Disclosure of Invention
In view of the problems in the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic probe and a method for manufacturing the same, which can indicate the temperature range of the acoustic lens, and which has a simple structure and is convenient to use.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ultrasonic probe, including: a body portion; and an acoustic lens disposed on the body portion; wherein the acoustic lens displays a first color when the acoustic lens is in a first temperature range; when the acoustic lens is in a second temperature range, the acoustic lens displays a second color, the first temperature range is different from the second temperature range, and the second color is different from the first color.
Optionally, the body portion comprises: a piezoelectric element having a first surface and a second surface facing away from each other; an acoustic matching layer provided on the first surface of the piezoelectric element; the acoustic matching layer is provided with a third surface and a fourth surface which are back to back, the third surface of the acoustic matching layer is attached to the first surface of the piezoelectric element, and the fourth surface of the acoustic matching layer is provided with the acoustic lens; and the back glue layer is arranged on the second surface of the piezoelectric element.
Optionally, when the acoustic lens displays a first color, the data detected by the ultrasonic probe is accurate; when the acoustic lens displays a second color, the data detected by the ultrasonic probe is inaccurate.
Optionally, the acoustic lens is made of a temperature sensitive color changeable material to indicate the temperature of the acoustic lens.
As an optional scheme, the temperature-sensitive color-changeable material comprises silica gel, epoxy resin, polyethylene resin, TPX transparent plastic and microcapsule temperature-sensitive color-changeable powder, wherein the TPX transparent plastic is a polymer of poly 4-methylpentene.
Optionally, the microcapsule thermochromic powder has a mass ratio concentration of 0.1-5% w/w, and comprises a plurality of microcapsules, each of which is coated with a invisible dye, a color former and a temperature controller.
The invention also provides a manufacturing method of the ultrasonic probe, which comprises the following steps:
a) providing a piezoelectric element, and coating the acoustic matching layer on a first surface of the piezoelectric element;
b) baking the piezoelectric element coated with the acoustic matching layer to enable the acoustic matching layer to be solidified on the first surface of the piezoelectric element;
c) heating the raw material of the back glue layer to melt the raw material of the back glue layer to form a liquid raw material of the back glue layer, and solidifying the liquid raw material of the back glue layer on the second surface of the piezoelectric element to form the back glue layer in an injection molding mode;
d) mixing silica gel, epoxy resin, polyethylene resin, TPX transparent plastic and microcapsule thermochromic powder to form a first mixture, heating the first mixture to melt the first mixture into a liquid second mixture, and curing the second mixture on the acoustic matching layer by adopting an injection molding mode to form the acoustic lens.
Optionally, in the step b), the piezoelectric element coated with the acoustic matching layer is baked by using an oven, wherein the temperature of the oven is 70-90 ℃, and the baking time is 1.5-2.5 hours.
As an alternative, in step c), a specific method for forming the back adhesive layer by injection molding is as follows: providing a first mold, wherein a first molding cavity is arranged in the first mold, the piezoelectric element coated with the acoustic matching layer is placed in the first molding cavity, then the liquid gum layer raw material is poured into the first molding cavity, the liquid gum layer raw material is directly contacted with the second surface of the piezoelectric element, and then the first mold is placed in a first time range, so that the liquid gum layer raw material is solidified on the second surface of the piezoelectric element to form the gum layer; the shape of the integral structure of the piezoelectric element, the acoustic matching layer and the back glue layer is the same as that of the first molding cavity.
As an alternative, in step d), a specific method for forming the acoustic lens by injection molding is as follows: providing a second mold, wherein the second mold is provided with a second molding cavity, the integral structure of the piezoelectric element, the acoustic matching layer and the back adhesive layer is placed in the second molding cavity, then the second mixture is poured into the second molding cavity, the second mixture is directly contacted with the fourth surface of the acoustic matching layer, and then the second mixture is placed in a second time range, so that the second mixture is cured on the fourth surface of the acoustic matching layer to form the acoustic lens.
Compared with the prior art, the acoustic lens of the ultrasonic probe is made of temperature-sensitive color-changeable materials, the acoustic lens is different in temperature range and different in corresponding color, so that a user can conveniently judge the temperature range of the acoustic lens, and whether the ultrasonic probe is continuously used or not is determined according to the temperature range of the acoustic lens, and the detection accuracy of the ultrasonic probe is guaranteed.
