JPH01237643A - Radiographic image information recording reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the shielding of a radiant ray, and also, to prevent the length of a device from becoming large only in one direction by providing an image recording part on a projecting part which has been projected from the side face of the device main body. CONSTITUTION:An image recording part 10 is provided on a projecting part 2 which has been projected from a device main body 1 in which an image reading part 20, an erasing part 30, etc., have been contained, therefore, there is scarcely possibility that a radiant ray is made incident on the device main body 1 at the time of photographing, and light-shielding against the device main body 1 is facilitated. Also, it will suffice that the device main body 1 has length of width or so of an accumulative phosphor sheet 3 which is brought to circulation carrying as for the projecting direction of the projecting part 2, and the length is comparatively short, therefore, even if the projecting part 2 is provided in this direction, there is no possibility that the device becomes large in size only in one direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of the Invention) The present invention involves accumulating and recording radiation image information on a stimulable phosphor sheet, then irradiating this with excitation light, and performing photostimulation according to the accumulated and recorded image information. It relates to a radiation image information recording/reading device that detects emitted light, reads image information, and converts it into an electrical signal.More specifically, it relates to a radiation image information recording/reading device that detects emitted light, reads image information, and converts it into an electrical signal. The present invention relates to an image information recording/reading device.

(Conventional technology) Certain phosphors are exposed to radiation (X-rays, α-rays, β-rays.

When irradiated with γ-rays, electron beams, ultraviolet rays, etc., a portion of the energy of this radiation is accumulated in the phosphor, and when the phosphor is then irradiated with excitation light such as visible light, it responds to the accumulated energy. The phosphor exhibits stimulated luminescence. A phosphor exhibiting such properties is called a stimulable phosphor (stimulable phosphor).

Using this stimulable phosphor, radiation image information of a subject such as a human body is stored and recorded on a sheet of stimulable phosphor, and this is scanned with excitation light to cause stimulated luminescence. A radiographic image information recording and reproducing method has been proposed in which an image signal is obtained by photoelectrically reading the image signal, and this image signal is processed to obtain a radiation image of a subject that is suitable for diagnosis (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 55-12429 and 5B). -11395, 55-
No. 163472, No. 5B-1゜4645, No. 55-I
LB340 etc.). In this method, the final image may be reproduced as a hard copy or a CRT image.
It may also be reproduced as a visible image on top. In such radiation image information recording and reproducing methods, the stimulable phosphor sheet does not ultimately record image information, but temporarily carries image information in order to provide the image to the final recording medium as described above. Therefore, this stimulable phosphor sheet may be used repeatedly, and such repeated use is extremely economical.

Also, for example, when a mobile station such as an X-ray vehicle is equipped with a radiation image information recording/reading device that uses a stimulable phosphor sheet, and the mobile station travels to various locations for group examinations to take X-rays. It is inconvenient to stack multiple stimulable phosphor sheets, and there is a limit to the number of sheets that can be loaded on a moving vehicle. Therefore, a stimulable phosphor sheet is mounted on a mobile vehicle in a reusable manner, and radiation image information for each subject is recorded on it. If the radiation images are copied onto a recording medium and the stimulable phosphor sheet is recycled and reused, radiation images of a large number of objects can be taken using a mobile vehicle, which is extremely useful in practice. Furthermore, if continuous imaging is performed through this cyclical reuse, the imaging speed can be increased in mass medical examinations, which has an extremely large practical effect.

Note that in order to reuse the stimulable phosphor sheet in this way, the radiation energy remaining in the stimulable phosphor sheet after the stimulated luminescence light is read can be removed using, for example, JP-A-58-11.
The stimulable phosphor sheet may be used again for recording radiographic images by emitting the stimulable phosphor sheet by a method such as that shown in No. 392 and No. 5B-12599 to erase the residual radiation image.

Based on the above viewpoint, the present applicant has proposed an image recording section that accumulates and records radiation image information of a subject on a stimulable phosphor sheet by irradiating radiation through the subject, and an image recording section. an excitation light source that emits excitation light that scans a stimulable phosphor sheet on which radiation image information has been accumulated and recorded; an image reading section having a photoelectric reading means to obtain the image; An erasing section that emits energy is incorporated into one device, and the stimulable phosphor sheet is sequentially conveyed from the image recording section to the image reading section and then to the erasing section by a circulation conveying means, and then to the image recording section. We have previously proposed a radiation image information recording/reading device (so-called built-in type device) that can be recycled and reused (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 192240/1983).

