Patent ID: 9675316
Date: 2017-06-13
CPC Classifications: A61B

Claim:
1. An ultrasound transducer for measuring a velocity of flow in a lumen having an axis, comprising: a transmitter configured to excite an ultrasound beam perpendicular to the axis of the lumen; and a diffraction-grating transducer (DGT) disposed adjacent to the transmitter, said DGT comprising a fan shape receiver, said receiver comprising an array of circular segment elements that form a receiving beam, each circular segment element being disposed around a common center point and at a radius from said common center point, wherein any two neighboring circular segment elements in said array are spaced at a non-uniform spacing, wherein a difference in distances from a desired focal point inside the lumen to each of the neighboring circular segment elements is λ/2, wherein λ is the wavelength of the ultrasound beam, and wherein wavefronts of said receiving beam converge to the desired focal point.