KR101712357B1 - Multiple radiography device - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a multiplex radiography device. The multiplex radiography device comprises: a radiation emission unit to emit radiation to a subject to be inspected; two or more scintillators arranged in series and in order in a direction of the radiation penetrating the subject to be inspected, and emitting light by correcting the radiation penetrating the subject to be inspected; two or more mirrors located on a route of the light which each scintillator emits, and located right next to each scintillator in the direction of the radiation, wherein a reflection surface of each mirror is inclined in a direction of light radiated such that each mirror changes a route of the light in an angle of 0-90 degrees; and two or more light receiving units receiving the light in which the route is changed by being reflected from each mirror.

Description

[0001] MULTIPLE RADIOGRAPHY DEVICE [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-radio apparatus, and more particularly, to a multi-radio apparatus capable of obtaining a high-resolution image.

Radiography is a method of inspecting the internal structure or defects of a subject by irradiating radiation, recording the transmission chart on a film, and displaying the shape and internal density nonuniformity of the inside of the subject in terms of the difference in transmittance.

A typical radiographic apparatus is shown in FIG. In the conventional radiographic apparatus, the radiation passes through the object (OBJECT) and then advances toward the scintillator. The radiation reacts with the scintillator to cause the scintillator (200) to emit light, and the light from the scintillator Is reflected on a mirror (MIRROR) located behind the scintillator so that a portion of the radiation is redirected in a 90 degree angle and then received by an image sensor (CCD), which is configured to produce an image.

Such a conventional radiographic apparatus is configured such that radiation reacts with the scintillator once to obtain an image, and when the radiation reacts with the scintillator, the entire radiation does not react with the scintillator, and only a part of the radiation reacts with the scintillator There was a problem that the radiation not used was wasted, and it was difficult to obtain a high resolution image.

On the other hand, neutrons, X-rays, and gamma-rays are used for obtaining images through a radiographic apparatus. Neutrons and X-rays are widely used in radiographic apparatuses, and gamma rays are less useful than neutrons and X-rays.

In the case of neutrons, thermal neutrons and fast neutrons are used. However, in the case of high-speed neutrons, the reactivity with the scintillator is low due to high energy, so that the neutrons pass through the scintillator There is a problem in that it can not be converted into a good quality. Therefore, it is difficult to use the high-speed neutrons in the radiography apparatus.

Neutron and X-ray differs depending on the material. Neutrons are known to be well permeable to metal-based materials, and X-rays are known to be well permeable to resin-based materials. Therefore, if the constituent of the object is made of metal or resin, it is necessary to react the neutron with the scintillator once to obtain the image, and to react with the scintillator once to obtain the image. do.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for acquiring a plurality of images through reaction of continuous radiation and a scintillator without reacting with a single scintillator and without waste of progressive radiation, And to provide a multi-radio apparatus.

The present invention also relates to a method and apparatus for measuring the internal shape of a subject without the limitation of the material of the subject by means of two or more different scintillators which project two or more different radiation onto the subject and react with each type of radiation transmitted through the subject The present invention provides a multi-radio apparatus capable of obtaining a high-resolution image that is clearly expressed.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a radiographic apparatus comprising: a radiation projection means for projecting radiation to a subject; Two or more scintillators arranged in series in the progress direction of the radiation transmitted through the test object and receiving radiation transmitted through the test object to emit light; Wherein each of the mirrors has a path of light emitted by each of the scintillators between 0 degrees and 90 degrees, and wherein each of the mirrors has a path of light emitted from each of the scintillators, Wherein the mirror surface of each of the mirrors is inclined with respect to a direction of the emitted light so as to be changed; And two or more light receiving units for receiving the light reflected from each of the mirrors.

The subject means an object which needs to acquire an internal image through radiation.

The projection means means means for emitting radiation including X-rays,? -Rays or neutron rays. It is capable of emitting two or more different types of radiation and emitting a single radiation.

The scintillator means a means for receiving radiation to emit visible light. The present invention is characterized in that two or more such scintillators are sequentially arranged in series. Part of the radiation incident on the scintillator is reacted by the scintillator to emit light, and the radiation that has not reacted continues to enter the scintillator sequentially positioned.

