apparatus for inspecting a structure using angle beam shear wave through-transmission ultrasonic signals involves positioning transducers at offset positions on opposing sides of the structure and permits inspection of the inside of the structure beneath surface defects and features. Magnetic coupling can be used for supporting a pair of leader-follower probes and defining offset positions between angle beam shear wave transducers carried by the probes. Inspection data can be collected for supporting real-time generation of three-dimensional image representations of the structure and of internal defects and features of the structure. Image generation and resolution using inspection data from angle beam shear wave ultrasonic signals can be supplemented using pulse-echo ultrasonic inspection data.

Improved apparatus, systems, and methods for inspecting a structure are provided that use a pedestal robot mounted on a rail system, a probe extension coupler, and an inspection probe capable of performing pulse echo ultrasonic inspection. A probe may also include sled appendages and an axial braking system to inspect over holes and off edges. A probe may also include an ultrasonic pulse echo transducer array for high rate inspection; the transducer array may be mounted in a bubbler shoe for individually coupling each of the transducers in the array. A rail system may also include an optical encoder for providing location information for the robot and axial braking system. A probe extension coupler presses the inspection probe against the structure for adjusting to changes in surface contours.

Improved apparatus, systems, and methods for inspecting a structure are provided that use a probe with sled appendages and an axial braking system. The probe uses pulse echo ultrasonic signals to inspect the structure. The sled appendages permit the probe to contact and ride along the surface of the structure and are rotatably connected and curved away from the surface of the structure to compensate for contoured surfaces and inspection around holes and edges. The axial braking system, in coordination with a motion control system moving the probe, fixes the positions of the sled appendages just before the probe travels over a hole or off an edge of the structure to prevent the probe from falling through the hole or off an edge and to permit the probe to return to the surface of the structure to continue inspection of the structure.

Apparatus and method for characterizing a barrier installed in a borehole traversing a formation including locating an acoustic tool with a receiver and a transmitter at a location in the borehole, activating the acoustic tool to form acoustic waveforms, wherein the receiver records the acoustic waveforms, and processing the waveforms to identify barrier parameters as a function of azimuth and depth along the borehole, wherein the waveforms comprise at least two of sonic signals, ultrasonic pulse-echo signals, and ultrasonic pitch-catch signals.

The invention discloses a no-scanning three-dimensional laser detection device received by an array transmitting unit and a method. The device comprises a two-dimensional array laser source, a unit laser detector, a system controller, a modulator and a demodulator. The method includes the following steps that the system controller controls the modulator to generate a laser pulse driving sequence and to send the laser pulse driving sequence to the two-dimensional array laser source and the demodulator, and the two-dimensional array laser source is driven by the modulator to generate corresponding modulating laser pulses and the modulating laser pulses irradiate a target area; the unit laser detector receives laser pulse echoes reflected from the target area, converts the laser pulse echoes and generates an electrical signal pulse sequence, the demodulator demodulates, recognizes and processes the electrical signal pulse sequence generated by the unit laser detector, and then outputs the electrical signal pulse sequence to the system controller, and the system controller controls an output distance numerical matrix. By means of the device and the method, complexity of detection elements is simplified, and achieving of laser detection distance range extending and long-distance non-scanning laser radar is facilitated.

An acoustic monitoring method and system in laser-induced optical breakdown (LIOB) provides information which characterize material which is broken down, microbubbles in the material, and / or the microenvironment of the microbubbles. In one embodiment of the invention, femtosecond laser pulses are focused just inside the surface of a volume of aqueous solution which may include dendrimer nanocomposite (DNC) particles. A tightly focused, high frequency, single-element ultrasonic transducer is positioned such that its focus coincides axially and laterally with this laser focus. When optical breakdown occurs, a microbubble forms and a shock or pressure wave is emitted (i.e., acoustic emission). In addition to this acoustic signal, the microbubble may be actively probed with pulse-echo measurements from the same transducer. After the microbubble forms, received pulse-echo signals have an extra pulse, describing the microbubble location and providing a measure of axial microbubble size. Wavefield plots of successive recordings illustrate the generation, growth, and collapse of microbubbles due to optical breakdown. These same plots can also be used to quantify LIOB thresholds.

A system for ablation with acoustic feedback comprises: a catheter which includes an elongated catheter body; at least one ablation element to ablate a targeted tissue region; and a pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer arranged to emit and receive an acoustic beam along a centroid in a beam direction, at a transducer beam angle of between about 30 degrees and about 60 degrees relative to a distal direction of the longitudinal axis at a location of intersection between the longitudinal axis and the beam direction of the centroid of the acoustic beam of the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the transducer transmits and receives acoustic pulses to provide lesion information in the targeted tissue region; an ablation power subsystem; an ultrasonic transmit and receive subsystem to operate the ultrasonic transducer; a control subsystem to control operation of the ablation power subsystem and the ultrasonic transmit and receive subsystem; and a display.

