Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi Medical Corporation

Hitachi Metals, Ltd.

Kageyoshi Katakura

Toshio Ogawa

Shinichiro Umemura

Hiroshi Kanda

Hiroshi Takeuchi

Hiroshi Ikeda

Hisashi Nishiyama

Chitose Nakaya

Shizuo Ishikawa

Ryuichi Shinomura

Isao Ishikawa

Hiroshi Masuzawa

Yuichi Miwa

Shinichi Kondo

Shin-ichi Kondo

Shin'ichiro Umemura

Ryuuichi Shinomura

Yoshikuni Matsunaga

Satoshi Tamano

Toshio Kondo

Noriyoshi Ichikawa

Kazuo Takei

Masahiro Kurihara

Koji Tanabe

Tetsuhiko Takahashi

Kenichi Kawabata

Etsuji Yamamoto

Shin-ichiro Umemura

Wasao Takasugi

Yutaka Sato

Takayuki Nabeshima

Masao Kuroda

Kunio Hashiba

Tsuyoshi Mitake

Keiko Kushida

Yasuhiro Hashimoto

Hideyuki Ban

Takaji Suzuki

Sekijyuro Ono

Charles A Cain

Mashio Kodama

Nagahiko Yumita

Koshiro Umemura

Ishikawa Shizuo

Sizuo Ishikawa

Shin-ich Kondo

Kinji Kuriyama

Embodiments of the invention provide a water treatment method and water treatment device capable of automatically tracking the frequency of ultrasonic waves and automatically controlling their amplitude such that optimal cavitation is generated. In one embodiment, a water treatment method of sterilizing water containing microbes comprises supplying ultrasonic vibration to the water to be treated by driving and controlling a transducer of a sterilization cell using a signal; detecting an amplitude of the transducer and a frequency of the signal applied to the transducer; and controlling the amplitude and a vibration frequency of the transducer to target values in accordance with the detected transducer amplitude and the detected signal frequency.

Water treatment method and water treatment device

A method and apparatus for sterilizing water containing pathogen protozoa having shells in a simple manner without negative influencing the environment is disclosed. Ultrasonic waves are applied to drinking water to form fine cavitation bubbles which are used to destroy the shells of pathogenic protozoa. The residual chlorine in the drinking water along with an oxidizing action and effect of the ultrasonic wave, permit not only sterilization but also deodorization and decolorization.

Sterilizing method and apparatus

In an ultrasound signal processor, respective received signals received at received signal processing units are sampled by a sampling clock of a frequency which is sufficiently higher than a Nyquist sampling frequency of an upper limit of a frequency band width for each of the received signals received at the received signal processing units so as to be digitized. Each of the digitized received signals is multiplied by a reference signal of a predetermined frequency to produce converted received signals in which the frequency of the digital received signal waveform is shifted, and converted signals are cumulated for a time which is longer than the sampling period. Each of the cumulated signals is processed by a clock frequency lower than the sampling clock in connection with an ultrasound beam in one direction, so that after one transmission operation of ultrasound, a plurality of ultrasound received beams are formed from the received signals received at the respective transducers.

Ultrasound signal processor

A velocity measurement apparatus is disclosed which is composed of a transmitter having a plurality of elements for transmitting a signal wave, a receiver having a plurality of elements for receiving a reflected signal from a target object, and a Fourier transformation processor for two-dimensionally Fourier transforming a two-dimensional received signal in an array direction and a time axial direction of the plurality of elements of the receiver. The two-dimensional received signal is derived by repeating the transmission and reception operations a plurality of times. The velocity measurement apparatus measures a moving velocity of the target object directing to the means for receiving.

