• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.2E
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• pp.73-85
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• 2010

In the diagnostic ultrasound (US) transducer technology, the high frequency US(HFUS) transducer over 20 MHz is one of the current issues to be pursued for better resolution with the expense of penetration. HFUS single element transducers and the mechanical scanning systems for imaging are reviewed, and HFUS array transducers are also briefly summarized. HFUS applications such as the human applications in ophthalmology and dermatology and small animal applications for research purposes are reviewed with vascular and blood imaging in this paper.

• Proceedings of the Acoustical Society of Korea Conference
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• spring
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• pp.373-376
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• 2002

Most previous studies using ultrasound for osteoporosis diagnosis have employed ultrasound in a frequency range of 0.2-1 MHz. In this study, acoustic properties of the 12 defatted bovine cancellous bone specimens were investigated in vitro. Speed of sound (SOS) and broadband ultrasonic attenuation (BUA) were measured using three matched pairs of transducers with the center frequencies of 1, 2.25, and 3.5 MHz, respectively, in order to cover a broad frequency range of 0.5-2 MHz. The relative orientation between ultrasonic beam and bone specimens was the mediolateral (ML) direction of the bovine tibia. SOS showed significant linear positive correlations with apparent density for all three pairs of transducers of 1 MHz, 2.25 MHz, and 3.5 MHz, respectively. BUA showed relatively weak correlations with apparent density for the pairs of transducers of 1 MHz and 2.25 MHz. Furthermore, in the measurement with the pair of 3.5 MHz transducers, BUA was independent of apparent density. SOS and BUA were only weakly correlated with each other. The linear combination of SOS and BUA showed significant correlations with apparent density. These results suggest that the frequency range up to 1.5 MHz may be also useful in the osteoporosis diagnosis.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2016

The type of ultrasound transducer used influences the quality of a reconstructed ultrasound image. This study analyzed the effect of transducer type on ultrasound computed tomography (UCT) image quality. The UCT was modeled in an ultrasound simulator by using a 5 cm anatomy model and a ring-shape 5 MHz 128 transducer array, which considered attenuation, refraction, and reflection. Speed-of-sound images were reconstructed by the Radon transform as the UCT image modality. Acoustic impedance images were also reconstructed by the delay-and-sum (DAS) method, which considered the speed of sound information. To determine the optimal combination of transducers in observation, point-source, flat, and focused transducers were tested in combination as trasmitters and receivers; UCT images were constructed from each combination. The combination of point-source/flat transducer as transmitting and receiving devices presented the best reconstructed image quality. In UCT implementation, the combination of a flat transducer for transmitting and a point transducer for receiving permitted acceptable image quality.

• Clinical Pain
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2021

Musculoskeletal ultrasound has evolved as the essential tool to diagnose and guide intervention procedures in people with neuromusculoskeletal conditions. Image optimization and understanding device operations are core components for ultrasound guided intervention procedure training. All ultrasound machines share the common operative features and there are various buttons for the features in the device control panel. Ultrasound "knobology" refers to the thorough understanding of imaging optimization. This review addressed basic information for the transducers, depth setting, gain and focus control, different modes focusing on brightness and doppler modes.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.268-272
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• 2013

The aim of this study was to develop an ultrasonic tooth-whitening apparatus using piezoelectric transducers, which enhance bleaching efficiency by applying ultrasound, while performing a teeth whitening procedure. For this purpose, an ultrasonic transducer was designed and manufactured, and the effects of reduction in the whitening material's concentration and in the whitening treatment time through using the ultrasound cavitation phenomenon were confirmed. Also, the validity of this study was investigated by comparing the whitening performance with a commercialized optical whitener, through color comparison. The results revealed that the ultrasound whitener produced color values that were enhanced by as much as double that of the conventional LED light whitening method. Even when the operational time was reduced by half, the ultrasound method showed superior performance by over 54% compared to the conventional light whitener, revealing that the ultrasound method showed a remarkable treatment reduction effect.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.190-197
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• 2006

