JPH083528B2 - Ultrasonic device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial application] The present invention relates to an apparatus for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves by a transducer arranged in a one-dimensional or two-dimensional manner in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and the like. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic device having a multiple channel multiplexer function and a circuit configuration suitable for integration into an integrated circuit.

[Conventional technology]

In an electronic scanning ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus or the like, an array transducer in which a large number of transducer elements are arranged in a straight line or a specific curved line is used. Then, an element group corresponding to the diameter of the wave transmission / reception is selected, and transmission / reception is performed while sequentially scanning it. Therefore, separate transmit and receive signals are required for all elements. However, if a wave transmission circuit and a wave reception circuit are used for each element, the number of required parts, the length of the signal cable,
The number increases. Therefore, in the conventional device, the number of wave transmission circuits and wave reception circuits corresponding to the diameters of the wave transmission / reception ports is used, and the wave transmission / reception circuits and the transducer elements are connected via a switch. For example,
The devices using the above-mentioned switches are described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Nos. 56-73809 and 57-89967. The switches used in these devices are required to turn on / off a high-speed high-voltage pulse signal at the time of wave transmission and simultaneously turn on / off a low-level analog signal at the time of wave reception. Therefore,
The switch element is required to have a high withstand voltage characteristic, a function of rapidly switching a pulse signal having a large peak current value, and a low noise characteristic with a low on-resistance. Further, the wave transmission / reception device needs a means for protecting the wave reception amplifier from a high voltage at the time of wave transmission.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

As described above, in the prior art, when transmitting / receiving sequentially to a large number of transducer elements such as an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, in order to perform without a switch, an independent transmitting circuit for each element is required. In addition, there is a problem that the number of transmitting and receiving circuits and parts reaches a huge number, on the other hand, all the elements are divided into element groups, and a transmitting circuit is provided for each of a plurality of elements in each group. Prepare a wave receiving circuit, connect these wave transmitting and receiving circuits to the elements in the group via switches, and switch the switches to perform wave transmission and reception for each group sequentially. When low-noise characteristics at the time of reception are required at the same time as the function of turning on and off high-speed and high-voltage pulses, and control circuit means for these switches is required in addition to the driver control. There was a cormorant problem. Further, as the wave transmitting / receiving device, it is necessary to protect the wave receiving amplifier from a high voltage at the time of wave transmission, but in the prior art, as these protection means,
It was necessary to prepare it separately from the driver or receiving amplifier.

An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic device capable of solving the above-mentioned problems in the conventional art. That is, specifically, it is equipped with a circuit configuration suitable for variable control of the aperture and control of scanning necessary for a large number of transducer elements arranged in a one-dimensional or two-dimensional manner, and further for high voltage protection. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic device which does not require any special element and has a circuit configuration suitable for integration.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the ultrasonic device of the present invention is configured as described in the claims. That is, in the invention described in claim 1, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, the wave transmission circuit 4 includes the first element 41 and the second element 42, and the first element 41 Is an element whose operation is controlled according to a first predetermined control signal which is input so as to control the transmission of ultrasonic waves by the transducer element 10, and the second element 42 is an ultrasonic wave which is transmitted by the transducer element 10. The operation is controlled in accordance with a second predetermined control signal input so as to control the transmission of the reception signal of the second element to the wave receiving circuit. Here, when the first element 41 operates, the second element 42 does not work, so that both are controlled so that they do not work at the same time.

The first predetermined control signal is input to the first terminal of the control terminals of the first element 41, and the drive power source for driving the transducer element is connected to the second terminal of the second element 42. The second predetermined control signal is input to the first terminal of the control terminal of the first element 41, the third terminal of the first element 41, the second terminal of the second element 42, and one transducer element. Is connected via a resistor as shown in the connection of the resistor 55 in FIG. 8, and is composed of a plurality of such transmission circuits 4 as shown in FIG. 3, for example. A plurality of transmitting circuit groups 4i and one receiving circuit 6i connected to each transmitting circuit group 4i, and the second element of the transmitting circuit 4 in the transmitting circuit group 4i. Connect each of the third terminals of 42 in common, for example as seen on common line 51 in FIG. 1 or FIG. Received signal to one of the reception circuit 6i is connected to the transmitting circuit group 4i is to be provided with circuitry to be transmitted.

