Mechanism and system for 3-dimensional scanning of an ultrasound beam

摘要

An ultrasound probe capable of scanning an ultrasound beam in a region of 3D space, characterized by that an ultrasound transducer array is mounted to a 1<st >shaft that can rotate in bearings mounted in a fork that can be moved. The fork can be rotated around a 2<nd >shaft in a bearing, or moved through a sliding system, or a combination of the two. The shaft and the fork are connected to two separate electric motors for electric steering of the array direction within a region of 3D space. Position measurement systems are mounted to the shaft and the fork so that the beam direction can be steered with a feed-back control system.