JPS6358435A - Erasing mechanism for storage type phosphor sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable thorough erasing of a residual radiation image by disposing a light source for erasing to the inside of a housing and forming light reflection layers to the motor driven fans for discharge and/or motor driven fans for suction themselves in the housing. CONSTITUTION:This mechanism has light sources 108a-108d for projection of the erasing light into the housing 102, the motor driven fans 110a, 110b for suction for introducing the external air into the housing 102 and the motor driven fans 112a-112d for discharge for discharging the hot air in the housing 102 to the outside. The inside wall part of the housing 102 is finished to a specular surface or the thin film or thin sheet for reflection is preliminarily adhered to the inside wall part, by which the reflection of the erasing light of the light sources 108a-108d is made effective. Namely, the projection light of the light sources 108a-108d is satisfactorily reflected in the housing 102 when the light sources are energized. The radiation image remaining on the sheet S is thereby thoroughly erased.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an erasing mechanism for a stimulable phosphor sheet. A light reflective layer is provided on the exhaust fan and/or intake fan for discharging the hot air generated inside the housing where the erase light source is installed to the outside. The present invention relates to an erasing mechanism for a stimulable phosphor sheet configured to effectively erase residual radiation image information using reflected light.

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a radiographic image information recording and reproducing system that obtains a radiographic image of a subject using a stimulable phosphor has been attracting attention.

Here, storage fluorophores are radiation (X-rays, α-rays, β-rays, γ-rays,
A phosphor that stores a portion of this radiation energy when irradiated with radiation (rays, ultraviolet rays, etc.) and then emits stimulated luminescence light corresponding to the accumulated energy by irradiating it with excitation light such as visible light. The radiation image information recording and reproducing system utilizes this stimulable phosphor, and the radiation image information of a subject such as a human body is stored on a sheet having a layer of stimulable phosphor (hereinafter referred to as a ``stimulable phosphor sheet''). ” or simply “sheet”
This stimulable phosphor sheet is scanned with excitation light such as a laser beam to generate stimulated luminescent light, and the resulting stimulated luminescent light is read photoelectrically to obtain an image signal. Based on this image signal, the radiation image of the subject is output as a visible image to a recording material such as a photographic light-sensitive material or a CRT. Note that this type of technology is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 55-12429, 56-11395, and the like.

By the way, in such a radiation image information recording and reproducing system, the stimulable phosphor sheet does not ultimately record the image information, but temporarily stores the radiation image information in order to provide an image to the recording medium as described above. This stimulable phosphor sheet may be used repeatedly, and it is extremely economical and convenient to use it repeatedly in this way.

Therefore, in order to reuse the stimulable phosphor sheet, the radiation energy remaining in the stimulable phosphor sheet after reading has been performed by irradiation with excitation light is released by irradiation with erasing light, and the residual radiation image is This stimulable phosphor sheet can be used again for radiographic image recording.Techniques for removing radiation energy remaining in the stimulable phosphor sheet are described, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-113
It is disclosed in No. 92.

In this case, since it is necessary to release all the radiation energy remaining in the stimulable phosphor sheet inside the erasing mechanism, an erasing irradiation light source with as much luminosity as possible is arranged, and based on this irradiation light, the Deleting residual images. However, in order for the light from this irradiation light source to completely erase the image remaining on the sheet in a short time, it is necessary to increase the number of light sources and the amount of light, which requires increasing the heat applied to the erasing mechanism. becomes excessive, and this heat may damage the eraser mechanism main body, sheet, and surrounding mechanisms. In order to avoid this, it is conceivable to provide the erasing mechanism with forced heat dissipation means such as a fan, but if the erasing mechanism is formed with a mirror finish or the like in order to increase the erasing efficiency,
By installing this forced heat dissipation means, the reflection area of the erasing light is reduced, and there is a concern that sufficient erasing light will not be irradiated onto the stimulable phosphor sheet with the afterimage, and complete erasure may not be achieved.