Here, in the invention described in the first item, the first element may be the first switching element and the second element may be the second switching element. It corresponds to the invention. As a result, for example, as shown in the wave transmission / reception operation diagram of FIG. 2, transmission / reception switching can be easily performed by pulse-like control.

Alternatively, in the invention set forth in paragraph 1, the first predetermined control signal is thereby found in a one-dimensional array of transducer elements, such as in FIG. 3, or in FIG. 5, for example. As described above, it controls the transmission of ultrasonic waves by the transducer elements arranged in the respective two-dimensional directions.
A predetermined control signal for controlling the transmission of the received signal to the receiving circuit by the transducer elements arranged in one dimension or the transducer elements arranged in each of the two dimensions. For example, transmission / reception control by one-dimensional scanning or two-dimensional scanning becomes easy. This corresponds to the invention of claim 3.

The invention described in claim 4 is, for example, the eighth aspect.
As shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 13, the first control signal and the second control signal
Control signal is input from the same terminal, and the invention according to claim 5 is such that the first and second control signals are different from each other as shown in FIG. The configuration is input from.

[Action]

When the first element is controlled by the first predetermined control signal to turn on the first element, the second element controlled by the second predetermined control signal is turned off. With the configuration in which the first element, the second element and one transducer element are connected, it is possible to drive the transducer element by turning on the first element.

In this case, since the first element, the second element, and the transducer element are connected via the resistor, it is unnecessary for the terminal voltage on the transducer element side when the element is controlled in a pulse shape. Generation of an oscillating voltage is suppressed.

By controlling the second element to be turned on when the first element is turned off, one end of the second element, which is different from the connection point with the first element, becomes the first element in the transmission circuit group. With the configuration in which the two elements are commonly connected to the wave receiving circuit, the reception signals from the plurality of transducer elements are transmitted to the one wave receiving circuit via the plurality of second elements in the wave transmitting circuit group. Become so.

One-dimensional or two
It is possible to easily perform linear scanning or two-dimensional scanning in transmitting or receiving waves with the transducer elements arranged in a dimension. Further, in this case, the number of transducer elements to be scanned can be set arbitrarily. The transducer elements to be scanned are commonly connected as one set to form a scan set (wave transmission circuit group), and furthermore, the same scan set (wave transmission circuit group).
Two or more of the wave transmission circuits provided in 1 do not operate at the same time, and if these circuits are integrated into an integrated circuit, they can be operated with a small amount of power even if they are integrated into multiple channels.

As described above, according to the present invention, it becomes possible to have a circuit configuration adapted to the variable control of the aperture and the control of scanning required in the ultrasonic device, and further, no special element for high voltage protection is required,
It is possible to provide a circuit configuration suitable for integration.

〔Example〕

 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a circuit configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, 10 is a transducer, 20 is a control signal, 30 is a DC power supply, 40 is a front driver, 41 and 42 are driver elements, 50 is a cable or wiring, 61 is a receiving amplifier, and 62 is a receiving amplifier.
Is a diode, 63 is a load resistance, and 64 is an inductor.
The front driver 40, the driver elements 41, 42, etc. constitute the wave transmission circuit 4. In this embodiment, P is used as the driver element 41.
A channel type MOS field effect transistor is used as the driver element 42, and an N channel type MOS field effect transistor is used as the driver element 42. Receiving amplifier 61, diode 62, load resistance
The wave receiving circuit 6 is configured by 63, the inductor 64, and the like. The inductor 64 is connected to the cable 50 and the transducer 10
It is arranged in parallel with the parasitic capacitance of No. 1 and compensates for the above capacitance by its resonance characteristic. It may be installed as necessary and may not be necessary. Each transmission circuit 4 is connected to a transducer 10 and a cable 50, respectively,
One end of the driver element 42 in each wave transmission circuit is connected to the common line 51 and is then led to one wave reception circuit 6.

