Radiation sources and radiation scanning systems for examining the contents of an object.
Radiation is commonly used in the non-invasive inspection of objects such as luggage, bags, briefcases, and the like, to identify hidden contraband at airports and public buildings. The contraband may include hidden guns, knives, explosive devices and illegal drugs, for example. As criminals and terrorists have become more creative in the way they conceal contraband, the need for more effective non-invasive inspection techniques has grown. While the smuggling of contraband onto planes in carry-on bags and in luggage has been a well-known, on-going concern, a less publicized but also serious threat is the smuggling of contraband across borders and by boat in large cargo containers. Only 2%-10% of the 17 million cargo containers brought to the United States by boat are inspected. “Checkpoint Terror”, U.S. News and World Report, Feb. 11, 2002, p. 52.
To examine larger objects (greater than about 5 feet, 1.5 meters thick, for example), the radiation source 10 may be a linear accelerator including a source of electrons 20 and a target 22 of material having a high atomic number, such as tungsten. An electron beam 24 is shown being emitted along an axis R through the electron source 20 and the target 22, referred to as a central ray. The electron beam 24 impacts the target 22, causing generation of a beam of X-ray radiation. Linear accelerators are described in more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,366,021 B1, U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,650 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,208, which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and are incorporated by reference, herein.
The radiation beam is collimated into the fan beam 16 by a collimator (not shown) at a distal end of the source 12. The fan beam 16 is emitted over an arc of about 30°. The fan beam illuminates a front face 14a of the object 14. The system 10 may be referred to a line scanner.
The intensity of the X-ray beam at point A on the face of the object 14, aligned with the central ray, is at a maximum M. The intensity of the X-ray beam 18 decreases as the angle from the central ray R increases. At best, the intensity is substantially uniform over only a few degrees around the central ray. For example, for a 9 MeV (peak intensity) X-ray beam 18, the intensity of the beam at an angle of about +/−12°, indicated as points B and C on the face 11a of the cargo conveyance 18, is about 50% of the intensity at point A, along the central ray. Better radiation scanning systems for scanning objects can compensate for intensity drops of up to about 50%. As intensity drops beyond about 50% at higher angles from the central ray R, however, the object penetration and contrast sensitivity may become significantly reduced. The intensity of the radiation beam also decreases as the distance between the source 10 and the object 14 increases, as a function of the square of the distance.
Standard cargo containers are typically 20-50 feet long (6.1-15.2 meters), 8 feet high (2.4 meters) and 6-9 feet wide (1.8-2.7 meters). Air cargo containers, which are used to contain a plurality of pieces of luggage or other cargo to be stored in the body of an airplane, may range in size (length, height, width) from about 35×21×21 inches (0.89×0.53×0.53 meters) up to about 240×118×96 inches (6.1×3.0×2.4 meters). Sea cargo containers are typically about 40 feet long, 8 feet wide and 8 feet high. Large collections of objects, such as many pieces of luggage, may also be supported on a pallet. Pallets, which may have supporting side wall, may be of comparable sizes as cargo containers. The term “cargo conveyance” is used herein to encompass cargo containers, sea containers and pallets.
To illuminate large cargo conveyances with a more uniform portion of an X-ray beam (within about 50% of maximum), the source must be very far from the cargo conveyance. For example, to illuminate a cargo container with a height of about 8 feet (2.4 meters) with a vertical radiation beam emitted over an angle of about 24 degrees (+/−12 degrees from the central ray), the source needs to be about 19 feet (about 5.8 meters) from the face of the cargo container. If the beam could be emitted over an angle of about 120 degrees (+/−60) degrees from the central ray), in contrast, the source may be about 2.5 feet (about 0.8 meters) from the face of the cargo container. More compact radiation scanning systems, where the radiation source is closer to the object than in current systems, would be advantageous. They would occupy less space, as well as suffer from less drop in radiation intensity due to the distance between the source and the object.
