US 12,256,952 B2
System for the controlled fragmentation of solids by means of vortex sound beams
Noé Jiménez González, Valencia (ES); Francisco Camarena Femenia, Valencia (ES); and Jose María Benlloch Baviera, Valencia (ES)
Assigned to UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA DE VALÈNCIA, Valencia (ES); and CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTÍFICAS (CSIC), Madrid (ES)
Appl. No. 18/017,004
Filed by UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA DE VALÈNCIA, Valencia (ES); and CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTÍFICAS (CSIC), Madrid (ES)
PCT Filed Jul. 15, 2021, PCT No. PCT/ES2021/070524
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 19, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/018311, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 27, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. ES202030757 (ES), filed on Jul. 20, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0346407 A1, Nov. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. A61B 17/225 (2006.01); B06B 1/02 (2006.01); B06B 1/06 (2006.01); A61B 17/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 17/2255 (2013.01) [A61B 17/2256 (2013.01); B06B 1/0215 (2013.01); B06B 1/0607 (2013.01); A61B 2017/0011 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for the controlled fragmentation of solids with acoustic beams, comprising at least:
one acoustic beam generation unit which, in turn, comprises:
an electric pulse generation subsystem;
a first transduction subsystem, adapted for converting electric pulses into acoustic waves;
an acoustic beam generation subsystem for generating acoustic beams from the acoustic waves produced by the transduction subsystem and for focusing said beams in a focal volume in which a solid or solids to be fragmented are located;
an acoustic coupling subsystem, adapted for coupling the acoustic beams to the solid or solids to be fragmented;
a positioning subsystem, adapted for adjusting the position of the focal point;
one feedback and control unit comprising:
a control subsystem, which controls the acoustic beam generation unit;
a second transduction subsystem, adapted for the acquisition of information relating to the acoustic beams;
a processing subsystem for processing the information acquired by the second transduction subsystem;
wherein:
the acoustic beams are acoustic vortex beams;
the feedback and control unit further comprises a feedback subsystem, configured to receive the information processed by the processing subsystem and send the information to the control subsystem; and
the control subsystem is configured to modify, based on the information sent by the feedback subsystem, parameters of the acoustic vortex beams, wherein said parameters comprise the topological charge of the acoustic vortex beams.