Therefore, in view of the above-mentioned inconvenience, the present applicant made the erasing mechanism box-shaped, installed a duct communicating with the outside in a part of this box, disposed a fan in this duct or part of the box, and We proposed an erasing unit in which a plate with a mirror finish is attached to cover the opening inside the housing that corresponds to the fan (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
-256139). Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to forcibly release the heat generated from the erasing light source inside the box to the outside while being energized by the fan, and to erase the remaining image without lowering the reflection efficiency of the erasing light. The advantage is that a possible erasing mechanism for stimulable phosphor sheets can be provided.

The present invention has been made regarding this type of erasing mechanism, and includes an erasing light source disposed inside a housing, an exhaust electric fan for forcibly cooling the inside of the housing, and/or an air intake. By forming a light-reflecting layer on the electric fan itself, it is possible to effectively ensure the reflection efficiency of erasing light with a simple configuration and completely erase residual radiation images. The purpose is to provide an erasing mechanism.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention irradiates a stimulable phosphor sheet on which a radiation image has been stored and recorded with excitation light to cause the radiation image to be emitted as stimulated luminescence light. In contrast to an image reading mechanism that reads photoelectrically, an erasing mechanism that erases an image remaining on the stimulable phosphor sheet by irradiating erasing light, the erasing mechanism including a housing,
An erasing light source is disposed inside the casing, and an electric exhaust fan and/or an electric intake fan for cooling the inside of the casing are provided, and a surface of the electric fan facing the light source is configured to reflect light. It is characterized by being constructed by forming layers.

Next, preferred embodiments of the erasing mechanism for a stimulable phosphor sheet according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, a radiation image information recording/reading apparatus in which an erasing mechanism according to the present invention is incorporated together with an image recording section and an image reading section will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 indicates an upright type radiation image information recording/reading device, and the device 10 has a first housing 12 extending in the vertical direction and a second housing 1 extending in the horizontal direction.
An image recording section (photographing section) 16 is disposed above the front surface of the first casing 12, which includes 4, and an operation section 18 is disposed above the side wall thereof. .

Next, the internal configurations of the first housing 12 and the second housing 14 will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

A pair of sheet receiving rollers 20 for receiving photographed sheets is disposed inside and below the image recording section 16, and below this pair of rollers 20 is a first guide member 22 and a pair of rollers corresponding to the guide member 22 and arranged vertically. A second guide member 24 extending in the direction is provided.

A third guide member 26 is further disposed below the first and second guide members 22, 24 via a pair of rollers. A pair of rollers is pivotally supported between the third guide member 26 and a fourth guide member 28 provided below. Furthermore, a pair of rollers is provided below the fourth guide member 28, and an endless first conveyor belt 30 that is bent at an internal corner of the first housing 12 is provided below the pair of rollers. The conveyor belt 30 terminates at the lower central portion of the second housing 14 . Next, an endless second conveyor belt 32 is disposed at a slight distance from the terminal end of the first conveyor belt 30. The second conveyor belt 32 is bent upward at a corner of the second casing 14, and a roller group 34 is disposed at the inner bend. An endless third conveyor belt 36 and a fourth conveyor belt 38 extend horizontally at a distance from the terminal end of the conveyor belt 32. An endless fifth conveyor belt 40 that is close to the terminal end of the fourth conveyor belt 38 and bends further upwards.
is provided. A roller group 42 is provided on one surface of the conveyor belt 40. Fifth conveyor belt 40 and roller group 42
A pair of opposing guide members 44 is further disposed above the guide member 44, and a guide member 46 is disposed above the guide member 44 via a pair of rollers. An erasing mechanism according to embodiment a is incorporated above the guide member 46. The details of this erasing mechanism will be described later.

A shorter guide member 48 is disposed above the erasing mechanism, and a guide member 50 is further disposed above the guide member 48. An endless bent sixth conveyor belt 52 is provided at the end of the guide member 50 . As can be understood from the figure, this conveyor belt 52 is located approximately at the top of the first housing 12. Since this conveyor belt 52 has a bending structure as described above, a roller group 54 is provided inside the conveyor belt 52.

Furthermore, a pair of rollers 56 and 58 are provided below the conveyor belt 52 and the roller group 54 to supply the stimulable phosphor sheet S to the photographing section 16.

