JP2009142301A - Radiographic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a radiographic apparatus which avoids the acquisition of inappropriate radiation image information by power supply stoppage and eliminates the risk of imaging useless radiation image information. <P>SOLUTION: A power supply state monitoring part 70 monitors a power supply state from a power source part 78 to a temperature control part 66, and when detecting that it is a supply stop state, drives a standby power source part 80, supplies emergency power to the temperature control part 66, and records a log relating to the state in a log recording part 72. In the meantime, an alarm processing part 88 of a console 14 reports the log recorded in the log recording part 72 to an operator using a display part 84 and a speaker 90 on the basis of information relating to the power supply stop state detected by the power supply state monitoring part 70. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a radiographic image capturing apparatus that exposes a subject to radiation and captures a radiographic image.

  For example, in the medical field, a wide variety of radiographic imaging apparatuses that acquire radiation image information by exposing radiation output from a radiation source to a subject (patient), detecting radiation transmitted through the subject with a radiation detector, and the like. in use.

  Here, a radiation image capturing apparatus using a radiation detector that can reduce radiation dose to a subject and acquire radiation image information excellent in diagnostic suitability has been developed (Patent Document 1).

  The radiation detector used in the apparatus converts the radiation directly into an electrical signal, or converts the radiation into visible light with a scintillator, and then converts the solid detection elements to be read out in a two-dimensional array. As the solid-state detection element, for example, a semiconductor element using amorphous selenium (a-Se) is used. a-Se is very sensitive to temperature, and when the temperature is higher than the allowable limit, crystallization of a-Se proceeds and it does not function as a detection element. Further, if the temperature fluctuates rapidly or condensation occurs, the radiation detector may be damaged.

  Therefore, in Patent Document 1, in order to operate the radiation detector in a stable state, the temperature of the radiation detector is constantly detected and monitored by a temperature sensor, and the fan is driven and controlled according to the detected temperature, whereby the radiation detector is detected. The temperature is adjusted to be within the allowable range.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-14860

  By the way, when a situation such as a power failure occurs during the operation of the radiographic imaging apparatus and the supply of power is stopped, the fan that adjusts the temperature of the radiation detector cannot be driven. There is a risk of exceeding the allowable range. When radiation image information is recorded on the radiation detector in such a state, not only inappropriate radiation image information is recorded, but also there is a problem that unnecessary radiation is irradiated to the subject.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and provides a radiographic imaging apparatus that avoids acquisition of inappropriate radiographic image information due to power supply interruption and that does not cause unnecessary radiographic image information to be captured. The purpose is to provide.

A radiographic imaging apparatus according to the present invention is a radiographic imaging apparatus that irradiates a subject with radiation and captures a radiographic image.
A radiation detector for detecting radiation image information of a subject;
A temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the radiation detector;
Temperature adjusting means for adjusting the temperature detected by the temperature sensor to a predetermined range;
Supply state monitoring means for monitoring the supply state of power to the temperature adjusting means;
Standby power supply means for supplying standby power to the temperature adjustment means when a supply stop state of power is detected by the supply status monitoring means;
Log recording means for recording a log relating to the supply stop state when the supply stop state is detected by the supply state monitoring means;
It is characterized by providing.

  According to the present invention, when a supply stop state of power to the temperature adjustment unit that adjusts the temperature of the radiation detector is detected, standby power is supplied to the temperature adjustment unit and a log relating to the supply stop state is recorded. Thus, it is possible to grasp that a power supply stop state has occurred and to avoid acquisition of inappropriate radiographic image information or useless radiographic image information in advance.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a radiographic image capturing apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The radiographic imaging apparatus 10 includes a mammography apparatus 12 illustrated in FIG. 2, a control apparatus 13 that performs operation control of the mammography apparatus 12, an exposure condition setting process for the mammography apparatus 12, a display process for images, and the like, a radiographic imaging apparatus 10 and a console 14 for performing alarm processing and the like for 10.

  The mammography apparatus 12 includes a base 15 installed in an upright state, an arm member 18 fixed to a turning shaft 16 disposed at a substantially central portion of the base 15, and a mammo 22 that is an imaging part of a subject 20. The radiation source 24 that exposes the radiation X to the arm member 18 is housed, and the radiation source housing portion 26 fixed to one end of the arm member 18 and the radiation X that has passed through the mammo 22 are detected to obtain radiation image information. An imaging table 30 that houses the radiation detector 28 and is fixed to the other end of the arm member 18 and a compression plate 32 that compresses the mammo 22 against the imaging table 30 are provided.