The invention is described in detail below with reference to the drawings and specific examples, but the invention is not limited thereto.
Detailed Description
In order to further understand the objects, structures, features and functions of the present invention, the following embodiments are described in detail.
As shown in fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of anultrasonic probe 100 of the present invention, theultrasonic probe 100 of the present invention includes a body portion and anacoustic lens 4 disposed on the body portion, the body portion includes apiezoelectric element 1, anacoustic matching layer 2 and a backingadhesive layer 3, wherein thepiezoelectric element 1 has a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other, theacoustic matching layer 2 is disposed on the first surface of thepiezoelectric element 1, the backingadhesive layer 3 is disposed on the second surface of thepiezoelectric element 1, theacoustic matching layer 2 has a third surface and a fourth surface opposite to each other, the third surface of the acoustic matchinglayer 2 is attached to the first surface of thepiezoelectric element 1, and theacoustic lens 4 is disposed on the fourth surface of theacoustic matching layer 2.
Theacoustic lens 4 is made of a temperature-sensitive color-changeable material so as to indicate the temperature of theacoustic lens 4, and the temperature-sensitive color-changeable material comprises silica gel, epoxy resin, polyethylene resin, TPX transparent plastic and microcapsule temperature-sensitive color-changeable powder. Wherein the TPX transparent plastic is a polymer of poly 4-methylpentene, the mass ratio concentration of the microcapsule thermochromic powder is 0.1-5% w/w, the microcapsule thermochromic powder comprises a plurality of microcapsules, and each microcapsule is internally coated with a stealth dye, a color forming agent and a temperature control agent.
In the present embodiment, theacoustic lens 4 has a color change function in a fixed temperature range t (e.g., 0 ℃ < t ≦ 50 ℃), theacoustic lens 4 may have two different colors, and theacoustic lens 4 can be switched between the two colors, that is, the color change of theacoustic lens 4 has reversibility, and when theacoustic lens 4 is in a first temperature range t1 (e.g., 0 ℃ < t1 ≦ 28 ℃), theacoustic lens 4 displays a first color (e.g., white); when theacoustic lens 4 is in the second temperature range t2 (e.g., -28 ℃ < t1 ≦ 50 ℃), theacoustic lens 4 displays a second color (e.g., red), the first temperature range t1 is different from the second temperature range t2, and the second color is different from the first color. When theacoustic lens 4 has the first color, it indicates that the temperature of theacoustic lens 4 is low and the data detected by theultrasonic probe 100 is accurate; when the acoustic lens displays the second color, it indicates that the temperature of theacoustic lens 4 is high, and theacoustic lens 4 may affect the characteristics of the ultrasonic waves emitted from thepiezoelectric element 1, resulting in inaccurate data detected by theultrasonic probe 100.
In practical applications, theacoustic lens 4 may also have more than two colors, for example, theacoustic lens 4 has three colors, and when theacoustic lens 4 is in the first temperature range t1 (e.g., 0 ℃ < t1 ≦ 20 ℃), theacoustic lens 4 displays the first color (e.g., white); whenacoustic lens 4 is in a second temperature range t2 (e.g., 20 ℃ < t2 ≦ 31 ℃),acoustic lens 4 exhibits a second color (e.g., pink); when theacoustic lens 4 is in the third temperature range t3 (e.g., 31 ℃ < t3 ≦ 50 ℃), theacoustic lens 4 displays a third color (e.g., large red), the first temperature range t1, the second temperature range t2, and the third temperature range t3 are all different, and the first color, the second color, and the third color are all different. When theacoustic lens 4 has more than three colors, theacoustic lens 4 has different colors in different temperature ranges, and the specific principle is similar to the case that theacoustic lens 4 has two or three colors, so the description is omitted.
In the present invention, since theacoustic lens 4 has different colors in different temperature ranges, the user can determine whether to continue to operate theultrasonic probe 100 according to the color of theacoustic lens 4, taking theacoustic lens 4 having two colors as an example, when theacoustic lens 4 appears in a first color (e.g. white), it indicates that the temperature of theacoustic lens 4 is not high, the detection performance of theultrasonic probe 100 is good, and the ultrasonic probe can continue to operate; when theacoustic lens 4 is in the second color (e.g., red), it indicates that the temperature of theacoustic lens 4 is high, the detection performance of theultrasonic probe 100 is poor, and the operation needs to be stopped, and theacoustic lens 4 can be operated again after the color of theacoustic lens 4 changes to the first color after cooling for a period of time. The color-changing design can facilitate the user to reasonably use theultrasonic probe 100, thereby ensuring the detection accuracy of theultrasonic probe 100 and prolonging the service life of theultrasonic probe 100.