The above is the basic configuration of the transport system for the stimulable phosphor sheet in the radiation image information recording/reading apparatus 10.

Next, a reading section arranged in relation to the transport system will be explained.

The reading section 62 includes a laser light source 64, and the laser light source 6
A mirror 68 for scanning the laser beam 66 on the sheet and a galvanometer mirror 7 are provided on the laser beam output side of No. 4.
0 and a condensing reflection mirror 72 are provided. moreover,
A light guide 74 is disposed along the main scanning line at the scanning position of the laser beam 66 on the sheet, and a photomultiplier 76 is mounted above the light guide 74.

Therefore, the erasing mechanism according to this embodiment is shown in FIG. 3 and subsequent figures. That is, in FIG. 3, reference numeral 100 indicates an erasing mechanism for the stimulable phosphor sheet, and this erasing mechanism 100 basically consists of a housing 102 and conveyors disposed at the upper and lower ends of the housing 102, respectively. means 104, 106 and said housing 1;
first to fourth light sources 108a to 108d for irradiating erasing light into the housing 102; and an electric intake fan 110a for introducing outside air into the housing 102;
10b, and electric exhaust fans 112a to 112d for discharging hot air inside the canister 102 to the outside. In this case, it is effective for the housing 102 to reflect the erasing light from the light sources 108a to 108d if its inner wall is mirror-finished or a reflective thin film or plate is attached to the inner wall. .

Openings 113a and 113b are formed in the housing 102 at positions corresponding to the transport means 104 and 106, respectively, and from the openings 113a to 113b, the housing 102
Guide members 114a and 114b are arranged in parallel inside (third
(see figure). A transport means 10 is provided outside the opening 113a.
A pair of nip rollers 116a, 116b constituting 4
are arranged so as to be surrounded by the first housing 117a so as to be in sliding contact with each other, while nip rollers 118a and 118b, which constitute the conveying means 104, are also provided in the opening 113b.
are surrounded by the second housing 117b so as to be in sliding contact with each other. Elastic members, ie, coil springs 120a and 120b, are suspended from the nip rollers 116b and 118b using the casings 117a and 117b, respectively, so that the nip roller 116b is forcibly suspended from the nip roller 116a, and the nip roller 118b is forcibly suspended from the nip roller 118a. Sliding contact.

Conveying means 104 and conveying means 1 formed in this way
Holes 122a and 122b corresponding to the opening 113a are formed in the casings 117a and 117b surrounding the opening 113a, respectively. Furthermore, a detection portion 128 of a microswitch 126 is in sliding contact with the nip roller 116b.

On the other hand, a motor 130 is fixed to the lower part of the housing 102, and a first sprocket 134 is fixed to a rotating wheel 132 of the motor 130. A chain 136 suspended from the first sprocket 134 meshes with a second sprocket 138 coaxially supported by the nip roller 116a, and extends further upward to engage a second sprocket 138 coaxially supported by the nip roller 118a. It also meshes with sprocket 140 of No. 3. The chain 136 further includes a fourth tensioning sprocket 14 disposed on the side wall of the housing 102.
2 and returns to the first sprocket 134.

A shaft 144 holding the fourth sprocket 142 is configured to be displaced within a long hole 148 of a holding member 146 fixed to the housing 102 to hold the chain 136 at an optimum tension.

The light sources 108a and 108d are installed on the front wall surface 152a and the rear wall surface 152b of the casing 102, respectively.
and 108b, 108c are fixed, and the through hole 15
4a and 154b are formed. Further, through holes 158a to 158d are formed in the side wall surface 156 of the housing 102, and the through holes 158a to 158d and the through holes 154a and 154b are formed in the side wall surface 156 of the housing 102.
Interposed are electric exhaust fans 112a to 112d and electric intake fans 110a and 110b, which are driven in synchronization with the activation of the light sources 108a to 108d. in this case,
The electric exhaust fans 112a to 112d and the electric intake fans 110a and 110b are specially designed.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the electric intake fan 11
The wings m160a to 160c constituting 0b have a housing 10
For example, mirror finish 162 is applied to the surface facing the inside of 2.
A to 162d are applied. Meanwhile, other electric fan 1
10a and 112a to 112d as well.
Although not shown, each surface facing the inside of 02 has a mirror finish. In addition, each electric fan 1L
- The purpose of giving Oa, 110b, and 112a to 112d a mirror finish is to improve the reflection efficiency of erasing light. Therefore, instead of the mirror finish, a light reflecting plate may be pasted or a light reflecting material may be deposited by vapor deposition. Alternatively, it may be painted.

