JP3211493B2 - X-ray inspection vehicle - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting air cargo or marine cargo by means of X-rays, and more particularly to an X-ray inspection vehicle equipped with an X-ray inspection apparatus and traveling to a desired place for inspection. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an apparatus of this type, an X-ray generator for irradiating an inspection object with X-rays and an X-ray detector for detecting transmitted X-rays are directed toward an inspection room at the rear of a vehicle. There is also known a device of a type in which an object to be inspected is carried into the inspection room from the rear end of the vehicle, subjected to an X-ray transmission inspection, and then carried out from the rear end of the vehicle (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 60 (1994)). -2608
No. 31). In addition, by adopting the same loading / unloading configuration, a turntable is installed so that it can come and go in the middle of the inspection object transport path in the vehicle, so that the direction of the inspection object can be changed without manual operation. There is also known an apparatus which enables X-ray transmission inspection from various directions (for example, Japanese Utility Model No. 01-16).
No. 5453).

[0003]

However, in the conventional apparatus, an object to be inspected is carried into and out of the inspection room through a carry-in / out port provided at the rear end of the vehicle. Even after the inspection is completed, the next inspection object cannot be carried in until the inspection object has been taken out of the inspection room, and the inspection efficiency is poor. Even in a device that incorporates a turntable in the middle of the inspection object transport path in the vehicle, in order to change the direction of the inspection object, the inspection object must be moved from the inspection point to a point on the turntable each time. Since it has to be moved, there is a problem that wasted time not directly related to the inspection occurs.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and its object is to enable X-ray transmission inspection from all directions in a short time, and immediately after the inspection of one inspection object is completed, to execute the next operation. An object of the present invention is to provide an X-ray inspection vehicle with a high inspection efficiency that can shift to an inspection.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an X-ray inspection vehicle according to the present invention has an inspection object loading / unloading port formed on both left and right sides of the vehicle, and an X-ray inspection vehicle loaded into the vehicle. A moving table on which the inspection object is placed and moved between the two loading / unloading ports; and a moving table constituting the inspection object mounting surface of the moving table and moving the inspection object on the moving table in the moving direction of the table. A moving mechanism that can be mounted on the moving table, and a rotating mechanism that can change the direction of the test object on the moving table by protruding and retracting from the test object mounting surface;
The X-ray generator includes an X-ray generator and an X-ray detector that face each other across the moving space of the object to be inspected by the moving table.

[0006]

In the X-ray inspection vehicle of the present invention configured as described above, the object to be inspected is loaded on one of the left and right sides of the vehicle.
X-rays are emitted from the X-ray generator while being moved by the movement of the moving table itself, being carried into the vehicle from the carry-out port. A transmission inspection is performed by detecting the transmitted X-rays with an X-ray detector. X
The object to be inspected after the line transmission inspection is moved to the loading / unloading port on the other side by the moving table, and is transported out of the vehicle therefrom. At this time, loading and unloading of the inspection object on the moving table are performed by a moving mechanism on the table. In this way, the test object is carried into the vehicle one way,
By being able to carry out, after moving out the inspection object which has been inspected, the moving table can be moved to the carry-in side to immediately carry in the next inspection object. Therefore, even when there are a large number of inspection objects, the inspection can be performed efficiently. In addition, since the direction of the object to be inspected can be changed at any time by the rotating mechanism built into the moving table, X-rays can be transmitted from all directions in a short time by minimizing wasted time that is not directly related to the inspection. Inspection can be performed.

[0007]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an X-ray inspection vehicle according to the present invention. FIG. 1A is a schematic configuration diagram of the X-ray inspection vehicle viewed from the left side, and FIG. 2B is a schematic configuration diagram of the X-ray inspection vehicle viewed from the upper side. A passenger seat 3 is provided on the left side, and a control room 4 for X-ray inspection is provided behind the passenger seat 3.
Is provided. In the vehicle 1, an area where a person can enter during the X-ray inspection is an area in front of the control room 4, and a cabin area of the vehicle 1 is separated from the control room 4 by a partition wall 5.
Is separated by front and rear. Most of the rear area partitioned by the X-ray shielding wall 10 is occupied by the X-ray inspection room 6 from the rear end of the vehicle 1 to the vicinity of the partition wall 5. A control panel 7, a power supply 8, and an air conditioner 9 are provided in the space between the two.

The X-ray examination room 6 is formed so as to be entirely surrounded by a shielding wall 10, and has left and right side walls 11, 12 and a rear wall 13.
Is a part of the side wall of the vehicle 1. At the center of the side walls 11 and 12 of the X-ray inspection room 6 constituting the left and right side walls of the vehicle 1, a loading / unloading operation for loading / unloading the inspection object A into / from the X-ray inspection room 6 is performed.
Cargo outlets 14 and 15 (here the carry-in port 14 on the left and the carry-out port on the right
15) is provided. Loading / unloading ports 14, 15 are side walls 11,1
2 is opened and closed by a slide type opening / closing means 16 provided inside. As shown in FIGS. 3 to 7, the opening / closing means 16 includes a shielding door 17 made of the same X-ray shielding plate as the wall material of the shielding wall 10 and a strip-shaped X-ray shielding sheet 18 arranged in three or more rows. Has a double structure of a shielding curtain 19 hung so as to be superimposed on the X-ray inspection room 6. Both can be slid separately by a drive mechanism (not shown) provided at the upper part of the X-ray examination room 6. ing. In the X-ray inspection room 6, the inspection object X is located between the carry-in port 14 and the carry-out port 15.
And a X-ray generator (X-ray tube) 21 with a moving space of the object A to be inspected by the conveying device 20 interposed therebetween.
A line detector 22 is provided.