For enhancement of flaw detactability using array transducers, focusing of ultrasonic waves on a target in an inhomogeneous medium or through a complex geometry is important. But focusing can be strongly degraded by geometrical distortion of field radiated by the array transducers or by sound speed fluctuations in the propagating medium. In recent years, the time reversal technique has been proposed. Thus, in this paper, we describe the basic principal of the time reversal technique for focusing. Then, the implementation results of the time reversal technique for ultrasonic inspections using bulk waves and guided waves generated by array transducers are presented.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.124-132
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• 2015

The paper deals with the energy transmission of the elastic waves obliquely transmitting and refracting through a plate and a pipe. By calculating the transmitting ratio depending on the incidence angle, the angle corresponding to the maximum transmission was determined theoretically and considered in the design of ultrasonic transducers for flow velocimetry. Experiments were carried out by using prototypes of the transducers. Experimentally-obtained transmission ratios were compared with and confirmed the theoretically-calculated results.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.374-379
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• 2018

The piezocomposite transducer is widely used because it is highly efficient in transforming electric energy into mechanical energy, and its frequency range is broader than that of other types of ultrasound transducers. A general piezocomposite transducer is composed of an acoustic lens, impedance matching layers, piezoelectric materials, and backing layers. When an input voltage is applied to a piezoelectric material as an active material, it generates sound waves while vibrating. At that time, an impedance matching layer helps the sound waves to propagate forward while reducing the impedance mismatch that may occur at the interface between the active material and its front material. The impedance mismatch has a negative effect on the signal of an ultrasound transducer; thus, it is important to design a matching layer to overcome the issue. In this study, an optimized feature of a matching layer with gradient properties is studied. An objective function is defined to minimize both the average and the deviation of the reflection coefficients that are functions of the frequencies. As a result, an improvement in the signal characteristics with respect to the sensitivity and bandwidth is reported.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2021.05a
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• pp.470-473
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• 2021

In this study, we developed the biometric ultrasound transducer, residual thickness measurement algorithm and optimized ultrasound operation methods to diagnose precise conditions of implanted medical prosthetic material inserted during total hip artificial joint replacement. In detail, ultrasound transducers having 8 MHz and 20 MHz center frequencies with similar sensitivity and bandwidth were fabricated to measure various thicknesses of commercial polyethylene-based artificial hip liners, resulting in a comparative analysis of signal-to-noise ratio and axial resolution to conduct an optimization study of ultrasound operations in vivo.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.463-472
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• 2021

Demand for examinations using transvaginal transducer with high frequencies is increasing to observe pelvic organs in gynecological ultrasound tests. However, the quality control of the replacement probe in clinical trials is not properly implemented and the evaluation criteria have not been established. Therefore, 58 transvaginal transducers and 20 convex transducers were applied to the ATS-539 ultrasound phantom for 20 ultrasound devices currently in clinical use to obtain their respective images and measure them quantitatively and qualitatively. For quantitative measurements, vertical measurement, horizontal measurement, and focal zone and qualitative measurements, dead zone, axial·lateral resolution, sensitivity, functional resolution, gray scale·dynamic range were performed. Quantitative statistical analysis showed significant differences between the two transducers in the lateral measurement and local area (p<0.05). qualitative comparative analysis showed differences in sensitivity and functional resolution. This occurs due to the difference in frequency between transducers and the transducer's injection geometry. Based on the above experiments, the tolerance for horizontal measurement is raised to 10% (±8 mm), the tolerance for sensitivity is observed up to 6 cm deep, which is 12 cm deep,which is the level of the third quartile (75%). The permissible range of functional resolution is up to 6 (12 cm), 6 (12 cm), 11 (11 cm), 9 (9 cm), 6 (6 cm) target, which is the level of the third quartile (75%). It is considered reasonable to adjust the depth of targets in gray scale·dynamic range to measure at a depth of 2 cm, which is 50% of the depth of 4 cm. As above, the criteria for evaluating the quality of transvaginal transducer for use in the past have been proposed and it is expected that this study will be used as a basic data for the production of phantom exclusively for transvaginal transducer in the future.