Further, the four through holes 1 are provided on the outside of the side wall surface 156.
A duct member 164 having a rectangular cross section is connected such that the duct members 58a to 158d are converged at their base ends. The tip opening 166 of the duct member 164 has the first M
The radiation image information recording/reading device 1 penetrates the inside of the body 12.
0 (see FIGS. 2 and 3).

The radiation image information recording/reading device incorporating the stimulable phosphor sheet erasing mechanism according to the present invention is constructed as described above, and its operation and effects will be explained next.

When radiation is applied to a subject (not shown) on the imaging surface 60 of the image recording unit 16 and a radiation image of the subject is recorded on the stimulable phosphor sheet S, the stimulable phosphor sheet S
is conveyed to the reading section 62 via the roller pair 20, the guide members 24, 26, 28, and the conveyor belt 30, 32, 36. Under the driving action of the reading unit 62, the laser light 66 emitted from the laser light source 64 is reflected by the mirror 68 to reach the galvanometer mirror 70, and under the swinging action of the galvanometer mirror 70, the laser light 66 is directed to the sheet S.
Scan it above. Thereby, the stimulated luminescence light emitted from the sheet S is made to enter the light guide 74 either directly or by being reflected by the reflection mirror 72, and is converted into an electrical signal by the photomultiplier 76 and is sent to an image recording device, etc. send.

In this way, the stimulable phosphor sheet S from which the image signal has been read is transferred to the conveyor belt 38.
0 to the guide member 44, and then the guide member 4
6 to nip rollers 116a and 116b. That is, the sheet S introduced from the hole 122a is moved to the reguide member 114 by the nip rollers 116a and 116b.
a, leading to 114b. When the sheet S is sandwiched between the nip rollers 116a and 116b in this way, the nip roller 116b lifts the nip roller 116b against the tensile force of the coil spring 120a due to its thickness, and therefore the detection section 128 of the microswitch 126 detects this. This detection signal causes motor 1 to
As 30 rotates, chain 136 moves, and this movement of chain 136 causes second sprocket 138 to rotate. As mentioned above, since the second sprocket 138 is disposed coaxially with the rotating shaft of the nip roller 116a, the nip roller 116a rotating under the rotational action of the sprocket 138 simultaneously rotates the nip roller 116b that is in sliding contact with it, and during this time The sheet 150 introduced into the guide member 114a and the guide member 114b is led out.

The sheet S passes through the guide members 114a and 114b and reaches the third
Nip roller 1 rotating under the action of sprocket 140
18a, 118b, -Fplora 116b,
Since the sheet S separates from 116a, the nip roller 116b moves to the third position under the action of the coil spring 120a.
It is displaced in the direction of arrow A in the figure. As a result, the detection section 128 of the microswitch 126 is also displaced in the same direction.

Therefore, the displacement signal is sent to motor 130, causing it to rotate in the opposite direction. That is, the sheet S held by the nip rollers 118a and 118b
returns to the direction of nip rollers 116a and 116b,
The above-mentioned sea +-
When S is held again, the detection part 128 of the microswitch 126 is displaced again due to its thickness, and this displacement signal stops the motor 130. In this way sheet S
is held between nip rollers 116a, 116b and -1-7 rollers 118a, 118b.

Therefore, when the light sources 108a to 108d are energized, the irradiated light is sufficiently reflected inside the housing 102, and the radiation image remaining on the sheet S is completely erased. At this time,
In synchronization with the activation of the light sources 108a to 108d, the electric intake fans 110a and 110b and the electric exhaust fans 112a to 112d operate. For this reason, light source 1
The high-temperature air inside the housing 102 due to the heat generation from 08a to 108d flows as shown by arrow B in FIG.
The cold air flows into the air and is discharged to the outside through the duct member 162, and cold air is forcibly introduced into the interior of the housing 102. As a result, the inside of the housing 102 is forcibly cooled by the cooling air introduced through the respective electric intake fans 110a and 110b.