Mirror means a means to reflect light. In the present invention, it is used as a means for reflecting the light emitted by the scintillator. It is used to change the visible light from the path of the visible light emitted by the scintillator and the radiation transmitted through the scintillator to an angle of about 45 degrees. Wherein the separated visible light is received by the light receiver for image acquisition of the subject and the separated radiation is configured to sequentially and sequentially emit light by the next scintillator.

Photoreceptors are means such as cameras that can receive light and record images.

The radiation of the present invention is characterized by being a fast neutron having an energy of 0.5 MeV or more. High-speed neutrons have high transparency and have a disadvantage of lowering the resolution of images, which makes it difficult to use them in a radiographic apparatus. The present invention provides a configuration capable of using such a high-speed neutron. It is possible to improve the disadvantages of the low resolution of the high-speed neutrons by combining multiple images from two or more sequentially arranged scintillators and merging them into one high-resolution image.

As an example, each of the scintillators may be the same scintillator. The same scintillators are arranged in series to allow the neutrons to react sequentially with the scintillators in a cascade manner so that neutrons that have not reacted with the scintillator, such as fast neutrons, So that a high-resolution image can be obtained.

The image processor may further include an image processor that sequentially receives the visible rays emitted from the scintillator in response to the scintillator, respectively, and receives the images, and merges the obtained images to generate a high-resolution image of the subject.

All or a portion of the scintillator may include a conversion filter capable of attenuating the radiation energy on the radiation incident path to the scintillator, and the conversion filter may be disposed on each of the scintillators disposed along the direction of radiation advance It can be configured such that a small amount of energy is incident sequentially. The conversion filter is intended to increase the reaction rate with the scintillator by lowering the energy of the high-speed neutrons, so that a small amount of energy is incident on the scintillator from the conversion filter, and a smaller amount of energy is incident on the scintillator disposed on the rear side Make the most of high-speed neutrons.

As another example, the radiation may comprise two or more different types of radiation, the scintillators including a scintillator responsive to the different types of radiation, wherein the multi-neutron radiography comprises imaging the respective images Resolution image of the subject to be combined to generate a high-resolution image of the subject. The radiation characteristics of the radiation depend on the characteristics of the material. For example, in the case of X-rays, it is difficult to transmit metals such as iron, but resin-based materials pass well. In the case of neutrons, resin-based materials can not penetrate relatively well, By using these various types of radiation simultaneously to obtain an image of the subject, the internal image of the subject can be obtained without any restriction on the characteristics of the internal material. The radiation may include, for example, two or more of X-rays, gamma rays and neutrons.

Figure 1 is a diagram of a conventional radiographic apparatus.
2 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of a multi-radio apparatus according to the present invention.
3 is a view for explaining another embodiment of the multi-radio apparatus according to the present invention.
4 is a view for explaining another embodiment of the multi-radio apparatus according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, a multi-radio apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention is capable of various modifications and various forms, and specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the text. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. Like reference numerals are used for like elements in describing each drawing. In the accompanying drawings, the dimensions of the structures are enlarged to illustrate the present invention in order to clarify the present invention.

The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as a first component.

The terminology used in this application is used only to describe a specific embodiment and is not intended to limit the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this application, the terms "comprises", "having", and the like are used to specify that a feature, a number, a step, an operation, an element, a part or a combination thereof is described in the specification, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the contextual meaning of the related art and are to be interpreted as either ideal or overly formal in the sense of the present application Do not.

2 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of a multi-radio apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the multi-radio apparatus of the present invention includes a radiation projection unit 100, two or more scintillators 200, two or more mirrors 300, and two or more light receiving units 400.

The radiation projecting means 100 is a device for projecting the radiation to the inspected object 10. For example, the radiation projecting unit 100 may be a neutron source for irradiating a neutron or an X-ray source for irradiating an X-ray, a gamma ray, Ray sources for irradiating the charged particle beam to the surface of the substrate.

