Three-Dimensional Printed Piezoelectric Array for Improving Acoustic Field and Spatial Resolution in Medical Ultrasonic Imaging

Zeyu Chen; Xuejun Qian; Xuan Song; Qiangguo Jiang; Rongji Huang; Yang Yang; Runze Li; Kirk Shung; Yong Chen; Qifa Zhou

doi:10.3390/mi10030170

Three-Dimensional Printed Piezoelectric Array for Improving Acoustic Field and Spatial Resolution in Medical Ultrasonic Imaging

Micromachines (Basel). 2019 Feb 28;10(3):170. doi: 10.3390/mi10030170.

Authors

Zeyu Chen^{1

2}, Xuejun Qian³, Xuan Song⁴, Qiangguo Jiang⁵, Rongji Huang⁶, Yang Yang⁷, Runze Li⁸, Kirk Shung⁹, Yong Chen¹⁰, Qifa Zhou^{11

12}

Affiliations

¹ College of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China. zeyuchen@usc.edu.
² Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. zeyuchen@usc.edu.
³ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. xuejunqi@usc.edu.
⁴ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. xuan-song@uiowa.edu.
⁵ School of Electro-Mechanical Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China. qiangguojiang@gdut.edu.cn.
⁶ School of Electro-Mechanical Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China. rongji.huang@hotmail.com.
⁷ Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. yang610@usc.edu.
⁸ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. runzeli@usc.edu.
⁹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. kkshung@usc.edu.
¹⁰ Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. yongchen@usc.edu.
¹¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. qifazhou@usc.edu.
¹² Roski Eye Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. qifazhou@usc.edu.

Abstract

Piezoelectric arrays are widely used in non-destructive detecting, medical imaging and therapy. However, limited by traditional manufacturing methods, the array's element is usually designed in simple geometry such as a cube or rectangle, restricting potential applications of the array. This work demonstrates an annular piezoelectric array consisting of different concentric elements printed by Mask-Image-Projection-based Stereolithography (MIP-SL) technology. The printed array displays stable piezoelectric and dielectric properties. Compared to a traditional single element transducer, the ultrasonic transducer with printed array successfully modifies the acoustic beam and significantly improves spatial resolution.

Keywords: 3D Printing; piezoelectric array; ultrasonic imaging; ultrasonic transducer.

Grants and funding

1335476/National Science Foundation