In the above configuration, the driver element 41 is now off,
When 42 is on (hereinafter referred to as state “0”), no voltage is applied to the transducer 10. Next, when the driver element 41 is turned on and 42 is turned off (hereinafter referred to as a state “1”), a voltage is applied to the transducer 10 from the power source 30 via the driver element 41 and the cable 50. Control signal 20
According to the state of the driver elements 41 and 42, “0” → “1” → “0”
, The transducer 10 is charged from the power source 30 through the driver element 41 and the cable 50 during the state "1", and through the cable 50, the driver element 42, the common line 51 and the diode 62 during the next state "0". Is discharged. Of course, it is also discharged through the load resistor 63, the inductor 64, and the like.

Due to the above operation, the transducer 10 is in the state "1".
The pulse voltage is applied only during the period. This period is determined by the characteristics of the transducer 10. Further, by repeating the above operation, a pulse voltage corresponding thereto is applied. Here, since the wave transmission circuit 4 including the driver elements 41 and 42 is coupled to each of the plurality of transducers 10 in a one-to-one relationship, each transducer is filled through each cable, and the discharge is performed. This is done through the common line 51 and the diode 62. Therefore, the transmission to each transducer is transmitted to each driver element 41,
It can be arbitrarily controlled by the control signal 20 given to 42. On the other hand, the received signal generated by the transducer 10 (echo signal from an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus or the like) is transmitted from the cable 50, the driver element 42, the common line 51, the load resistor 63 to the receiving amplifier 61.
Be guided to. Therefore, the received signal is guided to the receiving amplifier 61 only when the driver element 42 is in the ON state. That is, the driver element 42 also functions as a switch for a low level analog received signal. Therefore, by selectively controlling the switch function for a plurality of transducers, the received signal of only the selected specific transducer can be guided to the receiving amplifier. That is, each of the driver elements 42 serves as a multiplexer for the received analog signal. The amplitude of the received signal is usually smaller than the forward voltage of the diode 62, and only the resistor 63 serves as a load for the received signal. Since the discharge current at the time of wave transmission mainly flows through the diode 62, the current of the inductor 64 is very small.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of control and operation states in the embodiment of FIG. In FIG. 2, i, j, and k are transmission / reception circuits for the i, j, and k channels, and 41i, 42i ...
.. indicates that the driver element is in the i channel.
For the i channel, a pulse of width τ ₁ is transmitted from time t ₁ . Time t ₂ after the discharge of the transducer in the period of τ ₂ is completed. In other words, the time period t ₁ ~t ₃ transmit mode, the time t ₃ thereafter becomes a reception mode. On the other hand, for j channels, the period t ₁ the time t ₇ to the state "0" through ~t ₃ is followed, transmitting is not performed. However, the receiving circuit system is in the receiving mode, and if there is a signal from the j-channel transducer, it is led to the receiving amplifier. In the k channel, the transmission mode starts from the time t _4, but when the discharge of the transducer k ends in the period t _{5 to} t ₆ , the driver element 41
Both k and 42k are turned off, and the transducer k and the receiving amplifier are disconnected. That is, the k channel is a channel that transmits waves but does not receive waves. After time t ₃ , time t ₇
Up to, both i and j channels are in the receiving state.
The received signals from the j transducers both enter the receiving amplifier. Therefore, if the input circuit for both signals and the wave receiving amplifier have an adding circuit configuration, the sum of both signals can be detected.