In accordance with embodiments of the invention, the intensity distribution of a radiation beam on a face of an object under inspection is improved by deflecting a beam of charged particles, such as electrons, along a plurality of central rays to cause impact on a target material to generate radiation beams along the plurality of central rays. The greater the number of beams along respective central rays, the more uniform the radiation intensity on the face of the object. Embodiments are disclosed that effectively deflect the beam of charged particles along a large number of central rays, which may result more uniform radiation intensity on the face of the object.
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a radiation source is disclosed comprising a housing and a first, accelerating chamber within the housing to accelerate a beam of charged particles an output of the chamber. A second chamber within the housing has an input aligned with the output of the first chamber to receive the beam of accelerated charged particles. Target material is supported within the second chamber. Impact of the target material by the accelerated charged particles causes generation of radiation. A magnet is supported by the housing proximate the second chamber, to provide a magnetic field to deflect the beam of accelerated charged particles prior to impacting the target material. The resulting radiation will have a maximum intensity along a central ray of the deflected beam. By deflecting the beam one or more times and/or not deflecting the beam, a plurality of radiation beams may be generated, each having maximum intensities along different central rays, improving the uniformity of radiation intensity about an angular range.
The magnet may generate a time-varying field, and may be an electromagnet. The electromagnet may be cycled between generating a magnetic field in a first direction, generating a magnetic field in a second direction, which may be opposite the first direction, and being off, for example. The beam of charged particles is then deflected along a first axis, deflected along a second axis and passes undeflected, respectively, to impact the target along the first axis, the second axis and a third, undeflected axis, respectively. Radiation resulting from the impact on the target along each axis has a peak intensity along each axis. An object being irradiated by the resulting radiation will thereby be exposed to a more uniform intensity of radiation.
Alternatively, the magnet may provide a constant magnetic field. The magnet may be configured to generate a magnetic field that varies spatially across a width of the beam of charged particles. The beam is deflected differentially across the width. The beam may be converged or diverged, for example. To expose the beam to the spatially varying magnetic field, the magnet may have irregularly shaped pole portions. The pole portions may be triangular and/or may be separated by a varying distance, for example. The magnet may be a permanent magnet or an electromagnet. The radiation resulting from the impact of the deflected beam may have a substantially uniform intensity about an angular range. As used herein, the term “substantially uniform intensity” means that the intensity is uniform within the tolerances of the radiation source, including the magnet.
The beam of charged particles may be a beam of electrons, for example. The target may be a refractory metal, such as tungsten, for example. The radiation resulting from the impact of the target by the beam may be X-ray radiation, for example.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a linear accelerator is disclosed comprising a housing. An accelerating chamber with an output is provided within the housing. The chamber has a first longitudinal axis aligned with the output. A source of electrons is supported by the housing to emit electrons along the first longitudinal axis. A tube comprises a passage having a second longitudinal axis, has a first end with an input coupled to the output of the chamber such that the second longitudinal axis is aligned with the first longitudinal axis. Target material is supported within the tube. A magnet is supported by the housing. The magnet has opposing poles partially surrounding the tube, to provide a magnetic field to deflect the electron beam prior to impacting the target.
In accordance another embodiment of the invention, a radiation source is disclosed comprising a housing and a source of charged particles supported by the housing. Target material is supported by the housing along a path of the charged particles. Impact of the charged particles with the target causes generation of radiation. A magnet is supported by the housing between the source and the target.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a system for examining an object is disclosed comprising a conveyor system to move the object through the system and a source of radiation. The radiation source comprises a housing and a source of a beam of charged particles supported by the housing. The source of charged particles has an output to provide the beam along a path. A target material is supported by the housing along the path. The target material generates radiation upon impact of the beam with the target. A magnet is supported by the housing and partially surrounds the longitudinal path, to provide a magnetic field to deflect the beam prior to impacting the target. The radiation source is positioned with respect to the conveying system such that radiation emitted by the source irradiates an object for inspection on the conveying system. A detector is positioned to receive radiation interacting with the object. The object may be irradiated with substantially uniform intensity. As mentioned above, the term “substantially uniform intensity” as used herein means that the intensity is uniform within the tolerances of the radiation source, including the magnet.