(Question 8 to be solved by the invention) By the way, such a built-in type device usually has an image recording section, an image reading section, and an erasing section built into a box-like housing, and the radiation source is Since it is provided facing the housing, when radiation is irradiated towards the image recording section during image recording (photography), the radiation is not applied to the stimulable phosphor sheet located elsewhere in the housing. There is a risk of being irradiated.

For this reason, conventionally, parts of the housing other than the image recording section had to be covered with radiation shielding means such as a lead plate, and the shielding part was large, so the shielding means had to be large-scale, and the transport of the stimulable phosphor sheet Depending on the system, problems such as a complicated structure of the shielding means have arisen. In addition, the image recording unit may be raised or lowered depending on the subject (subject), or it may protrude from the housing so that it can be photographed facing a seated subject. . In this case, since the radiation source is provided further ahead, the entire housing may become larger in only one direction due to the image recording section.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a radiation image information recording/reading device that can easily shield radiation and that does not increase the size of the device in only one direction. The purpose is to

(Means for Solving the Problems) The radiation image information recording/reading device of the present invention includes the above-described image recording section, image reading section, and erasing section, and the stimulable phosphor sheet is transferred from the image recording section to the image recording section by means of circulation conveyance means. In an apparatus that is sent to a reading section, an erasing section, and returned to an image recording section for cyclic reuse, the image reading section and the erasing section are housed in a main body of the device, and the circulatory conveyance means within the main body of the device is provided. The locus of the stimulable phosphor sheet in the transport direction is formed on one plane, and the image recording section is provided at one end of a protrusion that protrudes from the apparatus main body in a direction perpendicular to the plane, and The locus of the stimulable phosphor sheet in the protruding portion in the conveying direction of the stimulable phosphor sheet of the circulation conveying means is formed on a plane perpendicular to the plane.

Note that the protruding portion does not strictly need to entirely protrude from the apparatus main body, and a portion thereof may be located within the apparatus main body in order to be connected to the circulating conveyance means within the apparatus main body.

(Function) In this device, the image recording section is provided in a protrusion that protrudes from the main body of the device, which houses the image reading section, erasing section, etc., so there is less risk of radiation entering the main body of the device during imaging. This makes it easier to block light from the main body of the device. In addition, in the direction in which the protrusions are provided, the main body of the device only needs to have a length that is approximately the same as the width of the stimulable phosphor sheet that is being circulated, and since the length is relatively short, the protrusions may be provided in this direction. However, there is no risk of the device becoming larger in only one direction.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

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

This device consists of a main body 1 and a protrusion 2 that protrudes to the side of the device main body and is movable up and down from a position shown by a solid line in the figure to a position shown by a dashed line in the figure. As shown in FIG. 2, which is a sectional view taken along the line X-X in FIG. an erasing unit 30 that later erases radiation energy remaining in the stimulable phosphor sheet 3; and a stacker that can accommodate a plurality of stimulable phosphor sheets 1-3 and discharges the stored stimulable phosphor sheets one by one. 100 are accommodated. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, which is a cross-sectional view taken along the Y-Y line in FIG. A section 10 is provided. In addition, within this apparatus, there is a circulation system in which the photographed stimulable phosphor sheet 3 is carried out from the image recording section IO, sequentially conveyed to the image reading section 20 and erasing section 30, and then carried into the image recording section 10. A conveying means 50 is provided. The locus of the stimulable phosphor sheet in the transport direction within the apparatus main body 1 by this circulating transport means is arranged on the same plane (on the plane shown in FIG. 2), and the protrusion 2 is perpendicular to this plane from the apparatus main body 1. protruding in that direction. Further, the locus of the stimulable phosphor sheet in the transport direction within the protrusion 2 is formed on a horizontal plane perpendicular to the above surface.

Image information is first recorded on the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 in the image recording section 10 of the protrusion 2 . As shown in FIG. 3, the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 is held at both ends by a circulating conveyance means 50 and held in an upright state in the vertical direction. When the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 is held in this state, the X! Radiation source 11 such as I source
is activated, and the radiation emitted from this radiation source 11 passes through the subject 12 and enters the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 in the image recording section 10, so that a radiation image of the subject is recorded on the stimulable phosphor sheet 3. Information is accumulated and recorded.

When the photographing is completed, the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 is moved in the horizontal plane by the circulating conveyance means 50 in the direction of the arrow AI + A2 + A3.
direction, and sent to the conveyance direction converting section 51.