The transfer device 20 includes a pair of rails 23 provided at the bottom of the X-ray examination room 6 so as to connect the carry-in port 14 and the carry-out port 15, and a moving table 24 running along the rails 23. Generally configured. As shown in FIG. 2, the moving table 24 is equipped with a belt conveyor type moving mechanism 26 and a turntable type rotating mechanism 27 above a self-propelled carriage 25 mounted on a rail 23. The moving mechanism 26 includes a moving table 24
A pair of annular conveyor belts 28 provided on both left and right sides of
And a belt drive mechanism (not shown) capable of simultaneously moving the left and right transport belts 28 in forward and reverse directions. The upper surface of the transport belt 28 forms the surface of the moving table 24 to be inspected. On the other hand, the rotating mechanism 27 is composed of a turntable 29 provided at the center of the moving table 24 and an elevating mechanism 30 for moving the turntable 29 up and down from between the left and right transport belts 28. It can be rotated with a slight protrusion from 28. The transporting device 20 configured as described above receives the inspection object A transported by the roller conveyor 31 on the left side of the vehicle 1 on the moving table 24 which is on standby at the entrance 14 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, it can be moved to the carry-out port 15 side and paid out onto the roller conveyor 32 on the right side of the moving table 24. The receiving and paying out of the inspection object A onto the moving table 24 is performed smoothly by driving the transport belt 28 on the moving table 24.

This embodiment is based on the premise that the upper limit of the tube voltage of the X-ray generator 21 can be set to about 300 kV, and the X-ray examination room 6 has the loading / unloading ports 14 on both sides thereof.
Closing the 15 shielding doors 17 provides a structure that can sufficiently shield such high-intensity (more than 150 kV) X-rays. If the tube voltage of the X-ray generator 21 is 150 kV or less, the structure is such that X-rays can be sufficiently shielded by using only the shielding curtain 19 as shown in FIG.

[0011] The X-ray inspection vehicle of the present embodiment configured as described above is used as appropriate for an object to be inspected that is relatively transparent to X-rays and for an object to be inspected that is difficult to transmit X-rays. Inspection can be performed efficiently by changing the method.

That is, in the case of an object to be inspected such as a small cargo through which X-rays are easily transmitted, as shown in FIG.
In a state where the tube voltage of the X-ray generator 21 is set to 150 kV or less, the inspection object A is conveyed through the shielding curtain 19 onto the moving table 24, and then the moving table 24 is moved to the exit 15 side. The X-ray generator 21 irradiates the inspection object A with X-rays while moving the X-ray, and the transmitted X-rays are detected by the X-ray detector 22 to perform the inspection. This X-ray transmission inspection is performed visually by an inspector by projecting a fluoroscopic image on a screen of a monitor 35 in the control room 4. Inspection object A is X-ray generator 21 and X
If re-inspection is not required after passing between the line detectors 22, the moving table 24 is attached to the exit 15 side, the moving mechanism 26 on the table is driven, and the inspection object A is passed through the shielding curtain 19. And dispenses it onto the roller conveyor 32. When re-inspection is necessary, the elevating mechanism 30 of the rotation mechanism 27 is operated to slightly lift the inspection object A from the inspection object mounting surface of the moving table 24, and in that state, as shown in FIG. After rotating the test object A in a desired direction by rotating the turntable 29, the X is again moved while the moving table 24 is moved in the same manner as described above.
Conduct a line transmission inspection. If no further inspection is required, the moving table 24 is attached to the carry-out port 15 side, the moving mechanism 26 on the table is driven, and the inspection object A is
Pass through 19 and pay it out onto roller conveyor 32. By using the shielding curtain 19, there is no need to open and close the loading / unloading ports 14, 15, and the loading / unloading of the inspection object A can be performed efficiently.

On the other hand, when inspecting an inspection object such as a large cargo or a cargo having a large specific gravity, which is difficult to transmit X-rays, as shown in FIG. After the transfer, the two shielding wall doors are closed, the tube voltage of the X-ray generator 21 is set in the range of 150 kV to 300 kV, and the X-ray transmission inspection is performed while moving the moving table 24 to the outlet 15 side. After the inspection object A has passed between the X-ray generator 21 and the X-ray detector 22, if re-inspection is not required, the moving table 24 is moved to the carry-out port 15.
Then, the shielding door 17 is opened, and the moving mechanism 26 of the table 24 is driven to discharge the inspection object A onto the roller conveyor 32.
If re-inspection is necessary, the rotating mechanism 27 is driven to rotate the inspection object A in a desired direction, and then the moving table 24 is moved again to perform the X-ray transmission inspection.

