JPH0569211B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of the Invention) The present invention involves storing and recording radiation image information on a stimulable phosphor sheet, then irradiating the same with excitation light,
It relates to a radiation image information recording/reading device that detects photostimulated light according to accumulated and recorded image information, reads the image information, and converts it into an electrical signal. The present invention relates to a radiation image information recording/reading device that is designed to be reused.

(Technical Background and Prior Art of the Invention) Certain phosphors are exposed to radiation (X-rays, α-rays, β-rays,
When irradiated with γ-rays, ultraviolet rays, electron beams, etc., part 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, the accumulated energy is In response to this, the phosphor exhibits stimulated luminescence. A phosphor exhibiting such properties is called a stimulable phosphor.

Using this stimulable phosphor, radiation image information of a subject such as a human body is temporarily recorded on a stimulable phosphor sheet (hereinafter referred to as a stimulable phosphor sheet),
A method has been proposed in which the stimulated light is scanned with excitation light to cause stimulated luminescence, the stimulated luminescent light is read photoelectrically to obtain an image signal, and this image signal is processed to obtain a radiation image of the subject with good diagnostic suitability. (For example, JP-A No. 55-12429, JP-A No. 55-116340, JP-A No. 55-163472)
No. 56-11395, No. 56-104645, etc.). This final image can be reproduced as a hard copy or
Alternatively, it can be played back on a CRT.
In any case, in such a radiation image information recording and reproducing method, the stimulable phosphor sheet does not ultimately record image information, but temporarily stores the image in order to provide the image to the final recording medium as described above. Since it carries information, the 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 imaging vehicle is equipped with a radiation image information recording/reading device that uses a stimulable phosphor sheet and travels to various locations for group examinations to take X-rays. It is inconvenient to load a large number of stimulable phosphor sheets into a vehicle, and there is a limit to the number of sheets that can be loaded onto a moving vehicle. Therefore, a stimulable phosphor sheet is loaded onto a moving vehicle so that it can be used repeatedly, radiographic image information for each subject is recorded on it, and the resulting image signal is stored on magnetic tape or other media. If images are copied onto a large-capacity recording medium and a stimulable phosphor sheet or the like is 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.

In order to reuse the stimulable phosphor sheet as described above, the radiation energy remaining in the stimulable phosphor sheet after the stimulated luminescent light has been read can be absorbed by, for example, As shown in No. 56-12599, the remaining radiation image can be erased by irradiating the sheet with light or heat, and the stimulable phosphor sheet can be used again for recording radiation images.

Therefore, the present applicant has proposed a circulating conveyance means for conveying a stimulable phosphor sheet capable of accumulating and recording radiation images along a predetermined circulation path, and a means for irradiating radiation through the sheet through a subject in the circulation path. Thereby, an image recording section that accumulates and records radiographic image information of the subject on this sheet, and an excitation light that emits excitation light that scans the sheet on which radiographic image information is accumulated and recorded in the image recording section, which is located in the circulation path. an image reading section comprising a light source and a photoelectric reading means for reading stimulated luminescence light emitted from a sheet scanned by the excitation light to obtain an image signal; and an image reading section in the circulation passageway. and an erasing section that releases radiation energy remaining on the sheet prior to image recording on the sheet after image recording, and the stimulable phosphor sheet is circulated between the respective sections. We previously proposed a radiation image information recording/reading device that can be used repeatedly (Japanese Patent Application No. 58-66730). According to the radiographic image information recording/reading device having such a structure, radiographic image information can be recorded and read continuously and efficiently.

Incidentally, since the circulation passage in the radiation image information recording/reading device is for circulating the stimulable phosphor sheet, it naturally has a bent part, and also for holding the sheet flat during image recording or reading. It also has a straight section.