The radiation source may be on a first side of the conveying system and a detector may be on a second side of the conveying system, to detect radiation transmitted through the object. The radiation source may be configured as described above, for example. The radiation source may have a first, longitudinal axis and the radiation beam may have a central ray along a second axis transverse to the first axis, to irradiate an object that is not aligned with the longitudinal axis of the radiation source.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a method of generating radiation is disclosed comprising directing a beam of charged particles towards a target, deflecting the beam and impacting the target by the deflected beam. The beam may be deflected by providing a magnetic field, which may be a time-varying magnetic field or a constant magnetic field. The constant magnetic field may vary spatially across a width of the beam of charged particles, to differentially deflect the beam.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a method of examining contents of an object with a radiation source is disclosed comprising directing a beam of charged particles along a longitudinal path, towards a target, deflecting the beam and impacting the target by the deflected beam to generate radiation. The method further comprises irradiating the object with the radiation and detecting radiation interacting with the object.
In one example, the source 100 is an accelerator, such as a linear accelerator, generating X-ray radiation. The linear accelerator 100 may be a charged particle standing wave accelerator, for example. The linear accelerator 100 comprises a housing 100a with a body portion 100b and a distal portion 100c. The body portion 100a includes a chain of electromagnetically coupled, doughnut shaped resonant cavities 102, 104, with aligned central beam apertures 106. An electron gun 108 at one end of the chain of cavities emits an electron beam 110 through the apertures 106. The source 100 may be a betatron or a cyclotron, as well.
In the distal portion 100b, a first end of a drift tube 114 is connected to a second end of the chain of cavities. A target 112 of tungsten, for example, is provided at a second end of the drift tube 114. The target 112 may be disc shaped or may be elliptical, as discussed further below. The target material may be other materials with a high atomic number and a high melting points, such as other refractory metals. A magnet 116 is provided around the drift tube 114. Shielding material 118, of tungsten, for example surrounds the magnet 116 and drift tube 114. The cavities 102, 104 are electromagnetically coupled together through a “side” or “coupling” cavity 120 that is coupled to each of the adjacent pair of cavities by an iris 122. The cavities are under vacuum. Microwave power enters one of the cavities along the chain, through an iris 124, to accelerate the electron beam 110. The linear accelerator body 100a is excited by microwave power at a frequency near its resonant frequency, between about 1000 to about 10,000 MHz, for example. After being accelerated, the electron beam 110 strikes the target 112, causing the emission of X-ray radiation.
Movable plungers or probes 126 may extend radially into one of the coupling cavities 128 to vary the energy of the accelerating electrons, to generate radiation beams at multiple energies. One probe 122 is shown in
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the magnet 116, which may emit a time varying magnetic field or a constant magnetic field, selectively deflects the electron beam 110 so that it impacts the target 112 at one or more locations displaced from the central axis of the initial beam 58, changing the central rays of the resulting radiation beam, as discussed further below. The magnet 116 may be an electromagnet, generating a time-varying or constant magnetic field, a permanent magnet generating a constant magnetic field, or a combination of the two.
In
The magnetic field may be rapidly cycled from being off, as in
By rapidly deflecting the electron beam 110, and thereby the central rays R0, R1, R2 of the resulting radiation beams, more of the face 176a of the cargo conveyance 176, or other such object, may be exposed to the highest intensity radiation and overall, the face may be exposed to higher radiation intensity than if a single radiation beam is used to illuminate the entire face, as in the prior art of FIG. 1.