As described above, for i, j, and k channels,
Regarding transmission, either i, j, or k is transmitted, either 2
There can be a form in which one transmits, one transmits, and neither transmits. As for receiving waves, i,
There is a form in which both j and k are received, any two are received, any one is received, and neither is received. Further, regarding a specific channel, there is a form of transmitting and receiving waves, transmitting waves but not receiving waves, not transmitting waves but receiving waves, and neither transmitting nor receiving waves. By controlling the entire device so as to be a combination of the above respective forms, a desired function can be obtained. All of the above controls are achieved by the on / off control of the driver elements 41, 42 of each channel by the control signal 20 of each channel.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention, which is an example applied as a transmission / reception circuit for a transducer group arranged in an array. The transducer group 1 is formed by arranging a large number of strip-shaped transducers 10 having the same shape in an array. The wave transmission circuit 4 is provided for each transducer 10 in the transducer group 1, while the wave reception circuit 6 is provided for each combination of the plurality of transducers 10 in a specific array position. That is, one common receiving circuit is provided for the plurality of transducers 10 in the combination. I and j in FIG. 3 indicate those groups. The configuration of the present embodiment is effective when applied to a linear electronic scanning ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus or the like. in this case,
The spacing of the transducers a commonly coupled to one set is selected as the maximum value of the aperture forming the ultrasonic beam of the above-mentioned diagnostic apparatus. By doing so, two or more of the transmitting / receiving circuits coupled to the same group do not operate simultaneously, and the configuration of the above device can be simplified.
Further, if an integrated circuit is formed by using these groups as a unit, there is no simultaneous operation channel, and therefore, there is an advantage that even if multi-channel integration is performed, it can be operated with less power.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention.
In this embodiment, the driver elements are the transistors 410 and 420, and the diode 412, the resistor 413, the capacitor 414, etc. form a pre-driver and its bias circuit. Also,
The transistor 421 can function as a driver element, but can also function only as a wave reception switch. At this time, in order to independently control the functions of transmission and reception, the transmission control signal systems 20 and 22 and the reception control signal system 2
1 and 23 may be provided independently. The circuit configuration of FIG.
By using it as the wave transmission circuit 4 in the embodiment of FIG. 3 or FIG. 3, it is possible to obtain the same function and effect as the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention, which is an example in which the transducer group is arranged two-dimensionally instead of the one-dimensional arrangement shown in FIG. Now 10
A case where the transducers divided into three, -1, 10-2, and 10-3 are arranged in an array will be described. A wave transmission circuit 400 corresponding to the wave transmission circuit 4 of FIG. 3 is coupled to each of these three divisions. i and j have the same meanings as in FIG. The wave transmitting circuit 400 includes wave transmitting circuits 4-1 and 4-2 for the transducers 10-1, 10-2 and 10-3 as shown in FIG.
4-3 are combined. Each of the wave transmission circuits uses the wave transmission circuit having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 or 4. The common line 51 of the wave transmission circuits 4-1, 4-2, and 4-3 is connected to the common line 51 of another similar circuit set and is led to the wave reception circuit 6. In this embodiment, the three-division transducers 10-1 and 10 are used.
-2 and 10-3, one or more of them are controlled to transmit / receive at the same time, and therefore their addition signals flow through the common line 51, i or j etc. in which these transducers are arrayed. In the same manner as in the case of FIG. 3, only one of the pairs is controlled to operate. As a result, the same linear scanning as in FIG. 3 is performed, and at the same time, transmission / reception control can be performed in the direction perpendicular to the scanning direction, that is, in the short axis direction of the two-dimensional array transducer group 1, and the transmission / reception ultrasonic beam The quality can be significantly improved. Further, even when the number of divisions in the minor axis direction is increased, it can be easily dealt with by developing a similar method.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a concrete control method. The switch 401 in FIG. 7 represents the transmitting / receiving function of the driver element in FIG. 1 or 4 by a switch. Here, the three-divided transducers 10-1, 10-
2 and 10-3 are the central one 10-2 and both sides 10-1,
The control is divided into 10-3, and the same control as in the embodiment of FIG. 3 is performed for the center and the control for simultaneously disconnecting or adding it is performed for both sides. By such control, the width of the transducer in the minor axis direction can be changed. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7, if the transducers at the center and both sides are not controlled to be separated, but the transmission and reception are controlled at predetermined timings, the ultrasonic waves are generated in the short-axis direction as in the long-axis direction. It is possible to control the convergence and the deflection.