The invention discloses an obstacle information acquisition method, a laser pulse transmission method and a laser pulse transmission device. The laser pulse transmission method comprises the steps of:transmitting a first laser pulse at a first moment; and transmitting a second laser pulse at a second moment, wherein peak power of the first laser pulse is less than that of the second laser pulse,a time interval between the second moment and the first moment is longer than T, and the T is a time length from a moment that the laser pulse is transmitted to a moment that a laser pulse echo signalreflected by a near-field obstacle is received. By adopting the obstacle information acquisition method, the laser pulse transmission method and the laser pulse transmission device, since the power of the first laser pulse is small, stray light cannot cause voltage saturation of a detection circuit, thus the first laser pulse reflected by the near-field obstacle can be detected, thereby effectively solving the problem of measurement blind area of the near-field obstacle caused by the stray light inside a laser radar at low cost; and since the signal intensity of the second laser pulse is high, normal detection of a far-field obstacle can be guaranteed.

A technique for acoustic detection of a disbond within a bonded structure involves thermal excitation of the surface of the bonded structure to induce a lifting and membrane vibration and is applicable to laminates and coated structures, as well as foam core structures or a honeycomb structures. The technique does not require access to both sides of the bonded structure. A large etendue interferometer is used to provide surface displacement measurement. The surface displacement measurement can be analyzed both by frequency or amplitude to determine existence of a disbond by membrane vibration, and further a thickness of the disbond can be determined using traditional pulse-echo time analysis. The technique may allow detection of stick bonds.

An auscultation system includes a transducer for generating an acoustic signal at a transducing location of the subject, and a sensor for receiving an attenuated acoustic signal at a sensing location of the subject. The attenuated signal received at the sensing location is digitized, and may be analyzed in the frequency and / or time domain. The comparison of the digitized attenuated signal against the initial transduced signal allows for the computation of the degree of acoustic attenuation between the transducing and sensing locations. Acoustic attenuation may be utilized to generate an intensity ratio. The ejection fraction of the heart subject may then be computed by correlation to the intensity ratio. Pulse echo methods are also disclosed. The echo transducer is oriented on the subject and generates a series of signal pulses. The return echo on the pulse is then received and a brightness encoded image is produced. The return echo provides location data on the internal structures of the subject including location, motion and speed.

A method for measuring the temperature rise in anatomical tissue as a result of ultrasound treatment. A first ultrasound signal is obtained prior to treating the anatomical tissue, then a second ultrasound signal is obtained after the tissue is treated. Complex analytic signals are computed from the first and second ultrasound signals, then the depth-dependent delay is computed from the complex analytic signals. An echo strain map is generated from the slope of the depth-dependent delay. The echo strain map is used to estimate the amount of temperature rise from the first ultrasound signal to the second ultrasound signal. An image may then be created showing where temperature rise is occurring in the anatomical tissue.

The invention discloses a high-frequency ultrasonic transducer made of a piezoelectric monocrystalline composite material as well as a manufacturing method and an application thereof. The high-frequency ultrasonic transducer consists of a piezoelectric monocrystalline composite material wafer, a damping backing material, a first matching layer, a second matching layer, a coaxial electrode lead, a coaxial connector and a metal shell, wherein the second matching layer, the first matching layer, the piezoelectric monocrystalline composite material wafer and the damping backing material are bonded together in sequence; and the coaxial electrode lead is introduced from the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the piezoelectric monocrystalline composite material wafer to the coaxial connector which is fixed on the metal shell. The invention provides a method for manufacturing the transducer by matching acoustic characteristic based on a KLM model. The center frequency Fc of the obtained ultrasonic transducer is equal to 14.67MH, the bandwidth Bw can be up to 107 percent and the pulse echo sensitivity Sr can reach -30dB; and the ultrasonic transducer also has very high sensitivity on the premises of high frequency and large bandwidth. The ultrasonic transducer can be used for medical diagnosis, ultrasonic nondestructive detection and precise thickness measurement.

A method and system for ultrasonically inspecting turbine wheels and other disk-shaped articles having a central opening and multiple secondary openings radially spaced outward from the central opening. At least one ultrasonic transducer is placed in at least one of the secondary openings of the wheel. The transducer is configured and oriented to perform a pulse-echo diagnostic technique on the wheel by emitting ultrasonic signals that intersect radials of the wheel at angles of approximately ninety degrees to the radials. The ultrasonic signals intersect the radials at points so that a plurality of points are located on a plurality of radials. The points define a locus of points through the volume of the wheel between the central opening and the secondary opening, such that the volume is inspected for defects. The transducer receives ultrasonic signals that are reflected from one or more points when a defect is encountered.

A centrifuge for separating blood and blood components having a blood processing vessel mounted on a rotor of a centrifuge. A sensor in the outflow race of a return peristaltic pump detects air bubbles in the fluid within a return loop. The sensor may be a sonic sensor, a sonic pulse echo sensor, or capacitive plates. A pre-determined minimum bubble size or sizes or a cumulative volume may be selected, and the device operator may be warned only of the existence of bubbles that exceed a certain size or of a cumulative volume of bubbles, or the blood donation procedure may be stopped if a bubble exceeds a certain critical size or if a pre-determined volume of bubbles over a certain period or volume of fluid is exceeded.