  The arm member 18 is configured such that the shooting direction of the subject 20 with respect to the mammo 22 can be adjusted by turning in the direction of arrow A about the turning shaft 16. The compression plate 32 is disposed between the radiation source storage unit 26 and the imaging table 30 while being connected to the arm member 18, and is configured to be displaceable in the arrow B direction. The base 15 is provided with a display operation unit 34 that displays imaging information such as an imaging region of the subject 20, imaging direction, ID information of the subject 20, and the like, and can set such information as necessary. .

  For example, the radiation detector 28 accommodated in the imaging table 30 is provided with a cooling panel 36 in which a large number of Peltier elements are arranged in close contact with each other, and a temperature at which the temperature of the radiation detector 28 is detected. A sensor 38 is disposed in close proximity. The radiation detector 28 is connected to a signal processing unit 40 including a gate drive circuit, a signal readout circuit, and a timing control circuit, which will be described later. Driving power is supplied to the signal processing unit 40 from the power supply unit 42.

  FIG. 3 is a circuit block diagram of the radiation detector 28 and a signal processing unit 40 that performs signal processing on the radiation detector 28.

  In the radiation detector 28, a photoelectric conversion layer 44 made of a substance such as amorphous selenium (a-Se) that senses the radiation X and generates a charge is disposed on an array of thin film transistors (TFTs) 46. After the generated charge is stored in the storage capacitor 48, the TFTs 46 are sequentially turned on for each row, and the charge is read as an image signal. In FIG. 3, only the connection relationship between one pixel 50 including the photoelectric conversion layer 44 and the storage capacitor 48 and one TFT 46 is shown, and the configuration of the other pixels 50 is omitted. In addition, since a-Se will change a structure and a function will fall if it becomes high temperature, it needs to be used within a predetermined temperature range. A gate line 52 extending parallel to the row direction and a signal line 54 extending parallel to the column direction are connected to the TFT 46 connected to each pixel 50.

  The signal processing unit 40 outputs a gate line driving circuit 56 to which each gate line 52 is connected, a signal readout circuit 58 to which each signal line 54 is connected, and a timing signal for selecting the gate line 52 and the signal line 54. And a timing control circuit 60 for controlling the gate line driving circuit 56 and the signal reading circuit 58. Driving power is supplied from the power supply unit 42 to the radiation detector 28 and the signal processing unit 40.

  The control device 13 includes a radiation source control unit 62 that controls the radiation source 24 of the mammography apparatus 12 according to the exposure conditions, a compression plate control unit 64 that drives and controls the compression plate 32, and a radiation detector detected by the temperature sensor 38. 28, the temperature control unit 66 that controls the temperature of the cooling panel 36, the image processing unit 68 that processes the radiation image information detected by the radiation detector 28, and the power to the mammography device 12, the control device 13, and the console 14. The power supply state monitoring unit 70 (supply state monitoring unit) for monitoring the supply state of the power supply and the log recording unit 72 (log recording unit) for recording the log relating to the power supply stop state.

  The radiation source control unit 62 drives the radiation source 24 according to the operation of the exposure switch 74 by the technician. The compression plate controller 64 drives the compression plate 32 according to the operation of the compression plate operation switch 76 by the engineer. Furthermore, the control device 13 includes a power supply unit 78 that supplies power for operating the control device 13, and a standby power supply unit 80 (standby power supply unit) that functions as a part of UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) during a power failure or the like. With.

  The console 14 (FIG. 1) includes an operation setting unit 82 for setting ID information of the subject 20, exposure conditions necessary for capturing radiographic image information, image processing conditions for the radiographic image information detected by the radiation detector 28, and the like. Supply of power detected by the display unit 84 that displays information including the set exposure conditions and radiation image information, the display control unit 86 that controls the display unit 84, and the power supply state monitoring unit 70 of the control device 13. An alarm processing unit 88 (warning processing means) that performs alarm processing based on the state, a speaker 90 that sounds a warning sound as an aspect of the alarm processing, and a power supply unit 92 that supplies power for operating the console 14 are provided. .

  The radiographic image capturing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment is basically configured as described above. Next, the operation thereof will be described.

