JPH0859038A - Carrying method for stimulable phosphor sheet and its device, and the same sheet used for the same carrying method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent a flaw and a stain from adhering to the surface of a sheet in carrying a stimulable phosphor sheet by driving rollers. CONSTITUTION: End parts 1a on both sides formed to the thickness of a sheet 1 are sandwichedly held on both the faces of the sheet 1 by four driving rollers 12, and a surface section 1b being the image recording domain of the sheet 1 is supported by two supporting rollers 11 being lower in hardness than the driving roller 12. The driving roller 12 is rotatingly driven round a shaft with the rotating driving shaft 13 to carry the sheet 1 in a direction shown by an arrow X, and the supporting roller 11 rotates idly to the driving shaft 13 for supporting the surface of the sheet 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for transporting a stimulable phosphor sheet, and a stimulable phosphor sheet used in this transport method. More specifically, the surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet is covered by a roller pair. The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for holding and carrying, and a stimulable phosphor sheet used in the carrying method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A part of this radiation energy is accumulated when it is irradiated with radiation, and when it is subsequently irradiated with excitation light such as visible light or laser light, a stimulable phosphor showing stimulated emission according to the accumulated radiation energy. (Stimulable phosphor)
A sheet of stimulable phosphor laminated on a support, on which radiation image information of a subject such as a human body is stored and recorded, scans excitation light to generate stimulated emission light. Then, the obtained stimulated emission light is photoelectrically read to obtain an image signal, while the stimulable phosphor sheet after reading the image signal is irradiated with the erasing light to release the radiation energy remaining in this sheet. Radiation image readers are already well known.

The image signal obtained by this device includes
After that, image processing such as gradation processing and frequency processing suitable for observation and interpretation is performed, and the image signal after this processing is recorded on the film as a visible image for diagnosis, or high-definition CR.
It is displayed on T and used for diagnosis. On the other hand, the erasing allows the stimulable phosphor sheet to be used repeatedly.

In such a radiation image reading apparatus, when the image information is read from the stimulable phosphor sheet on which the image information is recorded, or the stimulable phosphor sheet after the image information is read is used as an erasing section or the like. At the time of transportation, the stimulable phosphor sheet is sandwiched from both sides by a pair of drive rollers formed of an elastic material such as rubber, and the sheet is transported in a predetermined direction.

[0005]

However, this drive roller pair is formed of a material having a relatively small amount of elastic deformation, that is, a material having a high hardness, in order to ensure conveyance accuracy.
The frictional force with the surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet causes scratches and stains on the sheet surface to which the roller adheres, and the scratches and stains become an obstacle in image reading and the like.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a conveying method and a conveying method for preventing scratches and dirt from adhering to the surface of a stimulable phosphor sheet when the stimulable phosphor sheet is conveyed by a pair of driving rollers. An object of the present invention is to provide a stimulable phosphor sheet used in an apparatus and a transportation method.

[0007]

According to the method of transporting a stimulable phosphor sheet of the present invention, both end portions of a stimulable phosphor sheet formed with a thickness thicker than an image recording area are used as a sheet. While holding the sheet by the pair of drive rollers from the both sides of the sheet to convey the sheet in the direction in which both side end portions extend, the surface of the sheet, which is the image recording area, is supported by a support roller having a hardness lower than that of the pair of drive rollers. To do.

Here, the drive roller pair constitutes a pair 2
At least one of the two rollers means a roller pair having a rotational driving force, and both rollers may have a driving force if necessary.

Further, the driving roller pair does not extremely deform due to the load that presses the stimulable phosphor sheet when the stimulable phosphor sheet is conveyed, and the drive roller pair hardly accumulates with the sheet. It should have a hardness that allows the phosphor sheet to be accurately conveyed.

Furthermore, the hardness lower than that of the drive roller pair means a hardness that does not damage the surface of the sheet, and the supporting force of the supporting roller with respect to the stimulable phosphor sheet causes the sheet to bend. It suffices to prevent it from peeling. It should be noted that the sheet may be supported by supporting at least one surface so as to prevent the sheet from bending at least, and may adopt a mode in which both surfaces of the sheet are supported together as necessary.

