Piezoelectric high-polymer film transducers for fetal phonocardiograph and monitor

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Abstract
Piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film has many remarkable properties, and various applications to medical transducers can be considered. Those transducers may be designed to have simple structures fitting on the body and capable of impedance matching. In this paper, the use of a fetal phonocardiographic transducer for the heart-rate monitor is described. The transducer is made of PVDF film, with transverse effect due to d31 constant and silicon rubber. One surface of the rubber is convex and covered with PVDF film, while the other is flat, for receiving vibrations from the body surface. This prototype structure is nearly a disk of diameter about 50 mm and thickness 5 mm, Data of signal-to-noise ratio in clinical use has been obtained. Furthermore, this type of transducer can be utilized not only as a detecter but also a vibration excitor. Hence, the array of receiving and transmitting transducers can be fabricated on one film surface, so that a functional transducer sheet on an abdominal in-term pregnant patient can be realized.

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