Ultrasound Machine

Overview

A diagnostic ultrasound machine images soft tissue and blood flow in real time using high-frequency sound. A handheld probe transmits short acoustic pulses into the body and listens for echoes returned from tissue boundaries; the time of flight gives depth and the echo strength gives brightness, building a live cross-sectional image. Doppler processing of the returning frequency shift measures blood-flow velocity and direction.

Sound is generated and received by interchangeable probes, each a piezoelectric element array tuned to a frequency band: the Convex Probe for deep abdominal and obstetric imaging, the Linear Probe for shallow vascular and superficial work, and the Phased-Array Probe for cardiac scanning through the rib spaces. Probes plug into the Probe Port Panel connector panel, and the active probe is selected from the console.

How it works

Echo signals flow to the Beamformer & Processing chain, the heart of the system. An analog front-end amplifies and digitizes each channel with time-gain compensation, the digital beamformer applies per-element delays to focus the transmit and receive beams electronically, and the back-end builds B-mode, M-mode, and Doppler images that are scan-converted for display. The processed image appears on the Main Display Monitor, a high-resolution monitor on an articulating arm.

The clinician drives the exam from the Operator Console, a control panel with a touchscreen for mode, gain, depth, and measurements. Everything is built on the Cart Chassis, a mobile chassis with a height-adjustable column, and powered by the Power System with a backup battery for transport. Acquired images and clips are archived to the Storage & I/O SSD and exported in DICOM.