Control System for a Particle Accelerator
First Claim
1. A particle therapy system comprising:
- a particle accelerator to output a particle beam, comprising;
a particle source to provide pulses of ionized plasma to a cavity, each pulse of the particle source having a pulse width corresponding to a duration of operation of the particle source to produce the corresponding pulse, the particle beam being based on the pulses of ionized plasma; and
a modulator wheel having different thicknesses, each thickness extending across a different circumferential length of the modulator wheel, the modulator wheel being arranged to receive a precursor to the particle beam and configured to create a spread-out Bragg peak for the particle beam;
one or more first input/output (I/O) modules operable at a first speed, the one or more first I/O modules being configured to send machine instructions to one or more motor controllers, at least one motor controller for controlling the modulator wheel;
one or more second I/O modules operable at a second speed that is greater than the first speed, at least one of the second I/O modules being configured to send machine instructions to the particle source so that pulse widths of the particle source vary with rotational positions of the modulator wheel.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An example particle therapy system includes a particle accelerator to output a particle beam, where the particle accelerator includes: a particle source to provide pulses of ionized plasma to a cavity, where each pulse of the particle source has a pulse width corresponding to a duration of operation of the particle source to produce the corresponding pulse, and where the particle beam is based on the pulses of ionized plasma; and a modulator wheel having different thicknesses, where each thickness extends across a different circumferential length of the modulator wheel, and where the modulator wheel is arranged to receive a precursor to the particle beam and is configured to create a spread-out Bragg peak for the particle beam
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A particle therapy system comprising:
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a particle accelerator to output a particle beam, comprising; a particle source to provide pulses of ionized plasma to a cavity, each pulse of the particle source having a pulse width corresponding to a duration of operation of the particle source to produce the corresponding pulse, the particle beam being based on the pulses of ionized plasma; and a modulator wheel having different thicknesses, each thickness extending across a different circumferential length of the modulator wheel, the modulator wheel being arranged to receive a precursor to the particle beam and configured to create a spread-out Bragg peak for the particle beam; one or more first input/output (I/O) modules operable at a first speed, the one or more first I/O modules being configured to send machine instructions to one or more motor controllers, at least one motor controller for controlling the modulator wheel; one or more second I/O modules operable at a second speed that is greater than the first speed, at least one of the second I/O modules being configured to send machine instructions to the particle source so that pulse widths of the particle source vary with rotational positions of the modulator wheel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 24)
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17. A particle therapy system comprising:
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a particle accelerator to output a particle beam comprised of pulses; and a depth modulator that is in a path of the particle beam, the depth modulator having a variable thickness and being movable so that the particle beam impacts different thicknesses of the depth modulator at different times; wherein the particle therapy system is configured to control numbers of pulses that impact different thicknesses of the depth modulator. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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25. A particle therapy system comprising:
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a particle accelerator to output a particle beam, comprising; a particle source to provide pulses of ionized plasma to a cavity, each pulse of the particle source having a pulse width corresponding to a duration of operation of the particle source to produce the corresponding pulse, the particle beam being based on the pulses of ionized plasma; and a modulator wheel having different thicknesses, each thickness extending across a different circumferential length of the modulator wheel, the modulator wheel being arranged to receive a precursor to the particle beam and being configured to create a spread-out Bragg peak for the particle beam; wherein the particle therapy system is configured so that pulse widths of the particle source vary with rotational positions of the modulator wheel.
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Specification