As described above, according to the present invention, the driver element forming the wave transmission circuit is simultaneously used as the control switch for the wave reception signal, or the switch element for controlling the wave reception signal is coupled to the wave transmission circuit. Therefore, the circuit configuration and control method of the front-end driver, the configuration of the receiving circuit and the signal detection method (for example, whether the voltage detection method or the current detection method) are the same as those shown in the above embodiment. Not limited to. However, a new effect that the current addition function of the received signal can be easily realized can be obtained by combining with the current detection type receiving circuit.

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram showing still another embodiment of the present invention, in which a damping resistor 55 is inserted in the cable 50 near the connection point P between the driver elements 41 and 42 and the cable 50,
By appropriately selecting the resistance value, unnecessary vibration caused by the impedance of the cable and the transmission / reception circuit is suppressed, and the transmission / reception characteristics of the pulse signal are improved. That is, in the case of a method of supplying a transmission pulse from a power source of a low impedance source to a piezoelectric transducer, that is, a voltage source drive type, if a driver element and a transducer are connected by a cable, unnecessary vibration based on the impedance element accompanying them is generated. Occurs,
There is a problem that the characteristics of the detected information in the ultrasonic device are deteriorated. The embodiment of FIG. 8 provides one means for solving this problem. Unwanted vibrations that deteriorate the characteristics of the transmitted / received pulse signal are mainly caused by the parasitic capacitance of the transducer and the cable and the parasitic inductance of the cable. Focusing on the resonance that occurs, the Q value of these resonance circuits is lowered, and a damping resistor having a resistance value that provides an optimum damping condition is inserted. 8th
In the figure, 10 is a transducer, 20 is a control signal, and 30
Is a DC power supply of voltage V _H , 41 and 42 are driver elements, 50 is a cable, 55 is a dampening resistor, and 61 is a receiving amplifier. To the transducer 10, a transmission pulse voltage whose amplitude is approximately V _H , which is controlled by the control signal 20, is applied. Therefore, the driver elements 41 and 42 are controlled to turn on and off at the timings shown in FIGS. 9 (a) and 9 (b), respectively. As in the case of FIG. 1, P-channel and N-channel type MOS field effect transistors are used as the driver elements 41 and 42 in the embodiment of FIG. 8 respectively. Front driver 2
2, the resistor 413, the capacitor 414, etc. are the driver elements 41, 42.
Constitutes a circuit for controlling at the above timing. Then, a pulse voltage having a pulse width τ and an amplitude V _H shown in FIG. 9C is applied to the transducer 10. Here, τ is selected to be 1/2 of the resonance period of the transducer. In FIG. 8, when the damping resistor 55 is not provided, the waveform of the contact point P between the driver elements 41 and 42 and the cable 50 becomes a pulse waveform as shown in FIG. 9 (c), but at the Q point on the transducer side. The waveform of is accompanied by extra vibration as shown in FIG. 9 (d). The ultrasonic waveform transmitted from the transducer is desired to have a pulse waveform as shown in FIG. 10 (a). Here, the pulse length T is related to the time resolution of the object measured by the ultrasonic device, and it is desired that T be short in order to increase the resolution. This is related to both the characteristics of the transducer (that is, the Q value of the mechanical resonance circuit) and the characteristics of the transmitted pulse. When the waveform is driven with extra vibration as shown in FIG. 9 (d), the waveform of the transmitted ultrasonic wave is disturbed as shown in FIG. 10 (b) and the time T'is extended, deteriorating the characteristics of the detected information. Let The cause of the extra vibration as shown in FIG. 9D will be described with reference to the schematic equivalent circuit of FIG. The driver section is approximately represented by a pulse voltage source 45 and a signal source resistor 450, and the transducer 10 is approximately represented by an inductor 101, a capacitor 102, a resistor 103 and an interelectrode capacitance 100. Further, the cable 50 is represented by a series inductance 500 and a parallel capacitance 510. The resistance value of resistor 450 is Rs, inductor 50
Assuming that the inductance of 0 is L and the combined capacitance of capacitors 510 and 100 is C, the resonance angular frequency can be changed from the signal source to Rs, L, and C. A series resonant circuit having a Q value of ω _r L / Rs is formed. Therefore, in the case of a voltage source drive with a low Rs, unnecessary vibration occurs due to the series resonance characteristic as shown in FIG. 9 (d), and the voltage waveform at Q point on the transducer side is the voltage waveform at P point on the driver side. Unlike the above, it is a composite of the above unnecessary vibration. In order to suppress unnecessary vibration due to the series resonance circuit, Rs is increased and the Q value is lowered. So-called Q-dump by series resistance is effective. The resistor 55 in FIG. 8 is
In the equivalent circuit of Fig. 11, the resistor 450 is connected in series to increase Rs. Although the value of the resistor 55 depends on the resistance of the driver, the cable, and the transducer, it is preferable that the value of the resistor 55 is about several tens of ohms to several tens of ohms. That is, if the value of the resistor 55 is r and r that makes the Q value of the above circuit 1 is r *, Required from. If the above-mentioned r * or a value close to it is used as the resistor 55, then the waveform at the Q point on the transducer side becomes as shown in FIG. 9 (e), and a good drive waveform can be obtained.