While three beams will generally be sufficient, more beams may be used, particularly for larger objects. For example, 5 beams may be used to irradiate a cargo conveyance having a height of about 8 feet (2.4 meters) with a vertical fan beam. For example, two additional radiation beams, one between central rays R0 and R1, and one between central rays R0 and R2, may be generated at points 192 and 194 on the curve of
The angle of the electron beam may also be continuously shifted between a maximum positive deflection +α and a maximum negative deflection −α by applying a time varying current to the coil 158 to generate a time varying magnetic field, under the control of processor 162. The time varying current and resulting time varying magnetic field may be sinusoidal, for example. Each point on the face 176a of the cargo conveyance 176 may then be exposed to the maximum intensity M.
The magnet 116 may also be a permanent magnet, generating a time-invariant (constant) magnetic field. In this case, the generated magnetic field varies spatially across the electron beam 110 to cause a differential variation in deflection of the electron beam. The permanent magnet may be a horseshoe magnet having the same or similar shape as the core 152 in
A magnetic field that varies spatially across the beam 110 may be generated in a variety of ways. For example, a spatially inhomogeneous magnetic field may be generated by a permanent magnet with irregularly shaped poles.
The magnetic field generated between the pole faces 202a, 202b is uniform. However, different portions of an electron beam 110 passing through the space will have different path lengths through the magnetic field. For example, in
The impact of the uppermost portion 110a and lowermost portion 110b of the electron beam on the target 112 generates radiation beams having deflected central rays R7, R8, respectively, aligned with deflected central rays R5, R6. The radiation beam centered about the central rays R7, R8, have peak intensities M. The radiation along the central rays R7, R8 will preferably impact a face 208 of a cargo conveyance 206 at or near the sides 210, 212 of the conveyance. The intermediate portions of the electron beam 110 will also cause generation of central rays of radiation (not shown) that will impact the face 208 of the cargo conveyance 206 at locations between the central rays R7, R8. The entire face 208 may thereby be illuminated with substantially uniform intensity M. Here, “substantially uniform intensity” means that the intensity is uniform at the face 208 of the cargo conveyance 206 within the tolerances of the radiation source, including the magnet.
In the configuration of
It is preferred that the converging electron beams not be focused onto a single point on the target 112, to avoid burning the target. The converging beams may converge upon a focal point on the target 112, from about 1 mm to about 2 mm, for example, to avoid burning the target 112. The target 112 may be elongated to accommodate a wider focal point, as shown in FIG. 13. In
While the focal point P may be elongated, X-ray radiation received by the face 208 is emitted by only a portion of the focal point P. For example, radiation emitted along ray R8 and impacting the upper portion of the face 208, is emitted mainly from an upper portion P1 of the focal spot P impacted by a portion of the electron beam 110b along ray R6. Similarly, radiation emitted along ray R7 is generated primarily by the impact of a portion 110a of the electron beam 1110 along ray R5 on the lower part P2 of the focal point P. Therefore, even if the focal spot is spread out by the divergence of the electron beam by the magnetic field, each section of the face 208 will only be illuminated by radiation emitted from a smaller portion of the focal spot. The effective focal point for portions of the radiation beam is therefore smaller than the actual focal point P, and the spatial resolution of an image of the cargo conveyance 206 irradiated by the beam will not be degraded.
If the polarity of the magnet 200 is reversed, the electron beam 110 will be deflected downward and will diverge, as shown in FIG. 14. The uppermost portion 110a of the electron beam 110, traversing central ray R9, will be deflected downward less than the lowermost portion 110b, traversing central ray R10. The uppermost portion 110a may be deflected an angle of −α1 degrees along deflected central ray R11, for example, while the lowermost portion 110b may be deflected an angle of −α degrees, along deflected central ray R12, for example. Impact of the electron beam along central ray R11 upon the target 112 will generate a radiation beam having a central ray R13. Impact of the electron beam along central ray R12 will generate a radiation beam having a central ray R14. The source 100 and the cargo conveyance 206 are not shown in this view, but it is apparent the source may be positioned with respect to the conveyance so that the radiation beams centered about the central rays R13, R14 will illuminate the front face of the conveyance at or near the side walls of the conveyance, as in FIG. 10. Portions of the electron beam 110 between the uppermost and lowermost portions 110a, 110b will be deflected to a gradually increasing degree across the beam for the uppermost to lowermost portion, illuminating the remainder of the face 208 of the cargo conveyance 206. Preferably, the target 112 is elongated, as in
Non-uniform magnetic fields may also be generated by varying the distance between pole faces.
