ARRAYS MADE FROM FLEXIBLE TRANSDUCER ELEMENTS

Title:

ARRAYS MADE FROM FLEXIBLE TRANSDUCER ELEMENTS

Document Type and Number:

WIPO Patent Application WO1999048621

Kind Code:

A3

Abstract:

Large-area flexible piezoelectric composite transducer elements and large-area arrays of such transducer elements have sufficient flexibility to conform to the contours of the human anatomy, e.g., the hip, spine. These transducer elements and arrays support at least 2.0 mm deflection under flexural bending, facilitating the more efficient coupling and transfer of acoustic energy to the body. The two techniques for fabrication processing are the spiral fiber method and the dice-and-fill method. The transducer system incorporates a flexible matching layer and a flexible housing fabricated with the same polymer component used in the array and matching layer. The resulting flexible transducer system allows for medical therapeutic applications as promoting the healing of bone fractures and tissue wounds at any section or multiple sections of the human anatomy, and can be extended to medical diagnostic ultrasound and nondestructive testing applications.

Inventors:

CORNEJO IVAN A (US)
JADIDIAN BAHRAM (US)
SAFARI A (US)
WINDER ALAN A (US)

Application Number:

PCT/US1999/006650

Publication Date:

November 25, 1999

Filing Date:

March 26, 1999

Export Citation:

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Assignee:

EXOGEN INC (US)
UNIV RUTGERS (US)
CORNEJO IVAN A (US)
JADIDIAN BAHRAM (US)
SAFARI A (US)
WINDER ALAN A (US)

International Classes:

A61N7/00; B06B1/06; (IPC1-7): B06B1/06

Domestic Patent References:

WO1994013411A1	1994-06-23
WO1995003744A1	1995-02-09

Foreign References:

US4726099A

1988-02-23

Other References:

PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 013, no. 541 (E - 854) 5 December 1989 (1989-12-05)

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