As shown in FIG.
Nip roller 52 and roller 53A consisting of 2A and 52B
, 53B, and a pair of endless belts 54 disposed between these nip rollers.
It consists of A and 54B. In addition, the nip roller 5
2 to the nip roller 53 is approximately equal to the width (height in FIG. 4) of the stimulable phosphor sheet, and the distance from the rollers 52A, 53A and the endless belt 54A
is movable so that it can take the position shown by the solid line and the position shown by the broken line in FIG.

As shown above, the photographed stimulable phosphor sheet 3 is indicated by the arrow A3.
When conveyed in the direction, the roller 52A.

53A is located at the dashed line position to release the nip, and the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 is located at the solid line position at the endless belt 5.
4A and endless belt 54B in the direction of arrow A4. The stimulable phosphor sheet 3 is an endless belt 5
When placed on rollers 4A and 54B, rollers 52A and 53A
moves to the solid line position, the nip rollers 52 and 53 grip the upper and lower ends of the stimulable phosphor sheet 3, and the endless belt 5
4A retreats to the position indicated by the dashed line.

The stimulable phosphor sheet 3 is attached to these nip rollers 52.5.
3, it is conveyed upward in the direction of arrow A5.

The stimulable phosphor sheet 3, whose conveyance direction has been changed substantially vertically by the delivery direction converter 51, is conveyed in the direction of arrow A5, and is transferred to the circulation conveyance means 5o in the apparatus main body 1, as shown in FIG. passed to. Circulating conveyance means 5 within the device main body 1
0 transports the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 in the direction of arrow A6*A to the stacker 1.

Once transported into O.

As shown in FIG. 5, the stacker 100 includes, for example, five trays 10 in a casing 103 whose upper and lower surfaces are open.
4 are stored vertically, and the space inside these trays 104 serves as a sheet storage section lot in which stimulable phosphor sheets 3 can be stored one by one. A rack 105 is formed on one side of the casing 103, and the pinion 10B is engaged with the rack 105, and the pinion 10B is engaged with the rack 105.
06 is driven and rotated by the motor LQ7, the wheel 109 to which the lower end of the casing 103 is attached reciprocates on the rail 108 in the direction of the arrow. By moving the casing 103 in this manner, the stacker 100 is moved from the left end position shown by the solid line in FIG. 2 to the right end position shown by the broken line in FIG. move between.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the tray 104 is made up of a support plate 104A and a bottom plate 104B. is opened, the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 inside is dropped, and the stimulable phosphor sheet is delivered to a circulating conveyance means 50 arranged below the stacker 100. That is, as shown in FIG.
A notch 104a is formed at one side end, and the roller 5 of the circulating conveyance means 50 adjacent to the lower end of the stacker 100
Above the drive means 11, such as a rotary solenoid,
1, the protrusion 112a is rotated in the direction of arrow B.
/<-112 is provided, and this protrusion 1
12a engages with the protrusion 104b for forming the notch of the bottom plate 104B of the tray 104, and the lever 112 rotates in the direction of arrow B, thereby rotating the bottom plate 104B in the direction of arrow B'. , the bottom plate 104B is moved substantially on the same plane as the support plate 104A of the tray 104, as shown by the broken line in FIG. When the bottom plate 104B rotates to the above position, the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 in the tray 104 falls due to its own weight and is gripped by the roller 55.

Before sending the stimulable phosphor sheet discharged from the image recording section IO to the image reading section 20, the stacker 1
If the stimulable phosphor sheets are carried into the stacker 00, images are taken one after another even while the preceding stimulable phosphor sheets are being read in the image reading section 20, and the photographed stimulable phosphor sheets are kept waiting in the stacker. You can keep it.

The circulating conveyance means 50 which received the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 discharged from the stacker 100 moves the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 to the direction indicated by the arrow A8. It is conveyed in the A9 direction and sent to the image reading section 20. At this time, the distribution plate 56 provided in the middle of the conveyance path of the circulating conveyance means 50 is at the position shown by the solid line in the figure, and guides the stimulable phosphor sheet in the direction of the image reading section 20.