The present invention further provides a method for manufacturing theultrasonic probe 100, as shown in fig. 2, fig. 2 is a flowchart of the method for manufacturing theultrasonic probe 100 of the present invention, and the method for manufacturing theultrasonic probe 100 includes the following steps:
a) providing a piezoelectric element, and coating an acoustic matchinglayer 2 on a first surface of thepiezoelectric element 1;
b) baking thepiezoelectric element 1 coated with the acoustic matchinglayer 2 to solidify the acoustic matchinglayer 2 on the first surface of thepiezoelectric element 1;
c) heating the raw material of the back glue layer to melt the raw material of the back glue layer to form a liquid raw material of the back glue layer, and solidifying the liquid raw material of the back glue layer on the second surface of thepiezoelectric element 1 by adopting an injection molding mode to form aback glue layer 3;
d) silica gel, epoxy resin, polyethylene resin, TPX transparent plastic and microcapsule thermochromic powder are mixed to form a first mixture, the first mixture is heated and melted into a liquid second mixture, and the second mixture is solidified on the acoustic matchinglayer 2 in an injection molding mode to form theacoustic lens 4.
In the specific implementation, thepiezoelectric element 1 coated with the acoustic matchinglayer 2 is baked in the step b) by using an oven, the temperature of the oven is 70-90 ℃, the baking time is 1.5-2.5 hours, the temperature and the baking time of the oven can be adaptively adjusted according to the production needs and the characteristics (such as the curing temperature and the curing humidity) of the raw materials of theacoustic matching layer 2, but are not limited thereto, and preferably, the temperature of the oven is 80 ℃, and the baking time is 2 hours.
In addition, in step c), a specific method for forming the backadhesive layer 3 by injection molding is as follows: providing a first mold, wherein a first molding cavity is arranged in the first mold, thepiezoelectric element 1 coated with the acoustic matchinglayer 2 is placed in the first molding cavity, then liquid gum layer raw materials are poured into the first molding cavity, the liquid gum layer raw materials are directly contacted with the second surface of thepiezoelectric element 1, and then the first mold is stood in a first time range, so that the liquid gum layer raw materials are solidified on the second surface of thepiezoelectric element 1 to form agum layer 3; the shape of the overall structure of thepiezoelectric element 1, theacoustic matching layer 2, and thebacking layer 3 is the same as the shape of the first molding cavity.
In step d), the specific method for forming theacoustic lens 4 by injection molding is as follows: providing a second mold, wherein a second molding cavity is arranged in the second mold, placing the integral structure of thepiezoelectric element 1, the acoustic matchinglayer 2 and the backadhesive layer 3 into the second molding cavity, pouring a second mixture into the second molding cavity, directly contacting the second mixture with the fourth surface of the acoustic matchinglayer 2, and standing within a second time range to solidify the second mixture on the fourth surface of the acoustic matchinglayer 2 to form theacoustic lens 4.
In the present embodiment, theacoustic lens 4 is formed by injection molding, but theacoustic lens 4 may be formed by injection molding in practical use, and the invention is not limited thereto. The formation of theacoustic lens 4 by injection molding differs from the formation of theacoustic lens 4 by injection molding only in that the second mixture is injected into the cavity of the mold by an injection machine instead of being poured during the injection molding process.
In summary, theacoustic lens 4 of theultrasonic probe 100 of the present invention is made of a temperature-sensitive color-changeable material, and theacoustic lens 4 is in different temperature ranges and different corresponding colors, so that the user can conveniently determine the temperature range of theacoustic lens 4, and determine whether to continue using theultrasonic probe 100 according to the temperature range of theacoustic lens 4, thereby ensuring the detection accuracy of theultrasonic probe 100.
The above detailed description of the preferred embodiments is intended to more clearly illustrate the features and spirit of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention by the preferred embodiments disclosed above. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the scope of the appended claims. The scope of the invention is therefore to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements as is within the scope of the appended claims.