FIG. 12 shows another embodiment. In this embodiment, the damping resistor 55 shown in FIG. 8 is separated into two resistors 52 and 53.
The resistors 52 and 53 function as damping resistors while the transistors 41 and 42 are on. Therefore, the on resistance of the transistors 41 and 42 (resistor 45 in the equivalent circuit of FIG.
0, that is, Rs) is selected to obtain the optimum conditions. As is clear from Fig. 12, resistance 5
Since 2 and 53 are in series with the on resistances of the transistors 41 and 42, these on resistance values can be used as damping resistances. The element areas of the transistors 41 and 42 are determined from the conditions of withstand voltage, flowing current value, and on-resistance. The on-resistance condition is that the normal switch element should reduce the on-resistance as much as possible. Is required, which is an advantageous condition in integrating the driver circuit.

FIG. 13 shows still another embodiment. In this embodiment, a circuit equivalent to the P-channel driver element 41 of FIG. 8 has a circuit composed of a P-channel transistor 411, an N-channel transistor 410 and a diode 412. Has been realized. N-channel transistors 420 and 421 are the N-channel transistors of FIG.
It may have a function equivalent to that of the channel transistor 42,
The transistor 421 also functions as a switch that separates the wave receiving circuit systems 61, 62, and 60 from the wave transmitting driver circuit. Also in this embodiment, the optimum damping condition is achieved by the resistor 55.

FIG. 14 shows still another embodiment, and in this embodiment, a circuit in which damping resistors 52 and 53 are separately inserted into the driver circuit of the type shown in FIG. 13 is shown. By inserting the resistors 52 and 53 on the drain side of the transistors 410 and 420, respectively, damping characteristics can be obtained without affecting the switching characteristics of these transistors. Also in this embodiment, the damping function can be obtained by the on-resistance of the transistors 410 and 420.

In any of the above embodiments, the driver element
It goes without saying that the method of configuring the on / off control circuits such as 41, 42 or 411, 410, 420, 421, etc., and the control timing are not limited to the form shown in the above embodiment. Further, it goes without saying that the P channel, N channel of the transistor, the polarity of the DC power source 30 and the like can be exchanged.

