The LOGIQ platform: the family, the LOGIQ e inside, and the signal path of this machine

Identify which LOGIQ you are facing and how it is built, name the main assemblies of the LOGIQ e and their role in the signal and power path, and know where a cart LOGIQ differs from it before you open either.

One name, many machines

LOGIQ is a brand, not a single platform. Under it GE has sold portable systems (the LOGIQ e, earlier the Book series, and the larger-screen portables) and cart systems in several lines that engineers usually group as the P series, the S series, the E series (E8, E9, E10 and so on), the F series and the V series, plus older generations such as the LOGIQ 3, 5, 7, 400 and 500. They share a design philosophy, a user interface style, a family of probes and a PC-based back end with a common service platform. Do not assume they share boards, power supplies, disk images or option keys across lines and generations. Treat every claim of the form 'it is the same as on the S8' as a hypothesis until the documentation for your exact model and software confirms it.

This course uses the portable LOGIQ e with software R8.x as the reference machine, because that is the machine whose basic service manual we follow chapter by chapter. Where cart systems differ, we say so in general terms. The generic ultrasound knowledge, from transducer physics to the phantom and the probe passport, was covered in Ultrasound Service — Level 1 and Ultrasound Probes; here we only add what this family does differently and how it fails in the field.

First job on site: establish exactly what you have

Before you touch anything, read the rating plate on the bottom of the console: model number, serial number, date of manufacture and the electrical rating. The manual lists several LOGIQ e model numbers for different markets, and all are covered by the same manual unless a note says otherwise. Then open the About screen under Utility, System and read the application software version and part number and the system image revision. The additional About information lists every hardware module the software knows, with its revision and part number; a double dash means the module is not installed. Photograph or copy this screen. It is your baseline for every later decision: which software package is valid, which replacement board revision fits, which options should be present.

Then walk round the machine and note the configuration: the probes and their serial numbers, the AC adapter and its label, the battery, whether a CW Doppler board is fitted (it is an option), the peripherals on the USB ports, whether the unit lives on a docking cart or an isolation cart, and how it connects to the network. On cart systems do the same with the probe ports, the peripherals in the cart and any mains isolation transformer.

The label is not the whole truth. Engineers have met machines whose external label says one model while the boards and BIOS inside belong to another, and machines whose rear cover was swapped to make them look newer. The software reads the hardware, not the sticker. If the About screen, the option list, the serial number on the console and the documents disagree, stop and find out why before you load software or order parts.

Inside the LOGIQ e: what the block diagram tells you

The LOGIQ e is a digital beamforming scanner that handles linear probes of up to 128 elements and offers B mode, M mode, colour flow, PW Doppler and, with the optional board and a suitable phased array probe, CW Doppler. The manual's signal path is short: probe connector, front end, mid processors, back end processor, and from there the LCD and the peripherals. The block diagram in chapter 5 adds the detail a service engineer needs.

The front end and the mid-processing sit on the main (master) board. For the transmit and receive side the diagram shows 128 pulsers, 128 analogue front-end receive channels and two 64-channel beamformer FPGAs; after them a mid-processing FPGA and a bridge to the PC side. Receive data and control pass from the master board to the computer over PCI Express. The computer is a compact module with an Intel mobile processor and its own memory; system and application software and the configuration live on a solid-state disk (an mSATA SSD in the R8 parts list; earlier revisions may differ), and there is an SD card slot for user media. All software is loaded from the disk at power-up.

Around this core sit the low-voltage and high-voltage power supplies, the charger and power switch that choose between adapter and battery, the eight-cell battery pack, the I/O board with the user ports, the keyboard with its own board, trackball, TGC slide pots and speakers, the LCD panel on an LVDS link, the probe connector assembly and the docking connector. Two fans, left and right, move air through the case.

Why this matters on site: on the LOGIQ e the transmit and receive electronics share a board with the processing hardware, so you cannot swap a single transmit board as you might on an older cart. A fault confined to one probe points at the probe or the probe connector; a fault on every probe with a normal boot points at the master board; a scanner that never comes up points at power, the CPU module or the disk. Lesson 4 turns this into a flow.