The image reading unit 20 scans the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 on which image information has been accumulated and recorded with an excitation light 21 such as a laser beam,
The stimulated luminescent light emitted from the sheet 1 by the scanning is photoelectrically read by a photoelectric reading means 22 such as a photomultiplier to obtain an electrical image signal for outputting a visible image. In the figure, 23 is an excitation light source, 24 is a light deflector such as a galvanometer mirror, and 26 is a light guide 22a of a photoelectric reading means for detecting the stimulated luminescence light emitted from the sheet 2 (the light guide 22a totally reflects the stimulated luminescence light). This is a reflecting mirror that reflects the light toward a photodetector 22b such as a photomultiplier.

The stimulable phosphor sheet 3 carried into the image reading section 20 is conveyed in the force direction of arrow A by the circulation conveyance means 50, and the entire surface of the sheet is two-dimensionally scanned by the excitation light 21 that is deflected approximately perpendicular to this conveyance direction. The stimulated luminescent light is detected by the photodetector 22b via the light guide 22a, and image information is read. The read image signal is transmitted to an image processing circuit (not shown), subjected to necessary image processing, and then sent to a necessary image reproduction device. This reproducing device may be a display such as a CRT, a recording device that performs optical scanning recording on a photosensitive film, or a device that first records on a recording device such as a magnetic tape for that purpose. Also, the image reading section 2
The optical members disposed at 0 are not limited to those mentioned above; for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 16866/1986, a long photomultiplier may be used as a photoelectric reading means along the main scanning line. The stimulated luminescence light may be detected without using the large light guide 22a.

The stimulable phosphor sheet 3 whose image information has been read in the image reading section 20 as described above is transferred to the circulating conveyance means 5.
0 in the direction of arrow Au and is transported toward the erasing section 30.

The erasing unit 30 erases the stimulable phosphor sheet 1 after the reading is completed.
It is not intended to erase the radiation image information remaining in the stimulable phosphor (to cause the stimulable phosphor to emit the remaining radiation energy). That is, some of the radiation image information accumulated and recorded on the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 still remains on the sheet after reading, and in order to reuse the stimulable phosphor sheet 3, this remaining image information is Erasing is performed in erasing section 30. Any erasing method may be used in this erasing section 30. The erasing section 30 in this device is provided with an erasing light source 31 such as a fluorescent lamp, tungsten lamp, sodium lamp, xenon lamp, iodine lamp, etc. Upon receiving light irradiation from the light source 31, residual radiation energy on the sheet is released.

The stimulable phosphor sheet 3 that has been erased in the erasing section 30 is conveyed in the direction of the arrows A13 and AI4 by the circulating conveyance means 50 and is carried into the empty sheet storage section 101 in the stacker 100. Note that if a number of erased stimulable phosphor sheets are stored in advance in the stacker 100 in this manner, the erased stimulable phosphor sheets can be erased immediately after the photographed stimulable phosphor sheets are taken out from the image recording unit IO. The stimulable phosphor sheet can be sent to the image recording section 10. Furthermore, in that case, photographed stimulable phosphor sheets and erased stimulable phosphor sheets will coexist in the stacker 100, so in order to smoothly load and unload stimulable phosphor sheets into and out of the stacker, it is necessary to In addition to controlling the timing of old feeding of the circulating conveyance means, it is also checked whether each sheet storage section in the stacker is storing a stimulable phosphor sheet that has been erased or a stimulable phosphor sheet that has been photographed. A control means is required to store whether the sheet storage section is empty or empty, and to arrange the sheet storage section in a desired state at a required position. A control section 40 that performs the above control is provided.

When sending the erased stimulable phosphor sheet 3 taken out from the stacker IOQ to the image recording unit IO, the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 is transported in the direction of arrow A8 by the circulating transport means 50, and then transferred to the distribution plate 56 to the position indicated by the broken line in the figure, the stimulable phosphor sheet is further conveyed in the directions of arrows A1g and A16, and the stimulable phosphor sheet is carried into the conveying direction converting section 51 from below.

The erased stimulable phosphor sheet 3 is transferred to the transport direction converting section 51
It is carried into the interior from the direction shown by arrow AI7 in FIG. At this time, the endless belt 54A is at the position shown by the broken line and does not convey the stimulable phosphor sheet, and the stimulable phosphor sheet is conveyed upward by the nip roller 53. When the upper end of the stimulable phosphor sheet is gripped by the nip roller 52, the endless belt 54A moves to the position shown by the solid line in the figure, clamps the stimulable phosphor sheet together with the endless belt 54B, and the rollers 52A,
53A retreats to the position indicated by the broken line in the figure. In this state, the stimulable phosphor sheet 3 is attached to the endless belts 54A, 5.
4B in the 8-direction of arrow A and passed to the circulating conveyance means 50 in the protrusion 2, as shown in FIG.
The image recording unit 10 is transported in the Ig, A 2o direction.
It will be sent to Japan for new filming.