On the other hand, the radiographic image information recording/reading device is usually
Electric power is supplied from the commercial AC power source to the circulating conveyance means, the image recording section, the image reading section, the erasing section, etc., and they operate, but as is well known, the commercial AC power source may occasionally experience a power outage. If a power outage occurs while the stimulable phosphor sheet is at the bend in the above-mentioned circulation path, the sheet will remain bent for a long time and become deformed and damaged, making it unusable. . If the sheet is immediately taken out from the bent part of the circulation path when a power outage occurs, the above-mentioned problems can be avoided, but the sheet circulation path is generally formed in a complicated manner by combining endless belts, nip rollers, etc. Since the radiation image information recording/reading device is equipped with an external cover, it is very troublesome and difficult to open the cover and take out the sheet from the circulation path.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and it provides a method for applying a stimulable phosphor sheet to a bent portion of the sheet circulation path when power supply from an AC power source is stopped due to a power outage or the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide a radiation image information recording/reading device that can prevent the radiation image information from being left in place.

(Structure of the Invention) The radiation image information recording/reading device of the present invention includes a circulation conveyance means for conveying a stimulable phosphor sheet along a circulation path including a bent portion and a straight portion, and an image recording portion as described above. , an image reading section, and an erasing section, the radiation image information recording/reading device is operated by being supplied with power from an AC power source, comprising: a power-off detection means for detecting that the power supply from the AC power source has stopped; a backup power supply for supplying power to the circulation conveyance means in place of the AC power supply when the detection means detects that the power supply from the AC power supply has stopped; a sensor for detecting that the sheet is at a bend in the circulation path; In response to the output of the sensor and the power failure detection means, the sheet is located at the bend in the circulation path.
The apparatus is characterized in that a control circuit is provided that drives the circulation conveying means at least until the sheet is discharged from the bending section when power supply from the AC power supply is stopped.

If the circulating conveyance means is driven by the above-mentioned backup power source and the stimulable phosphor sheet present in the bent part is sent to the straight part, the sheet will not be left bent, and the sheet will not be deformed or damaged. is prevented.

(Embodiments) Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the radiation image information recording/reading apparatus of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the radiation image information recording/reading apparatus includes endless belts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7,8,9,
10, and guide rollers 11, 12, 1 that rotate following the endless belts 1, 6, 7, 10, respectively.
3, 14, and guide plates 15, 16, 17, 18,
19, 20, 21, and Nippuro rollers 22, 23,
Circulation path 2 for sheet conveyance consisting of 24 and 25
A plurality of (five in this example) stimulable phosphor sheets 30 are arranged at appropriate intervals in this circulation passage 26, and these stimulable phosphor sheets 30 are circularly conveyed in the direction of arrow A in the figure by the endless belts 1 to 10 as sheet circulation conveyance means and nip rollers 22, 23, 24, and 25.

The endless belts 2 and 3 are configured to vertically hold the stimulable phosphor sheet 30 between them, and a photographing stand is provided on the side of the endless belts 2 and 3 (left side in the figure). A radiation source 42 such as an X-ray source is provided at a position facing the endless belts 2 and 3 with the imaging table 41 in between. A recording section 40 is configured. During radiography of the subject (subject) 43,
The sheet 30 used for imaging is held between the endless belts 2 and 3 as shown in the figure, and the sheet 30 is held between the endless belts 2 and 3,
The radiation source 4 is placed in front of the imaging table 41.
2 is activated. As a result, the transmitted radiation image of the subject 43 is projected onto the sheet 30, and the radiation image information of the subject 43 is stored and recorded on the sheet 30.