The invention provides a subband ANMF (Adaptive Normalized Matched Filter) based method for detecting a moving object in sea clutter, which comprises the following steps of: (1) processing sea surface pulse echo signals received by a radar by a discrete Fourier transform modulated filter bank to realize subband decomposition; (2) carrying out down-sampling extraction on signals subjected to subband decomposition to obtain decomposed and down-sampled subband signals; (3) constructing the detection statistics of all subbands of a subband ANMF detector based on the decomposed and downsampled subband signals, and independently determining the detection threshold of each subband; and (4) comparing the detection statistics of each subband with the detection threshold of a corresponding subband,and judging whether the object exists. The method reduces the non-stationarity of the speckle component of subband sea clutter, overcomes the difficulty of limited available reference samples, eliminates the trouble of limited pre-supposed conditions, and is applicable to moving object detection in various sea conditions.

The invention discloses an ultrasonic imaging method and a device. The method comprises a transmitting and receiving step, an echo signal processing step and a displaying step. In the transmitting and receiving step, Doppler pulses are transmitted to an object to be detected, Doppler scanning is carried out by the aid of the Doppler pulses, and echo signals are received from the object to be detected and are Doppler pulse echo signals; in the echo signal processing step, the echo signals are processed and outputted, the echo signal processing step comprises an imaging step, and the imaging step comprises a parallelly processed two-dimensional image processing step, a blood flow image processing step and a frequency spectrum image processing step; and in the displaying step, output of the echo signal processing step is displayed. A two-dimensional image, a blood flow image and a frequency spectrum image are generated in parallel by means of adopting identical scanning signals; and in an implementation mode, one or a plurality of sampling doors is arranged in the received echo signals, and frequency spectrum image signals corresponding to the sampling doors can be simultaneously obtained.

Disclosed is an apparatus and methodology for structural health monitoring (SHM) in which smart devices interrogate structural components to predict failure, expedite needed repairs, and thus increase the useful life of those components. Piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) are applied to or integrated with structural components and various data collected there from provide the ability to detect and locate cracking, corrosion, and disbanding through use of pitch-catch, pulse-echo, electro / mechanical impedance, and phased array technology. Stand alone hardware and an associated software program are provided that allow selection of multiple types of SHM investigations as well as multiple types of data analysis to perform a wholesome investigation of a structure.

A device and a method for detecting objects in the surroundings of a vehicle is provided. At least one reflection pattern is ascertained for at least one object class. Pulse echo measurements for m different transmitter / receiver geometries are performed. Echo signals in the pulse echo measurements are detected. Weights for the different objects of the corresponding class are calculated. The weight values thus ascertained are summed to form a weight, and the presence of objects of the at least one object class is ascertained using the weights thus ascertained.

A system for ablation with acoustic feedback comprises: a catheter which includes an elongated catheter body; at least one ablation element to ablate a targeted tissue region; and a pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer arranged to emit and receive an acoustic beam along a centroid in a beam direction, at a transducer beam angle of between about 30 degrees and about 60 degrees relative to a distal direction of the longitudinal axis at a location of intersection between the longitudinal axis and the beam direction of the centroid of the acoustic beam of the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the transducer transmits and receives acoustic pulses to provide lesion information in the targeted tissue region; an ablation power subsystem; an ultrasonic transmit and receive subsystem to operate the ultrasonic transducer; a control subsystem to control operation of the ablation power subsystem and the ultrasonic transmit and receive subsystem; and a display.

The invention discloses a flexible ultrasonic phased array transducer which comprises a flexible piezoelectric ceramic composite material chip, a damping back material, a matching layer, a flexible circuit board, a coaxial cable and a probe interface. The matching layer, the flexible piezoelectric ceramic composite material chip and the damping back material are adhered together in sequence to form an acoustic laminating layer. The flexible circuit board is connected with the flexible piezoelectric ceramic composite material chip, and the multi-core coaxial cable is led out from the flexible circuit board to the probe interface. When the center frequency Fc of the ultrasonic transducer equals to 7.85 MH, the bandwidth Bw can reach 87.78 %, pulse echo sensitivity Sr equals to minus 36.54 decibels, and crosstalk of adjacent array elements is minus 34 decibels. The flexible ultrasonic phased array transducer can be applied to industrial non-destructive testing.

An ultrasonic liquid level detector includes clamp-on transducers for a liquid level measurement by the clamp-on transducers instead of insertion type transducers. The ultrasonic liquid level detector measures a height of a liquid-liquid interface or a gas-liquid interface based on an acoustic attenuation of an acoustic pulse or a transit-time of the acoustic pulse using a pulse echo technique or a combination thereof.