• Probe connector assembly: one probe port on the console, with a mechanical latch; the docking cart adds a three-probe port.
• Master board: pulsers, receive front end, beamformer and mid-processing; sold with the heat pipe as a kit, and the R8 parts list carries a separate kit for software R8.0.5 and above.
• CPU module, memory module and SSD: the back end PC that runs the operating system and the scanner application.
• Power: external AC adapter, internal low- and high-voltage supplies, charger and switch, Li-ion battery pack, CMOS backup battery.
• User interface: keyboard assembly with alphanumeric keys, trackball, TGC, menu panel, speakers; LCD assembly with hinges.
• Options and identity: CW Doppler board; the parts list also carries an option-key IC, a reminder that options are bound to the system's identity.

Power and cooling on a portable

The LOGIQ e has no mains inside the console. A universal external adapter (the R8 manual gives 100–240 V AC, 50/60 Hz in and 19 V DC, 150 W out) feeds the DC input on the rear panel. The adapter has no power switch, and the console's On/Off key does not isolate the mains: unplugging the adapter is the only isolation. The charge and switch circuit takes power from the adapter when it is present and charges the battery if it is not full; it watches battery temperature and charge, stops charging when the battery is full, and lets the battery carry the system when the adapter output or the mains disappears.

Do not assume any 19 or 20 volt laptop supply is a substitute. The adapter is a specified part with a clamp filter and a medical-grade insulation rating, and engineers who tried laptop adapters on these portables report them overheating and running unstable under the scanner's load. Original or approved parts only: the manual is explicit that substitutes and modifications can introduce hazards.

Cooling is two air paths that both start at the bottom front. One runs past the CPU assembly and leaves at the bottom left, the other runs past the board assembly and leaves at the bottom right. The system must stand on its handle so that there is an air gap underneath. A LOGIQ e used flat on a soft surface, or with a blocked inlet, runs hot, and heat is one of the commonest causes of slowdowns, freezes and unexpected shutdowns across the whole family.

The docking cart and what it adds

Many LOGIQ e units live on a docking cart. The console slides onto guides on the cart's top, locks with its handle and connects through the docking port. Inside the cart a docking connection board takes that connection, a power box distributes the 20 V DC supply to the cart's USB hub and peripherals, and a rear board provides network, USB and a DVI output for an external monitor. Options include an extended life battery in the power box and a three-probe port that plugs into the console's single probe port and lets the user switch between three probes from the Exam key.

Two practical consequences. First, a fault that appears only on the cart (no network, no printer, no external monitor, one of three probes missing) is a cart fault until proven otherwise: test the console on its own adapter and its own ports. Second, some procedures must be done off the cart: the manual asks you to release the system from the cart before loading software from a USB stick. Always disconnect the three-probe port connector before lifting the console off, or you damage the probe cable and connector.

Where cart LOGIQs differ

A cart LOGIQ is built on the same idea but on a larger scale. The back end is a full PC (GE calls it the BEP, back end processor) with its own power supply, connected to a rack of front-end boards whose names and layout change from model to model and generation to generation. Power comes from the mains through an internal power supply and distribution, often with an isolation transformer feeding the on-board peripherals. There are usually several probe ports with a relay or switching assembly behind them, air filters that must be cleaned, larger fans, and on newer models a touch panel and a second display. Field reports from these machines talk about lost supply rails logged at start-up, front-end boards that the PC cannot see, and boards stacked directly on one another without cables, so that a loosened stack looks exactly like a dead board.

What carries over from the LOGIQ e is the method: identify the configuration from the About screen, read the logs, separate the probe from the port from the front end from the PC, back up before software, and verify after repair with functional checks, safety tests and the customer's own probes. What does not carry over is detail. Board names, test points, voltages, option keys and software images belong to each model and revision and come only from its own documentation.

On-site checklist

• Rating plate: model number, serial number, date of manufacture recorded
• About screen: software version and part number, image revision, hardware modules copied
• Options listed and compared with the customer's contract
• Probes recorded with serial numbers; CW Doppler board present or not
• AC adapter checked against the specified part; battery present and undamaged
• Docking or isolation cart, peripherals and network connection noted
• Service and user documentation for this exact model and software at hand

Check yourself