Abstract
High-voltage pulsers offer advantages in some biomedical ultrasound measurement applications, such as driving focused transducers for bioeffects studies, or transiently exciting plane, thick transducers for broadband measurements of attenuation or frequency response of receiving transducers. Because the duty cycle is low (typically less than 0.1%), bulky, expensive pulsers having large temporal-average power capability are not required. In the present design integrated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are used to energize the ultrasound transducer. This solid-state switching device can handle large currents, has a low on-resistance, and can be turned off as well as on by its gate signal. However, widely available devices are limited to 1200-V peak. Therefore, the present design charges two capacitors in parallel and then uses two IGBTs to connect them in series to produce the output pulse. With a 1200-V supply this approach produces a pulse of 2100 V into a 50-Ω load at a 200-Hz repetition rate. The length of the output pulse is determined by the controlling input TTL pulse unless small capacitors are used, in which case a decaying exponential pulse is obtained. This design is readily reproduced and the components, exclusive of the power supply, cost less than $100.
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