If the configuration for adjusting the damping resistance to the optimum value described in the embodiment of FIGS. 8 to 14 is adopted, the pulse voltage applied to the transducer is caused by the parasitic impedance of the driver circuit and the transducer and the cables and wirings connecting them. It is possible to suppress the generation of unnecessary vibrations, and it is possible to prevent the characteristic deterioration of the detection information in the ultrasonic device or the like by an extremely simple means. Moreover, the above means is
It is also possible to positively utilize the on-resistance of the transistor element that constitutes the driver circuit, and it also has the effect of facilitating the design of the element. Moreover, this
When the driver circuit is implemented by an integrated circuit, it is particularly effective in terms of the degree of freedom in designing elements and the occupied area.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, for transducer elements arranged in an array or two-dimensionally in an ultrasonic device or the like, the convergence control, the caliber variable control, and the scanning necessary for the above device are performed. It is possible to obtain a transmission / reception circuit device which is suitable for control and the like and which is particularly suitable for integration into an integrated circuit. In addition, with the configuration in which the damping resistor is inserted in the driver element side in the cable connecting the driver element and the transducer element, unnecessary vibration generated due to the impedance of the cable and the transmitting / receiving circuit can be easily added by adding a resistor. Can be suppressed with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of control and operation states of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a view showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a detailed view of a part of FIG. 5, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a circuit configuration diagram for explaining a concrete control example in the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is a circuit configuration diagram showing still another embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 9 (a) to 9 (e) are FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B are explanatory diagrams of the ultrasonic pulse waveform transmitted from the transducer, and FIG. 11 is a schematic equivalent circuit of the operation principle of the embodiment of FIG. FIG. 12, FIG. 13, FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 are views showing yet another embodiment of the present invention. <Description of symbols> 1 ... Transducer, 4 ... Wave sending circuit, 6 ... Receiving circuit, 10 ... Transducer, 20 ... Control signal, 30 DC current, 40 ... Pre-driver, 41, 42 ... Driver element 50 …… Cable, 51 …… Common line 55, 52,53 …… Damping resistance, 61 …… Reception amplifier 63 …… Load resistance

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takeaki Okabe 1-280, Higashi Koigakubo, Kokubunji, Tokyo Inside Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (56) References: 56-73809 (JP, U) -89967 (JP, U) Actually opened Sho-57-89968 (JP, U)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A transducer comprising a plurality of transducer elements arranged one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally, a wave transmission circuit connected to each of the transducer elements and transmitting ultrasonic waves, and a transducer formed by the transducer element. An ultrasonic wave device having a wave receiving circuit for receiving a sound wave reception signal, wherein the wave sending circuit is controlled in operation according to a first predetermined control signal for controlling the wave sending of the ultrasonic wave by the transducer element. And a second element whose operation is controlled according to a second predetermined control signal for controlling transmission of the received signal to the wave receiving circuit and which does not operate simultaneously with the first element. The first predetermined control signal is input to the first terminal of the first element, and the transformer is input to the second terminal of the first element. -
A driving power supply for driving the element is connected, the second predetermined control signal is input to the first terminal of the second element, and the third terminal of the first element and the second element The second terminal is connected to one of the above transducers via a resistor.
In the wave transmission circuit group, a plurality of wave transmission circuit groups each of which is connected to the element and includes a plurality of the wave transmission circuits, and one wave receiving circuit connected to each of the wave transmission circuit groups are provided. Each of the third terminals of the second elements of the wave transmission circuit is commonly connected, and the reception signal is transmitted to the one wave reception circuit connected to the wave transmission circuit group. Characterized ultrasonic device. 2. The ultrasonic device according to claim 1, wherein the first element comprises a first switch element and the second element comprises a second switch element. . 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first predetermined control signal is used.
The transducer elements arranged in a dimension,
Alternatively, the transmission of the ultrasonic waves by the transducer elements arranged in the respective two-dimensional directions is controlled, and the transducer elements arranged in the one-dimensional state, or 2 by the second predetermined control signal. The transducers arranged in each direction of the dimension
The ultrasonic device according to claim 1, wherein transmission of the received signal to the wave receiving circuit by an element is controlled. 4. The ultrasonic device according to claim 1, wherein the first control signal and the second control signal are input from the same terminal. 5. The ultrasonic device according to claim 1, wherein the first control signal and the second control signal are input from different terminals.