As described above, the loading and unloading of the inspection object A are all automated, and the orientation of the inspection object A can be freely adjusted in the inspection room 6 by the rotating mechanism 27. Automatic inspection is possible, and the burden on the operator can be reduced. Since the direction of the inspection object A can be changed at any time by the rotating mechanism 27 incorporated in the moving table 24 whenever necessary, the X-ray transmission inspection can be performed from all directions in a short time. By the way, the device of the present embodiment in which all the operations from the loading and unloading of the inspection object are automated and the conventional device in which the loading and unloading of the inspection object at the time of loading and unloading are performed manually are performed in one inspection. Comparing the average time required, the time required for the conventional equipment was 4.5 m without re-inspection.
The required time for this device was 0.55 min
The time was reduced to just over a tenth. Also, in the case where there is a re-inspection, the required time of the conventional apparatus was 7 min, whereas the required time of the present apparatus was significantly reduced to 0.9 min.

Further, in this type of conventional inspection apparatus, an apparatus for performing an inspection by setting the X-ray tube voltage to 140 kV or more has not been realized, but the tube voltage of the X-ray generator 21 is reduced as in this embodiment.
By setting it to 140 kV or more, it becomes possible to obtain a transmission image of not only a large cargo but also an object having a large specific gravity, which cannot be inspected by the conventional apparatus. For reference, X
The following shows comparative examples when the tube voltage is 140 kV and 300 kV.

[Comparative Example] X-ray tube voltage (kV) Inspection object permeability (mm) 140 Iron 15 140 Water (ice) 100 300 Iron 65 300 Water (ice) 500

[0017]

In summary, according to the X-ray inspection vehicle of the present invention, the following excellent effects can be exhibited.

(1) Carry-in and carry-out ports are formed on both left and right sides of the vehicle, and the object to be inspected can be carried in and out one-way by a moving table provided between the carry-in and carry-out ports. After the object to be inspected is carried out, the moving table is moved to the carry-in side, and the operation for carrying in the next object to be inspected can be performed immediately, and the inspection can be performed efficiently.

(2) Since the loading and unloading of the object to be inspected into and out of the vehicle and the adjustment and change of the direction of the object to be inspected in the vehicle can all be performed automatically by the moving table, the automatic inspection of heavy objects is performed. And the burden on the operator can be reduced.

(3) The direction of the object to be inspected can be changed whenever necessary by a rotating mechanism incorporated in the moving table, so that unnecessary moving time not directly related to the inspection can be minimized and the time can be shortened. X-ray transmission inspection can be performed from all directions.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing one embodiment of an X-ray inspection vehicle according to the present invention, where (a) is a schematic configuration diagram when viewed from a side,
(B) is a schematic configuration diagram when viewed from above.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a main part (moving table) of FIG. 1;
(A) is a plan view and (b) is a side view.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part showing a loading operation of the inspection object in the X-ray inspection vehicle shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a main part showing an unloading operation of the inspection object in the X-ray inspection vehicle shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an essential part showing an example of an execution state of the inspection in the X-ray inspection vehicle shown in FIG. 1 (in the case of small object inspection).

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an essential part showing an example of an execution state of the inspection in the X-ray inspection vehicle shown in FIG. 1 (in the case of a large-sized inspection).

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a main part showing an operation of adjusting the orientation of the inspection object in the X-ray inspection vehicle shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle 6 X-ray examination room 10 Shielding wall 11 Side wall 12 Side wall 14 Carry-in / carry-out (carry-in) 15 Carry-in / carry-out (carry-out) 17 Shielding door 19 Shielding curtain 20 Transfer device 21 X-ray generator (X-ray tube 22 X-ray detector 23 Rail 24 Moving table 25 Self-propelled trolley 26 Moving mechanism 27 Rotating mechanism 29 Turntable 30 Lifting mechanism 31 Roller conveyor 32 Roller conveyor A Inspected object

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-59-204748 (JP, A) JP-A-60-260831 (JP, A) JP-A-51-27388 (JP, A) 28039 (JP, U) JP-A 1-137464 (JP, U) JP-A 1-165453 (JP, U) JP-A 57-28363 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01N 23/00-23/227

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A moving table formed on both left and right side surfaces of a vehicle for carrying in and out of an object to be inspected, a moving table for carrying the object to be inspected carried in the vehicle and moving between the two carrying in and out ports, A moving mechanism that constitutes the inspection object mounting surface of the moving table and moves the inspection object on the moving table in the moving direction of the table, and is incorporated in the moving table and protrudes and retracts from the inspection object mounting surface. An X-ray, comprising: a rotation mechanism for changing the direction of an object to be inspected on a moving table; and an X-ray generator and an X-ray detector facing each other across a moving space of the object to be inspected by the moving table. Inspection vehicle.