JP3312769B2 - Radiation image recording / reading device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a radiographic image recording / reading device used for an X-ray diffractometer or the like. More specifically, the present invention relates to a device for absorbing and accumulating radiation diffracted from a sample in a recording medium and irradiating with excitation light. The present invention relates to a radiation image recording / reading device that reads the radiation image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an apparatus such as an X-ray diffractometer for measuring the crystal structure of a sample using the diffraction phenomenon of radiation, a stimulable phosphor layer is used to record the radiation diffracted by the sample. There is one using a radiation image recording medium having the same. Conventionally, a radiation image recording body used for an X-ray diffractometer or the like,
It is a single plate-like body, and after absorbing and accumulating diffracted radiation from the sample in the recording section of the apparatus, the reading section is subjected to a radiation image reading operation by irradiation with excitation light. In the meantime, work such as fixing the radiation image recording body to the recording unit, transporting and fixing the recorded radiation image recording body to the reading unit is required, and conventionally, these operations have been performed manually by workers. . However, the conventional method of fixing and transporting the radiation image recording body manually is as follows.
There has been a problem that the time from recording to reading of the diffracted radiation is long, and the measurement work is lacking in speed.

To solve such a problem, a radiation image recording / reading apparatus having a configuration shown in FIG. 6 has recently been developed. The apparatus has a configuration in which recording body mounting plates 3 and 3 are provided at both ends of a support arm 2 that is rotatable about a spindle 1, and radiation image recording bodies 4 and 4 are mounted on these recording body mounting plates 3 and 3, respectively. It has. Each of the radiation image recording bodies 4 and 4 is provided with a recording unit 5 by rotating the support arms 3 and 3.
And the reading unit 6. While recording the diffracted radiation from the sample 7 on one of the radiation image recording members 4, the other radiation image recording member 4 is read and scanned by the scanner 8, so that a continuous measurement operation can be performed. In addition, the transfer and arrangement of the radiation image recording medium can be automatically performed only by rotating the support arm 2, and the operation can be speeded up.

[0004]

However, in the radiation image recording / reading apparatus shown in FIG. 6 , since the recording body mounting plates 3 provided at both ends of the support arm 2 rotate about the support shaft 1, the rotation is performed. It is necessary to secure a wide space for the track (a in the figure), and there is a problem that the entire apparatus becomes large. Moreover, the scanner 8 is provided with the recording medium reading plate 3.
In the rotational movement, the robot must be moved to a position away from the rotational orbit, which not only complicates the operation control, but also takes a long time for a series of operations from recording to reading. Further, a drive motor for rotating the heavy recording body mounting plate 3 requires a large torque. Such large-torque motors are expensive, consume large amounts of power, have high operating costs, and are economically problematic.
The present invention has been made in order to solve such problems of the prior art, and can move a radiographic image recording body in a small space, and further does not require a separating operation of a scanner when moving the radiographic image recording medium. It is intended to provide an image recording / reading device.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a recording unit for irradiating a sample with radiation and absorbing and accumulating radiation diffracted by the sample in a radiation image recording medium; to generate fluorescence from the radiation storage part by irradiating excitation light to the body, the curved surface in the radiation image recording and reading apparatus and a reading unit reading the generated fluorescence, the radiation image recording medium to the reading unit In shape
Along with providing a scanner for scanning, the radiation image recording body is formed in an endless shape, the endless radiation image recording body is movably wound around and supported, and the radiation image recording body is provided with a recording unit and a reading unit. The radiation image recording medium is placed on the scanning section of the scanner.
Guide rails arranged along a curved surface along the surface, and the surface scans
A fixed plate formed on a curved surface along the scanning trajectory of the detector and having a plurality of vacuum suction holes on the surface thereof and communicating with a vacuum pump, and adsorbing the back surface of the radiation image recording body to the surface. I do.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the endlessly formed radiation image recording medium is wound around and supported so that it can be continuously moved between the recording unit and the reading unit. According to such a wrapping mechanism, the radiation image recording body moves along the guide rollers and the like, so that the moving space is small and the apparatus is small. Further, since the image recording body can be moved without interfering with the scanner, the movement control of the radiation image recording body can be easily performed independently of the control of the scanner. Further, since only the endless radiation image recording body needs to be moved, the driving torque is small and the cost is low.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view showing a configuration of a radiation image reading / recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a support structure of a radiation image recording body in the apparatus.
The radiation image recording / reading apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a recording unit 1
0, a reading unit 20 and a support unit 30 for a radiation image recording medium (hereinafter, referred to as a recording medium support unit). The recording medium support unit 30 includes the recording unit 10 and the reading unit 20.
Is provided at an intermediate position. In the recording unit 10, radiation such as X-rays is emitted from a radiation source 13 to a sample 12 placed on a sample stage 11, and the radiation diffracted from the sample is applied to a radiation image recording body at a predetermined recording position 14. Absorb and accumulate.