A scintillator means a means for emitting visible light by receiving radiation. More specifically, when the radiation is incident, the scintillator 200 excites atoms or molecules by interaction with radiation and scintillator-constituting atoms, and excites the energy when the excited atoms and molecules return to their original state . These scintillators 200 are arranged in two or more in the present invention, and the two or more scintillators 200 are arranged in series in the progress direction of the radiation transmitted through the inspected body 10, And emits light.

The two or more mirrors 300 change the path of light emitted by each scintillator 200 to between 0 and 90 degrees. For this purpose, two or more mirrors 300 are located on the path of light emitted by each scintillator 200, and each of the mirrors 300 is located immediately behind each scintillator 200 in the direction of the radiation, The reflecting surface of the mirror 300 is inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the direction of the light emitted by each scintillator 200. [ The two or more mirrors 300 are arranged in the same number as the two or more scintillators 200.

The two or more light receiving sections 400 receive light whose path is changed by reflecting from each of the mirrors 300. The two or more light receiving sections 400 include an image sensor (CCD). As an example, the at least two light receiving portions 400 may be a camera including an image sensor.

In the present invention, a collimator 500 may be disposed between the radiation projection device 100 and the inspected object 10. The collimator 500 allows the radiation projected and emitted by the radiation projection means 100 to proceed in a straight line.

In addition, the shielding agent 600 may be disposed in front of the light receiving portion 400 located at the front of the two or more light receiving portions 400. By disposing the shielding agent 600, it is possible to shield radiation that can be propagated in the direction toward the light receiving portion 400. [

Meanwhile, the multi-radio apparatus of the present invention includes an image processor 700 that merges images obtained from two or more light receiving units 400, respectively, and the image processor 700 combines the obtained images to obtain a high- Create an image. To this end, the image processor 700 is electrically connected to each light receiving portion 400).

In the present invention, the radiation projection device 100 may be configured to project radiation of at least one type of X-ray, gamma ray () and neutron to the subject 10, and the two or more scintillators 200 And a scintillator 200 capable of responding to each type of radiation projected onto the inspected object 10 through the radiation projection device 100. Hereinafter, embodiments according to one radiation type and two or more different radiation types will be described in detail.

Example  One

In the first embodiment, a case where the radiation projection device 100 projects one type of radiation onto the subject 10 will be described as an example. In the following description, Fig. 1 is referred to, unless otherwise specified.

The radiation projected onto the subject 10 through the radiation projection device 100 may be a fast neutron having an energy of 0.5 MeV or more.

In this case, the two or more scintillators 200 sequentially arranged in series in the traveling direction of the fast neutrons transmitted through the inspected object 10 are of the same type capable of reacting with the high-speed neutrons transmitted through the inspected object 10 to emit light The scintillator 200 of FIG. For example, the scintillator 200 may be an inorganic scintillator. There is no particular limitation on the kind of the inorganic scintillator which reacts with the high-speed neutron to emit light, and may be, for example, a LiI (Eu) scintillator.

When the fast neutron transmitted through the subject 10 in the first embodiment is incident on the scintillator 200 located immediately after the subject 10, a part of the high-speed neutrons is located at a position immediately after the subject 10, The fast neutrons which have not reacted with each other react with the scintillators 200 in succession. That is, the high-speed neutrons are sequentially passed through two or more sequentially arranged scintillators 200 in a cascade manner. In this process, the high-speed neutron energy is gradually decreased, and as the high-speed neutron energy is decreased, the reaction rate with the high-speed neutron is improved in the scintillator 200 located farther away from the subject 10.

The fast neutron reacts with each scintillator 200 and the light emitted by the scintillator 200 is reflected by each of the two or more mirrors 300 positioned at the rear end of each scintillator 200 to change the light path . For example, two or more mirrors 300 may change the path of light to a 45 degree path.

The 45-degree path-changed light is received by at least two light receiving portions 400 disposed under each mirror 300, and each light receiving portion 400 generates an image. As described above, the energy of the fast neutrons decreases from the inspected object 10 toward the inspected object 10, and the reaction rate of reacting with the scintillator 200 is improved. As a result, The resolution is improved in the light receiving portion 400 located farther from the specimen 10.

The images generated in each light receiving section 400 are merged by the image processor 700 so that the image processor 700 finally generates a high-resolution image.

