Goals and Purpose
The purpose of this project is to test various materials and methods of transducer fabrication in order to discover a reliable method of producing flexible transducers for ultrasound work. Our primary goal is to deliver a functional, flexible, low-frequency, high-depth ultrasound transducer. Other goals include gaining a deep understanding of ultrasound physics and the relevant material properties, techniques for manufacturing and testing an ultrasound transducer, and learning how to modify designs in hopes of improvement.
Scope
This project encompasses the design, manufacture, and testing of an ultrasound transducer. The end product will be a flexible transducer which can be formed to a contour of the human body. Image production is incorporated into the final design with some signal processing and programming; however, resolution of the image is not a major concern.
Duration and Time Commitment
This project spans the Fall 2014 – Spring 2015 academic year. The group will meet with their project advisors weekly for the majority of the project duration, particularly during the early months. Group members will actively communicate with each other to discuss project details; meetings between the members will occur at least twice per week.
Deliverables
- A simple single-element transducer (just PVDF) that produces and receives waves
- A single-element transducer that is functional
- A linear-array transducer that is functional
- A multiple-element array transducer where each element is produces and receives ultrasound waves
- A linear-array transducer that is flexible (may be cured into a shape at least once) in which each element produces and receives ultrasound waves; produces an image with a moderate degree of accuracy and resolution
Desired End Product
A flexible, multi-element transducer that produces an image with enough accuracy and resolution to correctly detect and display some objects (e.g. steel rods, roughly 1 cm diameter) stuck through some form of tissue (e.g. 5 cm thick slice of raw chicken). We want to be able to give an approximate distance between the rods and be able to prove the diameter of the rods from the image.