The stimulable phosphor sheet conveying apparatus of the present invention is an apparatus used in the above-mentioned conveying method, wherein both sides of the stimulable phosphor sheet are formed thicker than the image recording area. It is provided with a drive roller pair that holds the end portion from both sides of the sheet and conveys the sheet in a direction in which both side end portions extend, and a support roller that is lower in hardness than the drive roller pair that supports the image recording area of the sheet. It is characterized by that.

Here, the drive roller pairs may be arranged at respective positions corresponding to both side ends of the stimulable phosphor sheets having different sizes, and in this case, for each of the stimulable phosphor sheets having different sizes from each other. However, it is possible to accurately convey the sheet and prevent the surface of the sheet from being scratched or soiled.

At least one of the two rollers forming the drive roller pair and the support roller may have the same rotation axis. In such a structure, when the roller having the driving force and the supporting roller of the driving roller pair are rotatably supported on the same rotating shaft, the supporting roller needs to be rotatably supported on the rotating shaft. Is. This is the roller that has the driving force (driving roller)
Contacts the thick portion of the sheet, and the support roller contacts the image recording area of the sheet, that is, the thin sheet surface, so when these rollers rotate about the same rotation axis, the radius of the drive roller is less than the radius of the drive roller. It is necessary to set the radius of the supporting roller to a large value, and if the peripheral speeds on the peripheral surfaces of the rollers are different, slippage occurs on the peripheral surface of one of the rollers, and especially when slippage occurs on the support roller, the sheet surface This is because it will cause scratches and stains on the surface.

Further, it is more preferable that the load applied to the driving roller pair for holding the both end portions of the stimulable phosphor sheet be separately applied for each driving roller pair. Then, for example, when one of the plurality of driving roller pairs is worn earlier than the other rollers, or when the plurality of driving rollers arranged corresponding to the above-mentioned stimulable phosphor sheets having different sizes are arranged. When a load is applied to the roller pair, it is possible to prevent the applied load from becoming uneven for each drive roller pair.

The stimulable phosphor sheet of the present invention is a stimulable phosphor sheet used in the above-mentioned conveying method, and only both side edges extending in the conveying direction are formed thick with respect to the image recording area. It is characterized by.

Here, "thick" means that both sides of the sheet are projected outward from the surface.

[0017]

According to the stimulable phosphor sheet transporting method and device of the present invention, both side edges of the stimulable phosphor sheet, which are thickly formed, are strongly held by a pair of drive rollers having high hardness. Since the stimulable phosphor sheet and the drive roller pair do not slip, the drive roller pair is excessively elastically deformed while the stimulable phosphor sheet is held. As a result, it is possible to prevent unevenness in transport speed and errors, and it is possible to ensure the same precision as conventional transport precision. Further, since the drive roller does not come into contact with the non-thick portion, that is, the surface of the sheet on which the image information is accumulated and recorded, contact with the drive roller does not cause scratches or stains on the surface.

Further, the thickly formed portions are only the both side end portions of the sheet, and the front end portion and the rear end portion in the conveying direction have the same thickness as the area other than the both side end portions which are the image recording areas. Therefore, when the front edge of the stimulable phosphor sheet passes through the supporting roller, the impact of this roller riding on the sheet can be made smaller than that in the case where the front edge of the sheet is made thick, The durability of the supporting roller and the sheet can be improved. Further, in the case where the thick portion is provided at the front end portion of the sheet, the supporting roller is shockedly lowered from the thick portion at the front end portion to the thin image recording area as the sheet is conveyed. According to the invention, since there is no such thick portion at the front end portion of the sheet, it is possible to improve the durability of the sheet without causing scratches or the like in the image recording area due to the impacting lowering of the roller.

