EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance Ultrasound probe seals

Hi,
I have an Ultrasound probe where the seal has gone. The probe failed mains on applied parts when submerged in saline. Can anyone recommend a suitable way of repairing it? It's the seal on the body of the probe rather than the lens cover.

PM sent.

It might all depend on the type of material you are trying to seal and finding a suitable compatible sealant (adhesive). I might be able to suggest a couple but I don't have them to hand at the moment. As I recall some were expensive and cost about £40-50 a tube and were only available from specialist suppliers.

There are also a number of different companies that offer to fix this sort of problem for you and that might be a better way to go but it will cost you.

Thanks for your reply Sonix. I was hoping to fix it in house. The last time we sent a probe away it took over 2 weeks to get it back. The probe is from a Philips HDI5000 if that helps.

The Silicone Rubber Adhesive Sealant that I'd had previous experience of is made by various companies and is known generically as TSE 392C, the tube I have was made by Momentive Performance Materials, Geneva www.momentive.com although I'm sure it was also made by Dow Corning but if you 'Google' TSE 392C you will find lots of data sheets for it.Its air drying and acetic acid free!

Where I have seen it being used was for sealing two halves of a transducer clam shell together, it was also used to fix the transducer array inside the shell. As it has little mechanical strength itself I'd be careful where and how I used it.

I hope that helps.

I would be careful about sealing in moisture. If it has failed an electrical safety test when putting the proble in saline it means that there was a conductive path inside the probe. Make sure it is totally dry inside before you do any sealing.
Robert

Thanks for your help guys. I spoke to MIUS, they recommend Dow Corning 732. The probe has been sat in a warm place for about a week now so I'll take my chances on it having dried out.

Interesting post this as a frequent maintenance request from our ultrasonographers is to reseal the cable grommet where it enters the probe housing. We haven't come up with a good solution (and I don't mean silicon solution) but it has reactivated interest in finding a suitable adhesive sealant that would do the job. From our point of view it would have to be approved for medical use as some of these probes are used invasively plus you don't want to have any liability issues arising from users, patients or the manufacturer if the product used causes say an allergic reaction or damages other materials used in the probes. We have contacted some manufacturers & supplier & generally they are cagey in either recommending or supplying a product for this purpose & we've been asked to sign disclaimers.SO, if anyone can stand over an adhesive sealant that would meet the above criteria then do let us know.
Cheers

Dow Corning 732 no good after all, then?

Following on we've been in touch with Dow Corning & they have a product that should tick the boxes - Silastic medical adhesive silicone type A. It has various medical applications including glueing medical devices to patients but of interest to us it's approved for use for medical device assembly & it looks like it sticks to lots of materials - now to find a source of supply.