By the way, as described above, if the through holes 158a to 158d and 154a, 154b are provided in the side wall surface 156 and the front and rear walls 152a, 152b of the housing 102, the area of the reflective surface is reduced accordingly, and the reflection efficiency of the erasing light is improved. As a result, the original function of the erasing mechanism 100 will be impaired.

However, in this embodiment, the electric fans 112a to 112d and 110a, which are interposed in the respective through holes 158a to 158d and 154a, 154b,
110b, the portion facing the inside of the housing 102 is mirror-finished, as described above. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the electric fans 110a, 110b and 1128 to 112a themselves become reflective surfaces, and the
The residual radiation image on the sheet S can be completely erased by preventing a decrease in the reflection efficiency within the sheet S.

In this way, the erasing action is performed, and the light sources 108a to 1
After the energization of 08d has elapsed for a predetermined period of time, the motor 130 is turned on again.
is driven to move the chain 136, and the sheet S is held by the nip rollers 118a, 118b and transported toward the guide member 48. Since the residual image on the stimulable phosphor sheet S that has reached the guide member 48 has already been completely erased, even if it is fed to the image recording section 16 via the conveyor belt 52) roller pair 56, 58, the next There is no problem in taking radiographic images.

As described above, according to the present invention, the erasing mechanism for a stimulable phosphor sheet is constructed of a housing, a light source for erasing is disposed inside the housing, and the inside of the housing is cooled. A light reflecting layer is formed on an exhaust fan and/or an intake fan provided for this purpose. Therefore, the inside of the casing can be suitably cooled by forcibly exhausting the hot air generated inside the casing to the outside by the erasing light source. Moreover, since the fan itself has a light reflecting function, it is possible to further improve the reflection efficiency of erasing light within the housing without providing any special mechanism.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.
For example, a bed-type radiation image information recording/reading device, a so-called radiation image information reading device that has an image reading section and an erasing section and are configured separately from the image recording section, or a device designed solely for erasing residual images. The erasing mechanism can be used alone, or may be equipped with only an electric exhaust fan or an electric intake fan, and various other methods can be used without departing from the gist of the present invention. Of course, improvements and changes in design are possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a radiation image information recording/reading device, FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the device shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the erasing mechanism according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the erasing mechanism shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the erasing mechanism shown in FIG. 3. 10... Radiographic image information recording/reading device 12.14...
・Housing 18...Operation unit 60...Side shadow surface
62...Reading unit 64...Laser light source 76...Photomultiplier 100...Erasing mechanism 102 for stimulable phosphor sheet...
・Housing 104.106...Transporting means 108
a~108d...light source

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) For an image reading mechanism that irradiates a stimulable phosphor sheet on which a radiation image has been stored and recorded with excitation light to emit the radiation image as stimulated luminescence light, and photoelectrically reads this stimulated luminescence light. , an erasing mechanism for erasing an image remaining on the stimulable phosphor sheet by irradiation with erasing light, the erasing mechanism including a housing, an erasing light source disposed inside the housing, and a Accumulative fluorescence characterized in that an electric exhaust fan and/or an electric intake fan for cooling the inside of the body are provided, and a light reflecting layer is formed on the surface of the electric fan facing the light source side. Erasing mechanism for body sheets. (2) The erasing mechanism for a stimulable phosphor sheet according to claim 1, wherein the electric fan has a mirror-finished surface on the light source side. (3) In the erasing mechanism according to claim 1,
The electric fan has an erasing mechanism for the stimulable phosphor sheet, which consists of a reflective thin film or reflective thin plate attached to the light source side surface. (4) The erasing mechanism for a stimulable phosphor sheet according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the housing has at least a portion of its inner wall mirror-finished. (5) In the unit according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the housing is made of a stimulable phosphor comprising a reflective thin film or a reflective thin plate attached to at least a part of its inner wall. Erasing mechanism for sheets.