An image reading section 50 is provided at the lower right end position of the circulation passage 26 in the figure. This image reading section 50
A laser light source 51 is installed above the endless belt 8 that constitutes a part of the reading section 50, and a laser light source 51 is installed to scan the sheet 30 on the endless belt 8 with its output laser light 52 in the width direction of the sheet 30 on the endless belt 8. Mirror 53 and galvanometer mirror 5
4 is provided. By this reciprocating movement of the galvanometer mirror 54, the laser beam 52 is main-scanned over the sheet 30 on which the B radiation image has been accumulated and recorded. Note that this sheet 30 is used in the image recording section 4.
After the radiation image is recorded at 0, the sheet circulation conveyance means is driven and the sheet is conveyed to the image reading section 50. At the scanning position of the laser beam 52 on the sheet 30, a condensing reflecting mirror 55 and a condensing optical element 56 are arranged along the main scanning line. Stimulated luminescent light is emitted from the sheet 30 irradiated with the laser beam 52 and proceeds directly to the condensing optical element 56, and stimulated luminescence light is also emitted from the sheet 30 and proceeds directly to the condensing reflective mirror 55.
The stimulated luminescence light reflected by the light enters the condensing optical element 56 from the incident end surface 56A of the condensing optical element 56, and is guided through the condensing optical element 56 by total reflection.
The stimulated luminescent light is received by a photomultiplier 57 connected to the emission end surface 56B of the photoluminescent light, and the stimulated luminescence light is read out photoelectrically.
At the same time as the main scanning of the laser beam 52 is performed as described above, the sheet 30 is conveyed by the endless belt 8 in the direction of the arrow A in the figure (that is, the direction substantially perpendicular to the main scanning direction) to perform the sub-scanning. ,
The accumulated radiation image information is read over the entire surface of the sheet 30. The image signal S1 read by the photoprinter 57 is transmitted to an image processing circuit 60, subjected to necessary image processing, and then sent to a necessary image reproduction device 61. As mentioned above, 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 temporarily records data on a storage device such as a magnetic tape for that purpose.

The sheet 30 whose image has been read is conveyed along the guide plate 18 by the endless belts 9 and 10, and sent to the erasing section 70 through the nip roller 22, the guide plate 19, and the nip roller 23.
The erasing unit 70 consists of a box 71 and a large number of erasing light sources 72 such as fluorescent lights arranged inside the box 71. After the shutter 73 is opened, the sheet 30 is removed by the nip roller 23. Box 71
transported inside. When the sheet 30 is sent into the box 71, the shutter 73 is closed. Box 7
The erasing light source 72 in 1 mainly emits light in the excitation wavelength range of the stimulable phosphor of the sheet 30,
The radiation energy remaining in the sheet 30 after the image reading is emitted from the sheet 30 by irradiating the sheet 30 with such light. Note that since the shutter 73 is closed at this time, the erasing light does not leak and enter the image reading section 50 and generate noise in the read signal.

The sheet 30 in which the image (afterimage) has been erased to such an extent that radiation image information can be recorded again is
The nip roller 24 is rotated and the data is discharged to the outside of the erasing section 70. The discharged sheet 30 is placed on the guide plate 20
The image is then sent to the nip roller 25 through the nip roller 25, and then sent to the endless belt 1 along the guide plate 21 by the nip roller 25, and then sent to the image recording section 40 in the same manner as described above to be used for radiography.

As shown in FIG. 2, the sheet circulation conveying means 80 consisting of the endless belts 1 to 10 and the nip rollers 22 to 25 described above is connected to a conveying means driving power supply device 8 which is supplied with power from a commercial AC power source 86.
The control circuit 83 that controls the operation of the sheet circulating conveyance means 80 is operated by being supplied with DC current from the switch 82 from the AC power source 86 . Direct current is supplied from the switch 85 through the switch 85. Although omitted in FIG. 2, each element of the image recording section 40, image reading section 50, and erasing section 70 is also connected to the AC power source 86.
Drive power is supplied from.

The alternating current from the AC power supply 86 is supplied to the charging circuit 8.
7, is rectified in the charging circuit 87, and is connected to the battery 8 as a backup power source.
It is charged to 8,89. These batteries 88,
The direct current from 89 is connected to the switching device 82, respectively.
85. The alternating current from the AC power source 86 is also supplied to a power failure detection circuit 90, and when the supply of the alternating current is cut off due to a power outage, etc., the power failure detection circuit 90 detects the power supply stop and sends a switching signal S. Output.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the circulation passage 26 of the apparatus of this embodiment, there are a portion where the guide roller 11 is in contact with the endless belt 1, a portion where the guide roller 12 is in contact with the endless belt 6, and a portion where the guide roller 12 is in contact with the endless belt 7. The part in contact with the roller 13,
Bent portions are formed at a total of four locations where the endless belt 10 and the guide roller 14 are in contact. Therefore, for example, photoelectric sensors 91 and 9 are installed at these bent portions to detect the sheet 30, respectively.
Sheet detection signals output from these sensors 91 to 94 are input to the control circuit 83 as shown in FIG.

