Patent ID: 7484412

Claim:
An ultrasound probe which scans a subject with beams of ultrasound transmitted by a moving transducer comprising: a fluid-filled chamber having a main compartment in which the transducer is movably mounted; a secondary compartment of the fluid-filled chamber having an interior surface which conducts bubbles away from a fluid-filled passageway connecting the main and secondary compartments when the probe is held in a given orientation, wherein the passageway connecting the main and secondary compartments is accessed at a point in the main compartment to which bubbles are designed to flow when the probe is held in the given orientation; and a drive mechanism extending into the fluid-filled chamber which supplies a motive force for the transducer, the drive mechanism passing through a drive mechanism passageway connecting the main and secondary compartments and terminating in the main compartment of the fluid-filled chamber.