Further, it is conceivable that the stimulable phosphor sheet is bent by its own weight only by sandwiching and supporting both end portions of the stimulable phosphor sheet only by the drive roller pair. According to this, since the surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet is supported by the support roller, the sheet does not bend, and since the support roller is formed by a roller having low hardness, the surface of the sheet that is the image recording area is No scratches or dirt will adhere.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The stimulable phosphor sheet conveying apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a stimulable phosphor sheet 1 used in a sheet conveying device 10 of this embodiment. The illustrated stimulable phosphor sheet 1 has both end portions extending in the long side direction.
1a is formed thickly with respect to the surface portion 1b which is the image information recording area. When the surface portion 1b is irradiated with radiation, a part of this radiation energy is accumulated, and after that, when it is irradiated with excitation light such as visible light or laser light, a stimulable phosphor layer showing stimulated emission according to the accumulated radiation energy. And a transparent support layer that supports the phosphor layer and transmits the stimulated emission light so that the stimulated emission light can be read from both sides.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a main part of a radiation image reading apparatus using the sheet conveying apparatus 10 of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a section taken along line II shown in FIG. The illustrated radiation image reading apparatus includes a laser light source 51 that emits laser light L having a predetermined wavelength, a rotating mirror 53 that reflects and deflects the emitted laser light L, and an excitation light that includes a motor 52 that rotationally drives the rotating mirror 53. Light guides 54, 56 provided on both sides of the irradiation system and the stimulable phosphor sheet 1, respectively, for concentrating the stimulated emission light M emitted from each surface, and amplifying the condensed stimulated emission light M. An image reading system including photomultipliers (hereinafter referred to as PMTs) 55 and 57 that perform photoelectric conversion, and a sheet conveyance that conveys a stimulable phosphor sheet (hereinafter referred to as a sheet) 1 in the long side direction (arrow X direction). This is a configuration including the device 10.

More specifically, the sheet conveying device 10 holds four side end portions 1a formed in the thickness of the sheet 1 from both sides of the sheet 1 and conveys the sheet 1 in the arrow X direction. 12 and two supporting rollers 11 that support the surface portion 1b of the sheet 1 from both sides of the sheet 1 and that have lower hardness than the driving roller 12, and the conveying device 10 is provided at the front and rear portions of the sheet 1. One set is provided for each. Two drive rollers 12 and one support roller on one side
The drive shaft 13 is a common rotary shaft with 11, and the drive shaft 13 is rotationally driven around the shaft by a rotary drive means (not shown). The drive roller 12 rotates about the axis as the drive shaft 13 rotates, and the support roller 11 is rotatably supported by the bearing 11a so as to be rotatable with respect to the drive shaft 13. The force with which the drive roller 12 holds the sheet 1 is due to an urging force such as a spring force that presses the sheet 1 applied to both ends of the drive shaft 13 as shown in FIG. The driving roller 12 strongly presses both side end portions 1a of the sheet 1 by this biasing force, and sandwiches the side end portion of the sheet 1 by a pair of upper and lower driving roller pairs, while the supporting roller 11 bends the sheet 1. It comes into contact with the surface with enough force to prevent.

The drive roller 12 has a hardness of 70
The rubber material of the degree (according to JIS K6301 A type tester) and the support roller 11 are made of a material such as sponge.

Next, the operation of the radiation image reading apparatus of this embodiment will be described.

Sheet 1 on which radiation image information is stored and recorded
On the other hand, a laser light L is emitted from a laser light source 51, and the emitted laser light L is deflected in a predetermined direction by a rotary mirror 53 that is driven to rotate at a high speed by a motor 52. Irradiate. At this time, the rotating mirror 53
Laser light L causes the stimulable phosphor sheet 1 to rotate,
Main scanning is performed substantially parallel to the short side direction of the sheet 1. On the other hand, the sheet 1 is moved (sub-scanning) in the direction of the arrow X by the sheet conveying device 10, and the main scanning and the sub-scanning are combined to uniformly irradiate the laser beam L on the entire surface of the sheet 1.

Here, the drive shaft 13 of the sheet conveying device 10 is rotated about its axis by a rotation drive means such as a motor (not shown), and the drive roller 12 is driven to rotate integrally with the drive shaft 12 to form a drive roller 12. The sheet 1 is moved in the arrow X direction by the frictional force generated between the sheets.

At this time, the drive roller 12 does not come into contact with the surface portion 1b of the sheet 1, so that the contact with the drive roller 1 does not cause scratches or stains on this area.
Further, the support roller 11 is driven by friction with the sheet 1 which is moved in the arrow X direction while being in contact with the surface portion 1b of the sheet 1.
Since it runs idle with respect to 13 and does not slip on the surface portion 1b of the sheet 1, no scratches or stains are attached to the surface portion 1b of the sheet 1. Further, since the driving roller 12 is made of a material having a high hardness and a small elastic deformation amount, the conveyance accuracy is not deteriorated.