According to the configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to obtain a radiograph of a high-resolution subject 10 using a high-speed neutron having an energy of 0.5 MeV or more. That is, in the case of the high-speed neutron, it is difficult to obtain the image of the test object 10 because of the disadvantage that the reactivity to react with the scintillator 200 is low due to the high energy. However, The high-speed neutrons are continuously reacted with the scintillator in a cascade manner so as to obtain a high-resolution image.

Example  2

3 is a view for explaining another embodiment of the multi-radio apparatus according to the present invention.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, the case where the radiation projecting unit 100 projects two or more different types of radiation onto the subject 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

The radiation projected onto the subject 10 through the radiation projection means 100 may be of two or more different types. In this case, the scintillators 210 and 220 are made up of two or more different types of scintillators 210 and 220 that are responsive to each type of radiation, and each type of scintillator 210 and 220 may be provided in a number of 2 or more, and as a whole, the scintillators 210 and 220 may be provided in a number of 4 or more as shown in FIG.

For example, the radiation projection device 100 may be configured to project neutrons and X-rays to the subject 10, and may be configured to sequentially project the neutron and X-rays to the subject 10, The scintillators 210 and 220 may be composed of two or more scintillators 210 and 220 responsive to a neutron and two or more scintillators 210 and 220 responsive to an X-ray.

Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the scintillator responsive to the neutron is referred to as a "first scintillator 210", the scintillator responsive to X-rays is referred to as a "second scintillator 220" Laters 210 and 220 illustrate the process of reacting with neutrons and X-rays to emit light and acquire images therefrom.

The first scintillator 210 may be, for example, an inorganic scintillator. There is no particular limitation on the kind of the inorganic scintillator which reacts with the neutron to emit light, and may be, for example, a LiI (Eu) scintillator.

The second scintillator 220 may be, for example, an inorganic scintillator. There is no particular limitation on the kind of the inorganic scintillant which reacts with the X-ray to emit light, and may be, for example, a CaI (TI) inorganic scintillator.

The arrangement of the first scintillator 210 and the second scintillator 220 may be such that one of the first scintillators 210 is disposed immediately after the inspected object 10 as shown in FIG. One second scintillator 220 is disposed immediately behind the first scintillator 210 and the remaining first scintillator 210 is disposed immediately after the second scintillator 220 And the remaining second scintillator 220 may be disposed so as to be positioned immediately after the first scintillator 210. In this manner, two or more different types of scintillators 210 and 220 can be sequentially arranged alternately.

When the neutrons and X-rays transmitted through the inspected object 10 are incident on the first scintillator 210 located immediately after the inspected object 10 in the second embodiment, And a part of the X-ray reacts with the second scintillator 220 without reacting with the first scintillator 210 to emit light. Then, the first scintillator 210 is irradiated with light, 1 neutrons that have not reacted with the first scintillator 210 continue to react with the second scintillator 220 and react with the first scintillator 210 of the next sequential order to emit light, The X-rays that have not reacted with the second scintillator 220 do not react with the first scintillator 210, but may react with the second scintillator 220 of the next sequential order to emit light.

In this process, the neutrons and X-rays are sequentially passed through the scintillators 210 and 220 of each type, which are sequentially arranged in two or more stages in a cascade manner. In this process, the neutron and X- As the neutron and X-ray energy are reduced, the reaction rate with the neutron and X-ray is improved in the scintillators 210 and 220 of each type located further away from the subject 10.

The neutrons and the X-rays react with the respective scintillators 210 and 220 so that the light emitted by the scintillators 210 and 220 is incident on each of the two or more mirrors 300 positioned at the rear ends of the scintillators 210 and 220, And the path of the light is changed. For example, two or more mirrors 300 may change the path of light to a 45 degree path.

The 45-degree path-changed light is received by at least two respective light receiving portions 400 disposed under each of the mirrors 300, and each light receiving portion 400 generates an image. As described above, the generated image is reduced in energy as the neutron and X-ray return from the subject 10, and the reaction rate of reacting with the scintillator 200 of each type is improved, The resolution is improved in the optical receiver 400 located farther from the inspected object 10.

The images generated in each light receiving section 400 are merged by the image processor 700 so that the image processor 700 finally generates a high-resolution image.