When alternating current is being normally supplied from the AC power supply 86, the switching devices 82 and 85 are set to supply direct current from the power supply devices 81 and 84 to the sheet circulating conveyance means 80 and the control circuit 83, respectively, As described above, the sheet circulating conveyance means 80 and the control circuit 83 are operated by this DC current. However, if a power outage occurs while the radiation image information recording/reading device is in operation, or if the AC plug is accidentally pulled out of the outlet, the AC power source 86
When the power supply stops, the power failure detection circuit 90 detects the power supply stoppage as described above, and sends a switching signal S to the switching devices 82 and 85. Switcher 82, 8
5 receives this switching signal, it is switched to a state in which direct current from batteries 88 and 89 is supplied to sheet circulating conveyance means 80 and control circuit 83, respectively. At this time, the switching signal S is also input to the control circuit 83, and upon receiving the switching signal S, the control circuit 83 checks the inputs from the sensors 91-94. And these sensors 91~
94, that is, if the sheet 30 remains stopped at any of the four bending portions, a drive signal is sent to the endless belt holding the sheet 30. to drive the endless belt. That is, for example, when a sheet detection signal is input from the sensor 91, the endless belt 1 is driven.

The endless belt driven as described above is stopped when the sheet 30 it has been holding is sent to the straight portion on the downstream side of the circulation path 26. That is, in the above example, the sheet 30 stops when it is fed at least to between the endless belts 2 and 3. In a radiation image information recording/reading device that uses the sheet 30 in circulation, an image recording section 40, an image reading section 50, an erasing section 70, and each of these sections are normally used to control each process such as image recording, image reading, and erasing. Since sheet detection sensors (not shown) are appropriately provided at the front and rear, etc., the stoppage of the endless belt can be controlled as described above by using the outputs from these sheet detection sensors. Also, without using such a sensor, sheet 3
The stopping of the endless belt can be controlled as described above even if the time for driving the endless belt to send out the zero from the bending part is set to a predetermined time using a timer or the like.

In the circuit of FIG. 2, the battery 88,
89 may be replaced by one battery, and this battery may be used for power supply to the sheet circulation conveyance means 80 and the control circuit 83, or the charging circuit 87 may be omitted and the power supply device 81 for driving the conveyance means may be used. Alternatively, the power supply device 84 for the control circuit can be connected to the batteries 88, 8.
It may also be used as the charging circuit of No. 9.

FIG. 3 shows an electric circuit of an apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention in which the sheet circulating conveyance means 80 is driven by alternating current. In this embodiment, the alternating current from the AC power supply 86 is supplied to the rectifier 1
00 to charge the battery 101, and the DC current from the battery 101 is reversely rectified by the inverter 102 and then connected to the switch 1.
03. Further, the switching device 103 is directly supplied with alternating current from the AC power source 86,
Normally, this alternating current is supplied to the control circuit power supply device 84.
and the sheet circulation conveyance means 80. The control circuit power supply device 84 rectifies the alternating current and supplies it to the control circuit 83, and the sheet circulating conveyance means 80 is operated by the alternating current. A power outage detection circuit 90 detects that the power supply from the AC power source 86 is stopped, and the power outage detection circuit 90
When the switching signal S is input from 0 to the switching device 103, this switching device 103 switches the battery 101
The state is switched to a state in which the direct current from the sheet circulation conveyance means 80 and the control circuit power supply device 84 are supplied. At this time, control of driving and stopping of the sheet circulation conveyance means 80 by the control circuit 83 is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and if there is a stimulable phosphor sheet at the bend of the circulation path,
The sheet is fed to a straight section of the circulation path.