From the image recording area of the sheet 1 irradiated with the laser beam L, stimulated emission light M having a light amount corresponding to the accumulated and recorded radiation image information is emitted from both sides of the sheet 1 and The guides 54 and 56 collect the stimulated emission light M emitted from each surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet 1, respectively. The stimulated emission light M focused on the light guides 54 and 56 is P
The PMTs 55 and 57 are transmitted to the MTs 55 and 57, and the PMTs 55 and 57 amplify the stimulated emission light M, respectively, and the front side image signal S, respectively.
1, photoelectric conversion to the back side image signal S2 and output to an external signal processing device.

As described above, according to the sheet conveying apparatus of this embodiment used in the radiation image reading apparatus shown in FIG. 2, scratches and dirt are attached to the surface portion of the stimulable phosphor sheet by the drive roller having high hardness. It is possible to accurately convey the sheet without doing so.

The stimulable phosphor sheet conveying apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the one used in the radiation image reading apparatus which requires extremely high conveying accuracy as in the above embodiment, and the sheet conveying apparatus is not limited to this. It can be used for any device or instrument that requires.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the stimulable phosphor sheet conveying apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a II-I shown in FIG.
It is sectional drawing which shows the I line cross section. The illustrated sheet conveying device 20
Is configured so that the stimulable phosphor sheet 1 shown in FIG. 1 and the stimulable phosphor sheet 2 having a size larger than the stimulable phosphor sheet 1 can be separately conveyed.

That is, a drive roller 22a which is rotated integrally with a drive shaft 23 which is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown),
22b and 22c are arranged at positions respectively corresponding to the both-sided end portions 1a of the small-sized sheet 1 and the two-sided end portions 2a of the large-sized sheet 2, respectively, The supporting rollers 21a and 21b are arranged at positions corresponding to the front surface portion 1b of the small-sized sheet 1 and the front surface portion 2b of the large-sized sheet 2, respectively. The front surface 1b is supported from both sides by the supporting rollers 21a while being held by the driving rollers 22a and 22b from both sides of the sheet (FIG. 5 (B)), and both side end portions 2a of the large-sized sheet 2 are driven from both sides of the sheet 2. The surface portion 2b is supported from both sides by support rollers 21a and 21b while being held by 22a and 22c (Fig. 5).
(A)).

The drive rollers 22a, 22b and 22c and the support rollers 21a and 21b are the drive roller 12 shown in FIG.
It is similar to the support roller 11. Drive roller
22a, 22b and 22c rotate integrally with the drive shaft 23, and the support roller 11 is made of a material having a hardness lower than that of the drive roller 22a and the like, and is rotatable with respect to the drive shaft 23.
However, in the figure, the support rollers 21a and 21b are connected to the drive shaft 23
The description of the bearing for making it freely rotatable is omitted.

Storage phosphor sheet conveying device 20 of the present embodiment
According to the above, since the drive roller and the support roller are arranged in advance at the position of the drive shaft 23 corresponding to the positions of both side end portions which are different for each size of the stimulable phosphor sheet to be conveyed,
The stimulable phosphor sheets having different sizes can be conveyed by one device.

When, for example, the drive shaft is biased toward the seat in order to hold both end portions of the seat, only the both end portions of the drive shaft 23 are biased by the biasing means 25 as shown in FIG. 6 (A).
It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the a and 25b are urged, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (B), each drive roller 22a, 22b, 22c is driven by another drive shaft 23, and both side portions of each drive shaft 23 are biased by the biasing means 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e, twenty five
It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which each is biased by f. However, when a small size sheet 1 is conveyed as shown in FIG. 6, if a biasing force is applied only to both ends of the drive shaft 23,
The urging force applied to the drive roller 22a and the urging force applied to the drive roller 22b become non-uniform, and a difference occurs in the drive force acting on the two side end portions 1a of the sheet 1, so that the sheet 1 moves in the arrow X direction. There is a risk of being bent and conveyed in a direction deviating from (Fig. 4). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6B, each drive shaft 23
However, it is desirable to adopt a configuration in which both side portions of each drive roller 22a, 22b, 22c are individually biased. Support roller
It is not necessary to apply a biasing force to 21a and 21b, so it is sufficient to support them on a fixed shaft.

As a method of applying this biasing force, FIG.
Drives 22a, 22b, 22 on both sides of the sheet 1 as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 7 (A) and 7 (B), the biasing force is applied only to the drive roller on one surface side of the sheet 1 (the upper side of the sheet in FIG. 7), not limited to the configuration of c. The driving roller on the other side (the lower side of the sheet in the figure) may be fixed in the sheet sandwiching direction. In this case, the drive roller on the side to which the urging force is applied (the upper side of the sheet) does not necessarily have to have the drive force, so that it can be rotated around the axis and the side fixed to the clamping direction (the lower side of the sheet). It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which only the driving roller of) is driven.