At this time, the image obtained by the neutron reaction and the image obtained by the X-ray reaction are merged, whereby the radiation image of the subject 10 obtained by the image processor 700 is converted into the internal component of the subject 10 or the internal substance And the like can be obtained.

For this reason, it is generally known that neutrons pass well through metal-based materials, and X-rays are known to pass through resin-based materials well. Therefore, when the multi-radio apparatus of the present invention having the same configuration as that of Embodiment 2 is used, an image obtained when a subject is made of a metal and a resin and a neutron is transmitted through a subject and an image obtained by passing X- When the images are merged, a high-resolution image can be obtained which is clearly expressed with respect to the internal structure of the object made of metal and resin.

4 is a view for explaining another embodiment of the multi-radio apparatus according to the present invention.

4, all or a portion of two or more scintillators of the multi-radio apparatus of the present invention may further include a conversion filter 800 capable of attenuating the radiation energy on the radiation incident path to the scintillator 200 .

The conversion filter 800 may be disposed on a portion of the scintillator 200 and may be disposed such that a small amount of energy is sequentially incident on each scintillator 200 disposed along the direction of travel of the radiation. That is, in the case of the scintillator 200 positioned immediately behind the inspected object 10 in the two or more scintillators 200, the conversion filter 800 is not disposed, and the conversion filter 800 is switched from the second scintillator 200, So that a small amount of energy is sequentially incident on each of the scintillators 200. Alternatively, the conversion filter 800 may be disposed on the entirety of the scintillator 200. In this case, each of the conversion filters 800 may be configured to vary the degree of radiation energy reduction so that each scintillator 200, As shown in FIG.

When the radiation energy incident on the scintillator 200 is reduced by disposing the conversion filter 800 in each scintillator 200, the reaction rate at which the radiation reacts with the scintillator 200 is increased to improve the resolution of the image A high-resolution image can be obtained.

With the multi-radio apparatus of the present invention, a plurality of images can be obtained through the reaction of continuous radiation and scintillator without waste of the progressing radiation without reacting with a single scintillator, Resolution images can be obtained, and two or more different scintillators that project two or more different radiation onto a subject and react with each type of radiation transmitted through the subject can be used without limitation depending on the material of the subject. There is an advantage that a high-resolution image in which the inner shape is clearly expressed can be obtained.

The description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features presented herein.

Claims (6)

A radiation projection means for projecting the radiation to the subject;
Two or more scintillators arranged in series in series in the traveling direction of the radiation transmitted through the body to receive radiation transmitted through the body and the scintillator to emit visible light;
Wherein each of the mirrors has a path of a visible light emitted by each of the scintillators between 0 degrees and 90 degrees, the path of the visible light emitted by each of the scintillators Wherein the mirror surface of each of the mirrors is inclined with respect to a direction of the emitted visible light so as to change the mirror surface.
At least two light receiving units for receiving the visible light reflected from each of the mirrors; And
And an image processor for merging images respectively obtained from the light receiving sections to generate a high-resolution image of the subject.
Multiple radiography devices. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the radiation is a fast neutron having an energy of at least 0.5 MeV.
Multiple radiography devices. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Wherein each of the scintillators is the same scintillator,
Multiple radiography devices. The method of claim 3,
All or part of the scintillator includes a conversion filter capable of attenuating the radiation energy on a radiation incident path to the scintillator,
Wherein the conversion filter is configured such that a small amount of energy is sequentially incident on each of the scintillators arranged along the direction of advance of the radiation,
Multiple radiography devices. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the radiation comprises two or more different types of radiation,
Wherein the scintillators comprise a scintillator responsive to the different types of radiation,
Wherein each of the scintillators responsive to each of the different types of radiation is arranged in series so as to sequentially alternate in the direction of travel of the radiation transmitted through the subject to sequentially respond to radiation of each type,
Wherein the multiple radiography further comprises an image processor for merging images respectively obtained from the light receiving sections to generate a high resolution image of the subject.
Multiple radiography devices. 6. The method of claim 5,
Characterized in that the radiation comprises at least two of X-ray,? -Ray and neutron.
Multiple radiography devices.

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