A reading unit 20 includes a scanner 22 for scanning a radiation image recording medium arranged at a predetermined reading position 21.
Is provided. The scanner 22 spirally scans the radiation image recording medium with the excitation light by rotational movement about the fulcrum 23 and linear movement perpendicular to the plane of FIG. Here, the reading position 21 is set in a curved surface shape along the scanning trajectory near the scanning trajectory drawn by the tip 22a of the scanner 22. Generally, laser light is used as the excitation light, and is introduced into the scanner 22 from an excitation light source (not shown). Further, the fluorescence generated from the radiation image recording medium by the irradiation of the excitation light passes through the scanner 22 and is input to a not-shown fluorescence detector (for example, a photomultiplier tube).
For example, the inventions of Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 4-337826 and Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 4-337828 filed earlier by the present applicant can be applied to such a configuration of the reading unit 20.

The radiation image recording body 40 is formed in an endless band. FIG. 3 is a front view showing a part of the radiation image recording medium. As shown in FIG.
No. 0 has a structure in which a radiation absorbing / accumulating film 42 having a stimulable phosphor layer is continuously attached to the surface of an endless belt 41. Both ends of the endless belt are sliding contact portions 43 of a guide rail to be described later, and the radiation absorbing / accumulating film 42 is affixed inside the sliding contact portions 43.

A driving roller 31 and a driven roller 32 are provided on the recording medium support section 30, and an endless radiation image recording medium 40 is wound and supported between these rollers. The drive roller 31 is rotated by a drive motor (not shown) to move the radiation image recording body 40. A pair of right and left linear guide rails 33 are arranged on the recording section 10 side of the recording medium support section 30 along the recording position 14, and the sliding contact section 43 of the radiation image recording medium 40 is engaged. . Thus, the radiation image recording body 40 is arranged at the recording position 14 in a plane. On the other hand, the reading unit 20 of the recording medium support unit 30
On the side, the guide rail 3 curved along the reading position 21
4 are provided as a pair. The center of curvature of the guide rail 34 coincides with the fulcrum 23 of the scanner 22. The radiation image recording body 40 is arranged in a curved shape at the reading position 21 with the sliding contact portion 43 engaged with the guide rail 34. Reference numerals 35, 35 are guide rollers for smoothly guiding the radiation image recording body 40 along the guide rail.

On the back side of the radiation image recording body 40 arranged at the recording position 14, a flat plate-like fixed plate 36 is provided. A large number of vacuum suction holes (not shown) are provided on the surface of the fixed board 36 and communicate with a vacuum pump (not shown). That is, a vacuum chuck is formed on the surface of the fixed board 36, and the radiation image recording body 40
The rear surface of the recording medium 40 is sucked to maintain the flatness of the recording body 40. Further, a fixed plate 37 formed on the curved surface along the reading position 21 is provided on the back surface side of the radiation image recording body 40 arranged at the reading position 21. A large number of vacuum suction holes communicating with a vacuum pump (not shown) are also provided on the surface of the fixed platen 37, thereby forming a vacuum chuck. The radiation image recording body 40 is adsorbed on the surface of the fixed platen 37 in the reading section 20 and is accurately arranged at the curved reading position 21.

An erasing lamp 50 is provided near the radiation image recording body 40 conveyed from the reading unit 20. The erasing lamp 50 is used for the radiation image recording medium 40.
Has the function of deleting the remaining color center by irradiating white light.

Next, the operation of the above-described radiation image recording / reading apparatus will be described. First, in the recording unit 10 , the radiation image recording body 40 is attracted to the fixed board 36 and is arranged at the recording position 14 in a plane. When the recording unit 10 irradiates the sample 12 with radiation from the radiation source 13, diffracted X-rays are output from the sample 12 at a specific angle according to the crystal structure, physical properties, and the like of the sample. The diffracted X-rays are absorbed and accumulated in the radiation image recording body 40 arranged in a plane at the recording position 14. After the predetermined recording operation is completed, the vacuum suction state on the surface of the fixed board 36 is released, and the radiation image recording body 40 is made movable. Next, the drive roller 31 is rotationally driven to move the radiation image recording body 40 in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
Is arranged at the reading position 21.

