Novel dual-resistor-diode limiter circuit structures for high-voltage reliable ultrasound receiver systems

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The limiters have been used to protect the ultrasound receivers because of the inherent characteristic of the transducers which are required to use the high voltage excitation to obtain the reasonable echo signal amplitudes. OBJECTIVE: Among the variety of the limiters, the performances of discharge voltage degradation from the limiters gradually deteriorate the whole ultrasound systems according to the applied voltages of the ultrasonic transducers. This could cause the ultrasound systems to be unreliable for the long-term operations, resulting in possibly breaking the receiver systems. METHODS: Designed limiters were evaluated with insertion loss, total harmonic distortion, and pulse-echo responses with the ultrasound transducer devices. RESULTS: Designed new dual-resistor-diode limiters exhibited greater and faster suppression of the pulse width (1.15 V and 6.1 mu s) for high-voltage signals. CONCLUSIONS: Our proposed dual-resistor-diode limiter could be one of the potential candidates for reliable ultrasound receiver system.