Clarius Mobile Health Corp.

Ultrasonix Medical Corporation

Kwun-Keat Chan

Laurent Pelissier

Binda Zhang

Daniel Christian Rahardja

Kris Dickie

Trevor Stephen Hansen

The present embodiments relate generally to ultrasound apparatus with improved heat dissipation and methods for providing same. The ultrasound apparatus may have a housing that encloses a transducer array and at least one integrated circuit (IC) for driving the transducer array during operation. The housing may have an interior surface and an exterior surface, and the housing can be made substantially of metal. A post is disposed between the at least one IC and the interior surface of the housing. The post can be coupled directly to the interior surface of the housing so that heat generated from the at least one IC is transferred via the post to the housing and dissipated via the exterior surface.

Ultrasound apparatus with improved heat dissipation and methods for providing same

Ultrasound systems comprise an ultrasound imaging apparatus operable to acquire ultrasound image data and a cooling unit configured to detachably couple to the ultrasound imaging apparatus, wherein the cooling unit may be cordless and comprise an active cooling element for removing heat from the ultrasound imaging apparatus and an identity interface and the ultrasound imaging apparatus may comprise a sensor to determine when the cooling unit is attached such that the ultrasound imaging apparatus may use the identity interface to determine whether or not the cooling unit is compatible.

Cooling unit for an ultrasound imaging apparatus, and related ultrasound systems

An apparatus and method for generating high quality, high frame rate images in a handheld or hand-carried ultrasound imaging machine. The apparatus includes a time-multiplexed beamformer coefficient generator that supplies the necessary delay and weight coefficients to process multiple beams in parallel via a beamforming coefficient bus. This approach reduces the required hardware and power consumption to satisfy the physical space and power requirements of a handheld probe. The ultrasound machine may optionally turn off or operate beamformers in a standby mode. The ultrasound machine may also use pulse inversion harmonics to improve image quality by improving signal-to-noise ratio.

Ultrasound machine having scalable receive beamformer architecture comprising multiple beamformers with common coefficient generator and related methods

Cooling units for an ultrasound imaging apparatus, and related ultrasound systems are described. The ultrasound imaging systems may include an ultrasound imaging apparatus operable to acquire ultrasound image data; and a cooling unit configured to detachably couple to the ultrasound imaging apparatus. The cooling unit may be cordless and include an active cooling element for removing heat from the ultrasound imaging apparatus. The ultrasound imaging apparatus may have a sensor to determine when the cooling unit is attached. The cooling unit may have an identity interface, and the ultrasound imaging apparatus may use the identity interface to determine whether the cooling unit is compatible.

An apparatus and method for generating high quality, high frame rate images in a handheld or hand-carried ultrasound imaging machine. The apparatus includes a time-multiplexed beamformer coefficient generator that supplies the necessary delay and weight coefficients to process multiple beams in parallel via a beamforming coefficient bus. This approach reduces the required hardware and power consumption to satisfy the physical space and power requirements of a handheld probe. To improve image quality, the ultrasound machine may optionally use synthetic aperture to improve penetration and resolution. The ultrasound machine may also use pulse inversion harmonics to improve image quality by improving signal-to-noise ratio.

A handheld ultrasound device is provided, having a transducer assembly for emitting and receiving sonic signals, a configurable signal processing unit, and a data processor configured to provide configuration data to the signal processing unit. The configuration data defines a beamforming configuration, filtering configuration and envelope detection configuration for an operational mode. The operational mode may be selected by the user or may be determined based on a detected type of the transducer assembly.

Handheld ultrasound imaging systems

A sterile enclosure is provided for enclosing a hand-held ultrasound device to prevent any material on the ultrasound device from contaminating a sterile environment in which the ultrasound device is used. The enclosure has an opening for insertion of the ultrasound device into the enclosure, a closure for closing the opening, an acoustically-transparent transducer portion for covering an active face of a transducer of the ultrasound device, and a transparent display portion overlaying a display of the ultrasound device. In some embodiments a detachable or integrally formed needle guide is provided with the enclosure, for holding and guiding a needle so that the needle is projected into a field of view of the transducer of the ultrasound device.

Hand-held ultrasound system having sterile enclosure

A hand-held ultrasonic imaging device is provided with a removable transducer array. The imaging device has a housing, a display on the housing, and a transducer assembly including a transducer array detachably coupled to the housing. The imaging device may detect the type of transducer array that is coupled to the housing and select a corresponding functional mode for the transducer array. The transducer array may be coupled at different angles to the housing. The transducer array may be coupled to the housing by a pivotable swivel connector.

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Vancouver, Canada

Kwun-Keat Chan