What is ultrasound transducer?
Simply put, an ultrasound transducer is the component that generates the ultrasonic signal used in ultrasonic imaging equipments. It also picks up the return signal. A crystal can be made to change shape by electrical stimulation. (It’s called piezoelectric effect.) And changing the shape of a crystal can cause it to generate an electrical signal. (Again, piezoelectric effect.) Call it a bi-direction process. Send an electrical signal to a transducer and it will convert the electrical energy (signal) into mechanical energy (sound). Because the process works in reverse, the transducer sends out a signal in response to a very short period of stimulation, and then listens for the return echo before sending out another burst. The electronics package behind the scenes both generates the signal and processes the return echo to provide the image we see. We are probably familiar with the naval use of sonar and the sonic “ping” from our television or cinema experiences. The ping can be heard, a
