EP 0421286 B1 19941109 - Piezoelectric transducer.
Title (en)
Piezoelectric transducer.
Title (de)
Piezoelektrischer Wandler.
Title (fr)
Transducteur piézoélectrique.
Publication
Application
Priority
DE 3932959 A 19891003
Abstract (en)
[origin: EP0421286A2] A piezoelectric transducer is described for generating focused ultrasound shockwaves for application in lithotripsy, whose ultrasound shockwaves, emitted in a pulsed manner, can be transmitted via a coupling medium (20) to the body of a patient. It consists of a multiplicity of individual piezoelectric transducer elements (2), of ceramic, which are connected to the terminals of a pulse generator (7) and are fixed in the form of a mosaic on a carrier (8) and are laterally insulated electrically from one another, the acoustic termination of the transducer elements (2) being essentially reflection-free. It is proposed that there be provided between the transducer elements (2) and the coupling medium (20) an intermediate medium consisting of at least one layer (3, 4, 5) whose acoustic impedance is between that of the ceramic of the transducer elements (2) and that of the coupling medium (20) and that the thickness d of the layer (3, 4, 5) be dimensioned such that the relationship d> tau k x cLA is true, tau k being the propagation time of the sound in the piezoceramic material of the transducer elements (2) and CLA being the speed of sound in the respective intermediate medium. <IMAGE>
IPC 1-7
IPC 8 full level
B06B 1/06 (2006.01); G10K 11/02 (2006.01)
CPC (source: EP US)
B06B 1/0622 (2013.01 - EP US); G10K 11/02 (2013.01 - EP US)
Designated contracting state (EPC)
BE DE FR GB IT
DOCDB simple family (publication)
EP 0421286 A2 19910410; EP 0421286 A3 19920603; EP 0421286 B1 19941109; DE 3932959 C1 19910411; DE 59007688 D1 19941215; US 5111805 A 19920512
DOCDB simple family (application)
EP 90118633 A 19900928; DE 3932959 A 19891003; DE 59007688 T 19900928; US 57433190 A 19900828