  First, using the operation setting unit 82 of the console 14, an exposure condition including ID information related to the subject 20 is set. In this case, the ID information includes information such as the name, age, and sex of the subject 20, and can be acquired from an ID card possessed by the subject 20. Further, as exposure conditions, in addition to information such as an imaging region and an imaging direction instructed by a doctor, there is an irradiation dose of radiation X corresponding to the imaging region, which can be acquired from a host device connected to the network. Is possible.

  Next, the mammo 22 of the subject 20 is positioned on the mammography apparatus 12. That is, after the mammo 22 is placed at a predetermined position on the imaging table 30, when the engineer operates the compression plate operation switch 76, the compression plate control unit 64 displaces the compression plate 32 in the direction of arrow B, and images the mammo 22. It is clamped and positioned between the base 30 and the compression plate 32.

  When the exposure switch 74 is operated after the mammography 22 is positioned in the state where the mammo 22 is compressed by the compression plate 32, the radiation source control unit 62 controls the radiation source 24 according to the set exposure conditions, Radiation X is exposed to the mammo 22. The radiation X that has passed through the mammo 22 is converted into an electrical signal by the photoelectric conversion layer 44 of each pixel 50 that constitutes the radiation detector 28, and is stored as a charge in the storage capacitor 48 (FIG. 3). Next, the charge information which is the radiation image information of the mammo 22 stored in each storage capacitor 48 is read according to the timing signal supplied from the timing control circuit 60 to the gate line driving circuit 56 and the signal reading circuit 58.

  That is, the gate line drive circuit 56 selects one of the gate lines 52 in accordance with the timing signal from the timing control circuit 60 and supplies a drive signal to the base of each TFT 46 connected to the selected gate line 52. On the other hand, the signal readout circuit 58 selects the signal line 54 while sequentially switching the signal line 54 in the row direction according to the timing signal from the timing control circuit 60. The radiation image information as the charge information stored in the storage capacitor 48 of the pixel 50 corresponding to the selected gate line 52 and signal line 54 is supplied to the image processing unit 68 of the control device 13. After the radiation image information is read from each pixel 50 arranged in the row direction, the gate line drive circuit 56 selects the next gate line 52 in the column direction and supplies a drive signal, and the signal read circuit 58 The image signal is read out in the same manner from the TFT 46 connected to the selected gate line 52. By repeating the above operation, the radiation image information accumulated in the radiation detector 28 is read and supplied to the image processing unit 68.

  The image processing unit 68 performs predetermined image processing on the read radiation image information, and then supplies it to the display control unit 86 of the console 14. The display control unit 86 displays the supplied radiation image information on the display unit 84. The engineer can confirm the displayed radiographic image information and determine whether or not re-imaging is necessary.

  Note that a temperature-sensitive a-Se or the like is used for the photoelectric conversion layer 44 constituting the radiation detector 28. Therefore, the temperature control unit 66 detects the temperature of the radiation detector 28 by the temperature sensor 38 and drives the cooling panel 36 to control the radiation detector 28 to be in a predetermined temperature range.

  Here, the mammography device 12, the control device 13, and the console 14 are operated by electric power supplied from the power supply units 42, 78, and 92. If a power outage or the like occurs during this operation, the temperature of the radiation detector 28 may rise and its function may be reduced. Moreover, there is a possibility that desired radiation image information cannot be acquired from the radiation detector 28. In order to cope with such a situation, in the present embodiment, the power supply state monitoring unit 70 monitors the power supply state so that appropriate measures can be taken when a power outage or the like occurs.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the power supply state monitoring process. The power supply state monitoring unit 70 constantly monitors the supply state of power supplied from the power supply units 42, 78, and 92 to the mammography device 12, the control device 13, and the console 14 (step S1). When the unit 70 detects a power supply stop state due to a power failure state or malfunction of the power source units 42, 78 and 92 (step S2), the standby power source unit 80 is driven, and the power source units 42, 78 and 92 are connected. Thus, necessary reserve power is immediately supplied to each component device including the temperature controller 66 (step S3).

  In this case, since the mammography device 12, the control device 13, and the console 14 continue to operate using the supplied reserve power, the temperature of the radiation detector 28 is within a predetermined use range under the control of the temperature control unit 66. The radiation image information can be read in an appropriate state.