The closer the pole faces 302a, 304a, the stronger the magnetic field. In
Both irregularly shaped poles and varying distances between poles may be used to control the deflection of the electron beam, as well.
Magnets 200 and 300 of
In addition, magnet 150 in
The average direction of a radiation beam may also be shifted.
An electromagnet with a permanent magnet core may be used to shift the average beam direction and provide improved uniformity of radiation beam intensity across the face of an object. The permanent magnetic field generated by the permanent magnet may cause the shift in the average direction of the magnetic field while the induced, time-varying magnetic field may shift the central ray of the radiation beam about the average direction of the radiation beam.
In the embodiments above, to cause a 20 degree deflection in the electron beam (or a portion thereof) with a path length of about 1 cm through a magnetic field, for example, a magnetic field strength of about 1800 Gauss would be required. If the path length is about 2 cm, the field strength could be about 900 Gauss. Standard permanent magnets could be used.
The detector 408 is electrically coupled to a processor 420, such as a computer, through an analog-to-digital converter 422. The processor 420 reconstructs the data output by the detector array 408 into images which may be displayed on a monitor 424 on site or at another location. The images may be analyzed to detect contraband, such as guns, knives, explosive material, nuclear material and drugs, for example. The images may also be used for manifest verification, for example. While one processor 420 and A/D converter 422 are shown, additional processors, A/D converters, and other signal processing circuits may be provided, as is known in the art.
To detect a fan beam, the detector 408 may be a one dimensional detector array comprising modules of detector elements, as is known in the art. Each one dimensional detector module may comprise a single row of a plurality of detector elements. The detector elements may comprise a radiation sensitive detector, such as a scintillator, and a photosensitive detector, such as a phototube or photodiode, as is known in the art. A high density scintillator, such as a cadmium tungstate scintillator, may be used. A cadmium tungstate scintillator is available from Saint Gobain Crystals, Solon, Ohio, U.S.A., or Spectra-Physics, Hilger Crystals, Kent, U. K., for example, with a density of 8 grams per cubic cm. Detector modules having detection efficiencies of from about 10% to about 80% or more are preferably used, depending on the radiation spectrum of the radiation beam 412. Multiple, closely spaced, parallel fan beams may also be defined by one or more collimators. In that case, a row of one dimensional detectors may be provided for each fan beam.
Instead of a fan beam, the radiation beam may be collimated into a cone beam, in which case the detector 408 may be a detector array comprising two dimensional detector modules.
In one example, the source 406 is separated from a face 402a of the cargo conveyance 402 by a distance W1 of about 2.5 feet (0.8 meters). The cargo conveyance 402 has a height of about 8 feet (2.4 meters). A vertical fan beam 412 of radiation may be emitted over an angle θ of about 120 degrees by the source 406 to irradiate the face 402a of the cargo conveyance 402 as the conveyance passes though the vertical fan beam. Intensity variation across the height of the cargo conveyance may be less than 50% and/or the intensity may be substantially uniform, depending on the configuration of the radiation source 406, as discussed above. The width W2 of the system 400 may be about 16.5 feet (about 5.03 meters), for example. The peak energy of the radiation source may be dependent on the size of the cargo conveyance. For example, if the cargo container has a thickness of about 8 feet (2.4 meters), the peak energy may be 6 MeV or greater. A comparable prior art system could have a comparable width of about 34 feet (10.4 meters) or more.
One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that changes may be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined by the claims, below.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20040213375 A1 | Oct 2004 | US |