At the reading position 21, the radiation image recording body 40 is vacuum-adsorbed on the surface of the fixed platen 37, and the recording body 40 is arranged in a curved surface. In this state, the scanner 22 is rotated about the fulcrum 23 and is moved straight in the direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1 to scan the excitation light spirally. In parallel with this reading operation, the recording unit 10 can perform the next recording operation. Then, after the operation in each of the sections 10 and 20 is completed, the vacuum suction state on the surfaces of the fixed boards 36 and 37 is released, and the radiation image recording body 40 is made movable. continue,
The driving roller 31 is driven to rotate, and the radiation image
0 is moved in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Radiation image recording body 4
At 0, the remaining color center is erased by the erase lamp 50 in the portion where the reading operation has been completed before reaching the recording unit 10. Thereafter, the recording operation and the reading operation are performed in parallel, and the measurement time can be reduced.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing another embodiment of the present invention. In the above embodiment, the recording unit 10 arranges the radiation image recording body 40 in a plane. However, some measuring devices, such as an X-ray diffractometer using a Weissenberg camera, require the radiation image recording body 40 to be arranged in a curved surface. When the present invention is applied to such a measuring device, as shown in FIG.
It is only necessary to arrange a pair of left and right guide rails 60 that are curved on the side, and not to provide the fixed plate 61 formed on the curved surface along the recording position. A vacuum chuck is formed on the surface of the fixed plate 61, and the radiation image recording medium 40 is attached to the fixed plate 61 during recording.
Is absorbed and fixed. Thus, the radiation image recording / reading apparatus of the present invention can arbitrarily change the arrangement of the radiation image recording body according to the configuration of the recording unit and the reading unit,
Wide application range.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and applications can be made without changing the gist. For example, the radiation image recording body 4
As shown in FIG. 4, a configuration may be adopted in which a plurality of conventionally known flat plate imaging plates 44 are attached to the surface of the endless belt as shown in FIG. Further, the fixed plate 36 in the recording unit 10 shown in FIG. 1 is configured to be urged toward the back surface of the radiation image recording body 40 with a weak force by a leaf spring or the like, so that the vacuum chuck on the surface of the fixed plate 36 is pressed. It may be omitted.

[0017]

As described above, according to the radiographic image recording / reading apparatus of the present invention, the radiographic image recording medium can be moved in a small space, so that the radiographic image recording medium can be downsized and the radiographic image recording medium can be used. The movement can be controlled easily and economically because the movement can be performed with a small torque without interfering with the scanner.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a radiation image recording / reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a support structure of a radiation image recording body in the same device.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a part of a radiation image recording medium used in the apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a modification of the radiation image recording body.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a radiation image recording / reading apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional radiation image recording / reading device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Recording part 14 Recording position 20 Reading part 21 Reading position 22 Scanner 30 Recording body support part 31 Drive roller 32 Follower roller 33, 34 Guide rail 35 Guide roller 36, 37 Fixed board 40 Radiation image recording body 50 Erase lamp 60 Guide rail 61 Fixed board

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-59-83037 (JP, A) JP-A-58-66931 (JP, A) JP-A-4-264242 (JP, A) JP-A-62 147858 (JP, A) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01N 23/207 G03B 42/02 G03B 42/04

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A recording unit for irradiating a sample with radiation and diffracting the radiation diffracted by the sample into a radiation image recording body, and irradiating the radiation image recording body with excitation light to emit fluorescence from a radiation accumulation part. A radiation image recording / reading apparatus having a reading section for generating and reading the generated fluorescence .
The radiation image recording body is formed endlessly, the endless radiation image recording body is movably wound around and supported, and the radiation image recording body is recorded by the recording unit and the reading unit. , And the scanning unit scans the radiation image recording body with the reading unit.
A guide rail along a scanning track of the vessel is arranged in a curved surface shape, the surface has a plurality of vacuum ports communicating with the vacuum pump to the surface formed in a curved surface along the scanning track of the scanner the A radiation image recording / reading device, comprising: a fixed plate that adsorbs the back surface of the radiation image recording body to the front surface.