Acoustic and Thermal Characterization of Therapeutic Ultrasonic Langevin Transducers under Continuous- and Pulsed Wave Excitations

We previously conducted an empirical study on Langevin type transducers in medical use by examining the heat effect on porcine tissue. For maximum acoustic output, the transducer was activated by a continuous sinusoidal wave. In this work, pulsed waves with various duty factors were applied to our transducer model in order to examine their effect on functionality. Acoustic power, electro-acoustic conversion efficiency, acoustic pressure, thermal effect on porcine tissue and bovine muscle, and heat generation in the transducer were investigated under various input conditions. For example, the results of applying a continuous wave of 200 VPP and a pulse wave of 70% duty factor with the same amplitude to the transducer were compared. It was found that continuous waves generated 9.79 W of acoustic power, 6.40% energy efficiency, and 24.84 kPa acoustic pressure. In pulsed excitation, the corresponding values were 9.04 W, 8.44%, and 24.7 kPa, respectively. The maximum temperature increases in bovine muscle are reported to be 83.0 °C and 89.5 °C for each waveform, whereas these values were 102.5 °C and 84.5 °C in fatty porcine tissue. Moreover, the heat generation around the transducer was monitored under continuous and pulsed modes and was found to be 51.3 °C and 50.4 °C. This shows that pulsed excitation gives rise to less thermal influence on the transducer. As a result, it is demonstrated that a transducer triggered by pulsed waves improves the energy efficiency and provides sufficient thermal impact on biological tissues by selecting proper electrical excitation types.