Velocity measurement apparatus of moving object

An ultrasound signal processor for receiving an ultrasound signal from a testing body by a plurality of electro-magnetic transducer elements and processing a plurality of received signals to obtain information of the interior of the testing body is provided with analog-digital converters for sampling at least two of received analog signals, multipliers for multiplying the outputs of the analog-digital converters by first complex digital reference signals, first low-pass filters for limiting the signal bands of the outputs of the multipliers, first complex multipliers for multiplying the outputs of the first low-pass filters by second complex digital reference signals, adders for performing the addition of the outputs of the first complex multipliers for real signals and the addition thereof for imaginary signals, memory devices for storing the outputs of the adders, second complex multipliers for multiplying signals read from the memory devices by third complex digital reference signals, and second low-pass filters for limiting the signal bands of the outputs of the second complex multipliers.

The ultrasonic apparatus has a transmitter for transmitting an ultrasonic wave filled with a fluid from the outside of a pipe, a receiver for receiving echo signals from the inside of the pipe, a pulse wave propagation time measuring instrument for estimating a propagation time of a pulse wave between a plurality of measurement points within the tube on the basis of the echo signals from the measurement points, a pulse wave velocity estimator for estimating a speed of the pulse wave from the propagation time of the pulse wave and the distance between the measurement points, a flow speed estimator for measuring a flow speed of the fluid within the pipe, and a pressure estimator for measuring a pressure of the fluid within the pipe at a particular time, whereby the absolute value of a pressure at another time different from the particular time is estimated from the flow speed of the fluid within the pipe which is produced from the flow speed estimator and the pressure of the fluid at the particular time which is produced from the pressure estimator.

Ultrasonic equipment

An ultrasound signal processor has a receiving signal digitizing circuit, waveform conversion circuit for mixing a produced digital signal by a reference signal, a cumulation circuit for performing a cumulation processing of a series of converted signals, a delay circuit subject to the cumulation processing, and a circuit for adding delayed signals, whereby the frequency of the receiving signal is shifted to a lower frequency and thereafter subjected to a cumulation processing which perform over-sampling technique so that the accuracy of an analog to digital conversion can be improved drastically. The ultrasound signal processor further has a circuit for converting a receiving signal into a low frequency signal by analog-mixing and a circuit for passing a low frequency component of the analog-converted signal, whereby a higher frequency receiving signal can be digitized even if the digitizing circuit has a insufficient sampling rate.

An RF probe for MRI, in which a plurality of unit coils including conductive loops having resonance capacitors and inductors connected with the conductive loops in series are arranged so as to be distant from each other with a predetermined distance, electromagnetic coupling being produced between at least two inductors to remove electromagnetic coupling between the unit coils.

RF probe for MRI

A receiving beamformer is provided which simultaneously generates a plurality of receiving beam signals corresponding to receiving beams of a plurality of directions on the basis of signals received by an array of vibrator elements for receiving an ultrasonic wave. This receiving beamformer includes a variable amplifying unit for amplifying the received signals in accordance with the depth of measurement to produce output signals, an A/D converting unit for converting the output signals from the variable amplifying unit into digital signals at a predetermined sampling period, a digital delay unit for receiving each of the digital signals and for producing a plurality of delayed signals corresponding to the receiving beams for each of the digital signals, and a first adding unit for adding the delayed signals corresponding to each of the receive beams and to the respective digital signals. The digital delay unit includes a first delay unit for delaying the respective digital signals at a unit delay time same as the sampling period to produce first delayed signals, and a second delay unit for delaying each of the first delayed signals at a unit delay time shorter than the sampling period to produce a plurality of delayed signals for each of the first delayed signals.