The protrusion 2 of the apparatus of this embodiment is movable up and down as described above, and as shown in FIG.
A, 57B, 57C, and 57D can also move up and down between the solid line position in the figure and the broken line position in the figure. In other words, the distance between these nip rollers or the distance between the nip rollers and the conveyance direction converting section 51 is longer than the length of the stimulable phosphor sheet in the conveyance direction, no matter where the protrusion part 2 is located in the movement range. Move while adjusting the position so that it becomes smaller. If the image recording unit 10 is made vertically movable by moving the protrusion 2 in this manner, it is possible to quickly respond to cases such as when the height of the subject differs or when the body part to be imaged changes. It is convenient because it can be done.

In this way, according to the present device, the protrusion is provided on the side surface of the device body, and the image recording portion is formed at the front end of this protrusion, so that radiation irradiation is not directed toward the device body from the side of the device body. Therefore, the stimulable phosphor sheet within the main body of the apparatus is hardly affected by radiation irradiation. Therefore, in this apparatus, radiation can be sufficiently shielded by attaching a simple shielding plate to the side surface of the main body of the apparatus on the protrusion side, and the shielding means can be simplified. Further, the image recording section may be formed at the side end of the protruding section, but even in that case, radiation shielding can be achieved by a simple method such as covering the peripheral surface of the main body of the apparatus with a lead plate.

In addition, the length of the main body of the device is equivalent to the width of the stimulable phosphor sheet in the width direction in which the protrusions are provided.
Since the length is relatively short, even if a protrusion is provided in this direction,
There is no problem that the device becomes longer in only one direction.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, a so-called three-dimensional type device is used as an example in which the subject is photographed while standing upright, but the present invention is a so-called bed-type device in which the subject is photographed while lying down. Good too. In that case as well, the relationship between the main body of the apparatus and the transport direction of the stimulable phosphor sheet within the protrusion and the direction in which the protrusion protrudes are the same as in the above-described embodiment. It goes without saying that the specific internal configuration of the device is not limited to the above embodiments.
A stacker may not be particularly provided either.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the radiation image information recording/reading device of the present invention, since the image recording section is provided in the protrusion that protrudes from the side surface of the device main body, radiation shielding becomes easy and , it is possible to avoid increasing the length of the device only in one direction.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a radiation image information recording/reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line X-X in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the Y-Y line in FIG. 1. , FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a conveyance direction converting section, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a stacker in the above apparatus, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a mechanism for taking out a stimulable phosphor sheet from the stacker. 1...Device main body 2...Protrusion part 3...
Stimulable phosphor sheet lO... Image recording section 20... Image reading section 30... Erasing section 50... Circulating conveyance means 51... Conveyance direction conversion section 1 o.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An image recording section that accumulates and records radiation image information on the stimulable phosphor sheet by irradiating the stimulable phosphor sheet with radiation having image information; An excitation light source that emits excitation light that scans the stimulable phosphor sheet that has been stored and recorded, and a photoelectric reading device that reads the stimulated luminescent light emitted from the stimulable phosphor sheet scanned by the excitation light to obtain an image signal. an image reading unit having an image reading unit, which releases residual radiation energy on the stimulable phosphor sheet prior to recording an image on the stimulable phosphor sheet after the image reading is performed in the image reading unit; an erasing section, and the stimulable phosphor sheet on which radiographic image information has been accumulated and recorded in the image recording section is conveyed to the image reading section, and then sent to the erasing section and the stimulable phosphor sheet has been read and erased. In the radiation image information recording/reading apparatus, the radiation image information recording/reading apparatus is provided with a circulating conveyance means for conveying the stimulable phosphor sheet to the image recording part and circulating the stimulable phosphor sheet, wherein the image reading part and the erasing part are housed in the apparatus main body,
A locus of the stimulable phosphor sheet in the conveying direction of the circulating conveyance means within the apparatus main body is formed on one plane, and the image recording section is provided protruding from the apparatus main body in a direction perpendicular to the plane. A radiation image information recording/reading device provided at one end of a protrusion, wherein a locus in the conveyance direction of the stimulable phosphor sheet of the circulating conveyance means in the protrusion is formed on a plane perpendicular to the plane. .