(BTU/Hr) BTU/Hr is a common measure of heat transfer rate. Capacities of furnaces and boilers are for example expressed in thermal units per hour (British unit). One BTU/Hr is the amount of heat required to heat one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit per hour.
BTU/Hr is the unit that expresses how much the ultrasound machine heats up the surrounding area.

See also Thermal Effect, Ultrasound Physics.

This unit of temperature is still used customarily in the United States.
Definition: 0° is the coldest temperature achieved by using an ice and salt mixture, and 100° is set at the temperature of the human body. On this scale, the freezing point of water turned out to be about 32 °F and the boiling point about 212 °F.
1 °F equals 5/9 °C. To convert a temperature in °F to the Celsius scale, first subtract 32° and then multiply by 5/9. In the other direction, to convert a temperature in °C to the Fahrenheit scale, multiply by 9/5 and then add 32. The unit was defined by the German physicist Fahrenheit.

See also Thermal Units Per Hour.

The thermal effect of ultrasound is caused by absorption of the ultrasound beam energy. As the ultrasound waves are absorbed, their energy is converted into heat. The higher the frequency, the greater the absorbed dose, converted to heat according the equation: f = 1/T where T is the period as in simple harmonic motion. Ultrasound is a mechanical energy in which a pressure wave travels through tissue. Heat is produced at the transducer surface and also tissue in the depth can be heated as ultrasound is absorbed.
The thermal effect is highest in tissue with a high absorption coefficient, particularly in bone, and is low where there is little absorption. The temperature rise is also dependent on the thermal characteristics of the tissue (conduction of heat and perfusion), the ultrasound intensity and the length of examination time. The intensity is also dependent on the power output and the position of the tissue in the beam profile. The intensity at a particular point can be changed by many of the operator controls, for example power output, mode (B-mode, color flow, spectral Doppler), scan depth, focus, zoom and area of color flow imaging. The transducer face and tissue in contact with the transducer can be heated.

See also Thermal Units Per Hour and Ultrasound Radiation Force.