X-ray image pickup apparatus for intraoral radiography

• US 6,042,267 A
• Filed: 04/08/1998
• Issued: 03/28/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics KK, J Morita Manufacturing
• Original Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics KK, J Morita Manufacturing
• Inventors: Suzuki, Masakazu, Asai, Hitoshi, Miyaguchi, Kazuhisa, Tachibana, Akifumi, Kirimura, Susumu, Muraki, Tetsuhiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Bruce, David V.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Schwartz, Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US09/056,935
• Time in Patent Office: 720 Days
• Field of Search: 378/169, 378/168, 378/191, 378/98.3, 378/98.8, 250/368
• US Class Current: 378/169
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/512 Intraoral means
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 42/042 for dental applications radiation diagnosis specially adapted for dentistry A61B6/51; individual packages for X-ray film G03C3/003
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/32 Transforming X-rays cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from X-rays H04N23/30; circuitry of SSIS for transforming X-rays into image signals H04N25/30

Abstract

A phosphor, an optical fiber plate containing lead particles, a CCD, and an X-ray shielding member consisting of copper tungsten are sequentially stacked on a substrate from an X-ray incident surface side and sealed in a container made of a light-shielding synthetic resin. The substrate has projecting portions projecting toward the direction of X-ray incident along three sides of the X-ray incident surface. Each of these projecting portions has an overhang portion projecting toward the optical fiber plate. The overhang portions are close to or in contact with corresponding side surfaces of the optical fiber plate so that the optical fiber plate is fixed at a predetermined position. The container has, in the inner surface, convex portions corresponding to the projecting portions, so the substrate is fixed in the container. The output signal from the CCD is sent to an external display unit via a cable extracted from the convex portion of the container through an FPC connector and an FPC provided on a surface opposite to the incident surface.

Claims

1. An X-ray image pickup apparatus for intraoral radiography, which is inserted into an oral cavity and used for radiograph a dentition, comprising:

a phosphor which emits a visible light in response to an incident X-ray;

an optical fiber plate formed by mixing lead into an optical fiber, the plate being formed into a plate shape by bundling a plurality of optical fibers and having said phosphor on an X-ray incident surface formed by end faces of fibers;

a solid-state image sensing device constituted by two-dimensionally pixels array which converts the visible light image into an electrical signal and having said optical fiber plate on a light incident surface facing a surface of opposite to said surface;

an X-ray shielding member arranged on a back plate of said solid-state image sensing device to absorb and shield the X-ray;

a substrate for disposing said solid-state image sensing device via said X-ray shielding member, having an electrode extraction terminal electrically connected to a driving power supply terminal of said solid-state image sensing device and an output terminal of the electrical signal, and, on X-ray incident surface, a plurality of projecting portions projecting to a direction of an X-ray incident around said optical fiber plate from at least three sides so that the side surfaces of said projecting portions are in contact with or close to corresponding side surfaces of said optical fiber plate;

a container for sealing said substrate together with components stacked on said substrate; and

a flexible cable having one end electrically connected to said electrode extraction terminal and the other end extracted outside said container and connected to an external driving power supply and an image display unit.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said projecting portions of said substrate has an overhang portion toward a corresponding side surface of said optical fiber plate so that a distal end of said overhang portion is in contact with or close to said side surface of said optical fiber plate.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said container has a projecting portion at a position corresponding to each of said projecting portions on an inner surface on an X-ray incident surface side.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said X-ray shielding member is formed from a thin flat copper tungsten member.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said container has a projecting portion for accommodating an output electrode terminal electrically connected to said electrode extraction terminal on a surface opposite to an X-ray incident surface so that one end of said cable is connected to said output electrode terminal in said projecting portion.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a thin FPC connector electrically connected to said electrode extraction terminal, and an FPC detachably connected to said FPC connector, and wherein said cable is connected to said FPC.