FIG. 4 shows the electrical circuit of a third embodiment of the device of the present invention. The electric circuit in this third embodiment is changed from the electric circuit shown in FIG. 3 to the switch 1.
03 and the power-off detection circuit 90 are removed. The direct current obtained by rectifying the alternating current from the AC power supply 86 by the rectifier 100 is supplied to the battery 101 to be charged, and is reversely rectified by the inverter 102 to supply the sheet circulating conveyance means 80 and the power supply device for the control circuit. 84. When the power supply from the AC power supply 86 is stopped due to a power outage or the like, power is supplied from the battery 101 as a backup power supply to the sheet circulating conveyance means 80 and the control circuit power supply device 84 via the inverter 102, and the radiographic image information recording/reading device operates on the AC power supply. It operates in exactly the same way as before the power supply 86 was stopped. In other words, in this case, the stimulable phosphor sheet that has been stopped at the bend in the circulation path is not only discharged from the bend, but also continues to be circulated and subjected to image recording, image reading, or erasing. That is, the apparatus of this embodiment not only protects the stimulable phosphor sheet, but also has the advantage that it can continue recording and reading radiographic image information regardless of the interruption of power supply from the AC power source 86. On the other hand, in the device of this embodiment, the battery 1
As 01, a large capacity one is required. In order to reduce the capacity of this battery 101, the AC power supply 8
It is preferable to detect the stoppage of the power supply from 6 and display a message to that effect so that the device operator can stop using the device as soon as possible.

In the apparatuses of the first and second embodiments described above, the sheet circulation conveyance means 80 is stopped once the stimulable phosphor sheet 30 has been fed from the bending section to the straight section of the circulation path 26.
As batteries 88, 89, or 101, batteries of small capacity can be used.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained in detail above, according to the radiation image information recording/reading device of the present invention, when the power supply from the AC power supply is stopped due to a power outage, etc. Since the light sheet is quickly discharged from the bent portion, the sheet is not deformed or damaged due to continued bending, and its lifespan is reliably extended.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a first embodiment of the radiation image information recording/reading device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electric circuit of the device according to the embodiment, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are the second of the device of the present invention, respectively.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electric circuit according to an embodiment and a third embodiment. 1~10... Endless belt, 11~14...
...Guide roller, 15~21...Guide plate, 22~
25...Nitsupurora, 26...Circulation passage, 30
...Storage phosphor sheet, 40...Image recording section,
50... Image reading section, 70... Erasing section, 80...
Sheet circulation conveyance means, 81...Power supply device for driving the conveyance means, 83...Control circuit, 84...Power supply device for control circuit, 86...AC power supply, 88, 89, 10
1...Battery.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Circulating conveyance means for conveying a plurality of stimulable phosphor sheets capable of accumulating and recording radiographic image information along a predetermined circulation path including bent portions and straight portions; an image recording section that accumulates and records radiographic image information of the subject on the sheet by irradiating radiation through the subject; and in the circulation path, the image recording section accumulates and records the radiographic image information. an image reading unit comprising an excitation light source that emits excitation light that scans the sheet scanned by the excitation light; and a photoelectric reading unit that reads stimulated luminescence light emitted from the sheet scanned by the excitation light to obtain an image signal; In this case, the image reading unit includes an erasing unit that discharges residual radiation energy from the sheet before the image is recorded on the sheet after the image reading is performed in the image reading unit, and is powered by an AC power source. The operating radiation image information recording/reading apparatus includes a power-off detection means for detecting that the power supply from the AC power supply has stopped; and a power-off detection means for detecting that the power supply from the AC power supply has stopped. a backup power supply for supplying power to the circulating conveyance means; a sensor for detecting that the sheet is in the bending portion of the circulation passage; and an output of the sensor and the power failure detection means; A control circuit is provided for driving the circulation conveying means at least until the sheet is discharged from the bending part when the power supply from the AC power supply is stopped while the sheet is at the bending part. Radiation image information recording/reading device.