Receiving beam former and an ultrasonic imaging system using the same

An ultrasound diagnosis system including a plurality of elements arrayed for transmitting ultrasonic wave to a testing object and for receiving ultrasonic wave reflected from the testing object, a device for giving a delay time distribution to respective transmitting and receiving signals of the elements to thereby form an ultrasonic beam having directivity in a predetermined direction, a device for displaying a sectional image of the testing object, and a sound velocity distribution control device for changing sound velocities in the testing object to be set up in respective elements in accordance with a focal point position of the ultrasonic beam and the respective positions of the elements in order to determine the delay time distribution, wherein the system further includes a sound velocity distribution control device for changing sound velocities to be set up in the respective elements on the basis of functions forming a system of orthogonal functions in which array number successively given to respective array positions of the elements in a transmitting and receiving aperture composed of a predetermined number of the elements is regarded as a variable, and on the basis of expanding coefficients by which respective functions forming the system of orthogonal functions are multiplied respectively.

Ultrasound diagnosis system

A flowmeter employing an array of ultrasonic wave transducer elements, the flowmeter being arranged in such a way that reception signals of plural reception beams aligned in parallel with one another are formed from detection signals of reflection ultrasonic waves from the transducer elements; the Fourier transformation is performed with respect to a direction of alignment of the reception beams; a moving target indication processing is then performed among a plurality of reception signals derived from the repetitive transmissions; the result of the Fourier transformation is treated as two-dimensional signals of time series corresponding to the transmission of the ultrasonic wave, and with respect to a plurality of straight lines coinciding at respective angles with the origin of a coordinate, signal values on each of the straight lines are treated as a one-dimension sequence of numbers to perform the Fourier transformation; and an axial velocity component and a lateral (transverse) velocity component of a moving object are obtained on the basis of the resulting signal distribution.

Ultrasonic flowmeter

An ultrasonic apparatus for transmitting ultrasonic waves and receiving reflection waves from an examination subject for display is used in a blood vessel with a catheter for two-dimensional imaging and three-dimensional scanning for three-dimensional imaging. The ultrasonic apparatus includes a transducer, installed within a catheter, which transmits ultrasonic waves in a direction corresponding to a transducer drive signal frequency and receives reflection waves from an examination subject, to display a tomogram image obtained by the transducer. Also, the ultrasonic apparatus includes an ultrasonic probe having arrayed transducers in an elongated shape which transmit ultrasonic waves in a direction corresponding to a transducer drive signal frequency and receive reflection waves from an examination subject, and a device for electronic scanning and focusing in a direction of array of the transducers in the elongated shape, and electronic scanning in a direction perpendicular to that direction is conducted by changing the transducer drive signal frequency.

Ultrasonic apparatus

An ultrasonic diagnostic system includes a probe composed of a group of transducers for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave, a main system connected with the probe by a cable, a memory card, and a battery pack for supplying power. The ultrasonic diagnostic system further includes a data processing unit and a monitor which are provided separately from the above components. The probe and main system are prepared for each ultrasonic scanning mode. The data processing unit subjects the received signal data recorded in the memory card to sophisticated data processing which cannot be carried out by the main system thereby to display the processing result. An examiner can carry the probe, main system, memory card and the battery pack for supplying power instead of a stethoscope to acquires diagnosis data and can process a suspicious image in diagnosis at bedside or house call using the data processing unit thereby to implement precise diagnosis.

Ultrasonic diagnostic system

A frequency transfer type phase adjustment apparatus for frequency-transferring a plurality of reception signals derived from arrayed ultrasonic transducer elements into low frequency components by mixing these reception signals with a reference signal, and for applying delays to these low frequency components so as to be summed with each other, comprises small delay circuits for applying very short delays to the respective reception signals before being frequency-transferred; and a quantizing delay circuit for applying delays obtained by multiplying a delay time unit by an integer, to the respective reception signals after being frequency-transferred. A ratio of the delay time unit to one-cycle period of the reference signal is equal to an integer ratio. Phase shifters are inserted into either the output sides or the input sides of the mixers for the respective signal channels used for the frequency transfer operation. These phase shifters are capable of selectable phase shift amounts from a finite number of phase shift amounts which have been prepared for compensating phase differences in the delayed reception signals.

Phase regulating apparatus of ultrasonic measuring devices

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Kageyoshi Katakura