Expert Advice: Ultrasound Transducer Maintenance Tips
Protect your ultrasound transducers with these routine inspection and preventive maintenance recommendations from the ultrasound experts at Automen Systems.
Ultrasound transducers are highly specialized, highly priced components of any imaging suite. These devices also undergo daily use and direct contact with patients, causing them to exhibit signs of wear and tear. In this article, we
will discuss tips for inspecting ultrasound transducers at your facility, and prevention methods to keep your ultrasound transducers in proper working order.
Ultrasound Probe Inspection: What to Look For
To properly inspect any ultrasound probe, our experts recommend focusing on each component individually: probe
connector, cable, strain relief, probe housing, and acoustic lens. This ensures a thorough inspection, and allows you to identify even the smallest flaws in an ultrasound probe.
Probe Connector
When examining the probe connector, look for bent, broken, or missing pins. Housing screws can also go missing during regular use, causing gaps in the housing. Be sure to also check the locking knob to make sure it’s working correctly.
Acoustic Lens
To verify the efficacy of the acoustic lens on an ultrasound probe, check for cuts, chips, sealing gaps, discoloration, and delamination (separation between crystal and acoustic lens). Damage to the acoustic lens can affect the overall image quality produced by your ultrasound system.
Strain Relief
After examining the cable, be sure to consider the probe’s strain reliefs. This integral component joins the cable and
probe housing, providing an easement at stress points. Stress reliefs can be prone to cuts, tearing and cable separation.
Cable
Ultrasound probe cable damage is common, and can be caused by a wide variety of factors. Cables can sometimes be
run over by ultrasound consoles, leading to tears in the cable, covering and exposed wires. Regular disinfecting cycles can also cause chemical damage to the cable. During a routine inspection, be sure to check for cuts, tears, stains, cable separation, and exposed wires to ensure proper ultrasound probe function.
Probe Housing
Aside from gaps in the seals, cracked or broken plastic, discoloration, and other obvious signs of damage, not all
probe housing issues can be assessed through a simple visual examination. To be sure that the probe housing is
properly sealed, lightly squeeze the probe and look for movement along the seams that would indicate a broken seal.
When To See The Professional In Medical Equipment Services
As a leading medical equipment provider in Ghana, Automens Systems has one of the top ultrasound transducer repair programs in the industry. Automens can diagnose your current probe, make needed repairs, and then deliver a new probe to you within a short period of time, at a fraction of the cost of purchasing a new probe.
We perform all probe repair services in our state-of-the-art facility. Our expertise covers both TEE and standard probes manufactured by major OEMs including GE,Philips, and Siemens.
Use our handy ultrasound probe troubleshooting guide to determine whether your transducer needs service, and send it to us for a complimentary diagnostic exam. For more information about ultrasound transducer repair options from Automes kindly contact us on our contact page