Testing compliance of ultrasound transducers
The surface temperature test phantom is used to test compliance with the limits of ultrasound transducer surface temperature specified in IEC 60601-2-37 Ed 2.
The phantom is based on an agar-based tissue-mimicking material (TMM), prepared according to the recipe given in IEC 60601-2-37 Ed 2. The material mimics the acoustic and thermal properties of soft tissues and contains scattering particles of different diameter to mimic B-mode appearance of soft tissues. It was originally developed as part of a European Framework project for ultrasound testing.
The phantom is supplied with silicone rubber skin-mimicking layers of a range of thicknesses.
The dimensions of our standard cylindrical phantom are approximately 11.0 cm +/- 0.5 cm diameter, 11.5 cm +/- 0.5 cm height.
Custom geometries and features can be tailored to suit customer requirements:
- Height, diameter and shape.
- Cavities to simulate the use with endocavitary probes. Shape, position and dimension of the cavities can be specified.
- Non-scattering gelatine based TMM which follows the recipe in IEC 62306.
Additional information about the phantom:
- All the materials are within the tolerances of the IEC 60601-2-37 Ed 2
- Agar-based TMM: Speed of sound approx. 1540 m/s, attenuation coefficient approx. 0.55 dB/cm/MHz.
- Gelatine-based TMM: Speed of sound approx. 1540 m/s, attenuation coefficient approx. 0.45 dB/cm/MHz
If required, NPL can measure the acoustic properties for the specific test object or custom made materials, with an uncertainty of 3-5% for attenuation and <1% for speed of sound. We can also measure the thermal properties, including thermal conductivity, diffusivity and volumetric heat capacity, with a quoted uncertainty of 10%.
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