Maintaining and Troubleshooting the Philips iU22/iE33 Ultrasound Systems

The Philips iU22 and iE33 ultrasound systems are excellent general imaging, vascular and cardiology units that have gained a very large share of the market over the last 10 years. There are several maintenance tips and common problems that service providers should be aware of on these systems.

Let’s begin with how to prevent malfunctions and extended downtime. These systems can be prone to overheating due to the air intakes being so close to the ground. Depending on the environment (dusty, linen usage, etc.) the filters on the rear access panel and lower left side panel should be cleaned quarterly or even more often to ensure adequate airflow to the power supplies, acquisition and platform sections of the systems. There are also cooling vents inside the rear wheel wells that should be vacuumed at the same intervals.

Also ensure current backups of the system’s presets and option files are made. The presets are backed up via the system setup menu but the option files are made through Tech Admin. Having a proper backup is critical to mitigating downtime in the event of software corruption or a hard drive failure.

One of the most common problems with these systems is related to video. The main display communicates with the main computer (Host, UMB or EMB) and can show a partial display during the boot cycle but go blank upon system initialization. This is indicative of a bad main display despite it functioning during the boot cycle. Next, are the dual video cards contained in the Platform (Back End). On A-C cart systems, the Host and SIP computers each contain a video card and on D-G cart systems, the UMB or EMB will have both. If video is missing from the main display or touch panel(s), you can swap the video cards to see if the symptoms change. There are several versions which are not interchangeable.

The ECG ports on these systems are part of the FEC board in the Acquisition section of the system and the port can be damaged by the ECG cable to the patient area being stressed. A cable tie attaching the main ECG cable to the system handle can prevent this. One of the most unusual problems we have encountered is the intermittent or fixed issue of DICOM transmissions failing which we have found is due to a failure in the main power cord ground.