  On the other hand, when detecting the power supply stop state, the power supply state monitoring unit 70 acquires temperature information of the radiation detector 28 from the temperature sensor 38 via the temperature control unit 66 (step S4). Next, the number of times that the power supply has been stopped is added (step S5), and logs such as time information at the time of the stop state, ID information for specifying radiographic image information during imaging are acquired, and this The log is recorded in the log recording unit 72 (step S6).

  After the log is recorded, the alarm processing unit 88 of the console 14 executes alarm processing so as to notify the operator that a situation such as a power failure has occurred during the operation of the mammography apparatus 12 or the control apparatus 13 (steps). S7). That is, the alarm processing unit 88 displays the log recorded in the log recording unit 72 on the display unit 84 via the display control unit 86 based on the information regarding the power supply stop state detected by the power supply state monitoring unit 70. The radiographic image information processed by the image processing unit 68 is displayed on the display unit 84 (step S8). Note that, when a power supply stop state occurs, the speaker 90 may be sounded as necessary to allow the operator to recognize the situation.

  The operator checks whether or not there is a problem with the radiation image information displayed on the display unit 84 (step S9). If there is no problem in the displayed image, if the number of power outages, which is the number of power stop states added in step S5, is less than or equal to the preset number of allowable power outages (step S10), after the power outage state is restored (step S11) The radiographic image information is continuously captured, and the processing from step S1 is repeated.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S9 that there is a problem with the radiation image information displayed on the display unit 84, the alarm processing unit 88 performs alarm processing using the display unit 84 and the speaker 90 (step S9). S12) Immediately interrupts the photographing process by the mammography apparatus 12 (step S13). Similarly, when it is determined in step S10 that the number of power outages exceeds the allowable number of power outages, similarly, the alarm processing is performed (step S12), and then the photographing processing by the mammography apparatus 12 is immediately interrupted (step S13). Furthermore, when it is determined in step S11 that the power failure state does not recover for a predetermined time or longer, there is a limit to the power supplied from the standby power supply unit 80. Therefore, after alarm processing is performed (step S12), the mammography apparatus 12 The shooting process is interrupted (step S13).

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, Of course, it can change freely in the range which does not deviate from the main point of this invention.

  For example, instead of the radiation detector 28 that directly converts the irradiated radiation X into charge information, the radiation detector is configured to convert the radiation X into visible light once by a scintillator and convert the visible light into charge information. It can also be applied.

  Further, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-154409, radiation image information is accumulated as an electrostatic latent image, and is scanned with reading light to generate a current corresponding to the electrostatic latent image. The present invention can be similarly applied to an optical readout type radiation detector.

1 is a configuration block diagram of a radiographic image capturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the mammography apparatus which comprises the radiographic imaging apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram of a radiation detector and a signal processing unit shown in FIG. 1. It is a flowchart for monitoring the supply state of electric power and performing a predetermined process.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Radiographic imaging apparatus 12 ... Mammography apparatus 13 ... Control apparatus 14 ... Console 20 ... Subject 22 ... Mammo 24 ... Radiation source 28 ... Radiation detector 32 ... Compression plate 36 ... Cooling panel 38 ... Temperature sensor 40 ... Signal processing part 42 78, 92 ... power supply unit 66 ... temperature control unit 68 ... image processing unit 70 ... power supply state monitoring unit 72 ... log recording unit 80 ... standby power supply unit 84 ... display unit 88 ... alarm processing unit 90 ... speaker

Claims (4)

In a radiographic imaging device that irradiates a subject with radiation and takes a radiographic image,
A radiation detector for detecting radiation image information of a subject;
A temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the radiation detector;
Temperature adjusting means for adjusting the temperature detected by the temperature sensor to a predetermined range;
Supply state monitoring means for monitoring the supply state of power to the temperature adjusting means;
Standby power supply means for supplying standby power to the temperature adjustment means when a supply stop state of power is detected by the supply status monitoring means;
Log recording means for recording a log relating to the supply stop state when the supply stop state is detected by the supply state monitoring means;
A radiographic imaging apparatus comprising: The apparatus of claim 1.
A radiographic imaging apparatus comprising: warning processing means for performing warning processing when the supply stop state is detected by the supply state monitoring means. The apparatus of claim 2.
The supply state monitoring means counts the number of times that the power is in a supply stop state, and the warning processing means performs the warning processing when the number of times reaches a predetermined number or more. apparatus. The apparatus of claim 1.
The log recording unit records the temperature of the radiation detector when the supply stop state is detected as the log.

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