Furthermore, the drive roller and the support roller are not limited to those configured coaxially, and for example, as shown in FIG. 8, the drive roller 32 and the support roller 41 are respectively separated by separate shafts 33 and 43. A supporting structure may be adopted. When this configuration is adopted, the drive system 30 including the shaft 30 and the drive roller 32 needs to be rotationally driven around the shaft in order to convey the sheet 1, but the support system including the shaft 43 and the support roller 41. 40 may be rotationally driven or may not be rotationally driven as long as the support roller 41 is rotatable. However, when the support system 40 is driven to rotate, the moving speed of the sheet 1 moved in the arrow X direction by the drive roller 32 and the peripheral speed of the support roller 41 are made to coincide with each other, and the surface of the sheet 1 and the support roller 41 are There must be no slippage between them.

Further, in each embodiment, it is not always necessary to provide the supporting rollers on both sides of the sheet, but it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the supporting roller is provided at least only on the side for preventing the sheet from bending due to its own weight or the like.

In the sheet conveying apparatus of each of the above-described embodiments, at least the front end portions of both side end portions 1a of the sheet 1 are arranged so that the front end portion of the sheet can smoothly enter between the two driving rollers that should hold the sheet. Slope 1c due to chamfering
It may be. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, by forming the front end portions of both side end portions 1a of the sheet 1 into inclined surfaces 1c, when the sheet 1 enters between the upper and lower drive rollers 12, both side end portions 1a of the sheet 1 are inserted. It is possible to reduce the impact between the drive roller 12 and the drive roller 12, and the sheet 1 and the drive roller 12 can be mitigated.
12 durability can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a stimulable phosphor sheet used in a sheet conveying device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a main part of a radiation image reading apparatus using the sheet conveying apparatus according to the first embodiment.

3 is a sectional view showing a section taken along line I-I shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the stimulable phosphor sheet conveying device of the present invention.

5 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section taken along line II-II shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view (1) showing the arrangement of biasing means,
(A) A structure arranged only on both ends of the drive shaft, (B) A structure arranged on both sides of each drive roller

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view (2) showing the arrangement of the biasing means,
(A) A structure arranged only on both ends of the shaft on one side of the sheet, and (B) a structure arranged on both sides of each drive roller on the one side of the sheet

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a configuration in which a drive roller and a support roller are rotatably supported by respective separate shafts.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an example of a stimulable phosphor sheet in which a front end portion and a rear end portion of both side end portions are inclined surfaces.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Storable phosphor sheet 1a Edge (thick part) 1b Surface (image information recording area) 10 Sheet transport device 11 Support roller 12 Drive roller 13 Drive shaft

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A sheet of a stimulable phosphor sheet having only both side edges thickly formed with respect to an image recording area, by sandwiching the both side edges of the sheet with drive roller pairs from both sides of the sheet. Is conveyed in a direction in which the both side ends extend, and the image recording area is supported by a supporting roller having a hardness lower than that of the drive roller pair. 2. A sheet of a stimulable phosphor sheet having only two side edges thickly formed with respect to an image recording area, and the both side edges of the sheet are sandwiched between both sides of the sheet so that the sheet has both side edges. A stimulable phosphor sheet conveyance device comprising: a drive roller pair that conveys in the direction in which the portion extends and a support roller that supports the image recording area and that has a lower hardness than the drive roller pair. 3. The stimulable phosphor sheet transport according to claim 2, wherein the drive roller pair is provided at each position corresponding to the both side ends of the stimulable phosphor sheets having different sizes. apparatus. 4. At least one of the two rollers forming the drive roller pair and the support roller have the same rotation shaft, and the support roller is rotatably supported with respect to the rotation shaft. The stimulable phosphor sheet conveying device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein 5. The load applied to the drive roller pair that holds both side ends of the stimulable phosphor sheet is applied separately for each drive roller pair. The stimulable phosphor sheet conveying device according to any one of the above. 6. The stimulable fluorescent sheet used in the method for transporting a stimulable phosphor sheet according to claim 1, wherein only both side edges extending in the transport direction are formed thicker than the image recording area. Body sheet.