Engineers at the University of British Columbia have developed a new ultrasound transducer, or probe, that could dramatically lower the cost of ultrasound scanners to as little as $100.
Their patent pending innovation no bigger than a Band-Aid is portable, wearable and can be powered by a smartphone. Conventional ultrasound scanners use piezoelectric crystals to create images of the inside of the body and send them to a computer to create sonograms.
Researchers replaced the piezoelectric crystals with tiny vibrating drums made of polymer resin, called polyCMUTs (polymer capacitive micro-machined ultrasound transducers), which are cheaper to manufacture.
Sonograms produced by the UBC device were as sharp as or even more detailed than traditional sonograms produced by piezoelectric transducers.
The transducer needs just 10 volts to operate, it can be powered by a smartphone, making it suitable for use in remote or low-power locations. And unlike rigid ultrasound probes, our transducer has the potential to be built into a flexible material without dramatically increasing costs.
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News Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/uobc-ubo091118.php
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