X-ray inspection system
First Claim
1. An X-ray inspection system comprising:
- a collimated X-ray source disposed to produce a beam of X-rays in the form of a fan projected from the source towards an object,a focusing collimation means disposed to pass only X-rays scattered from a voxel element at a particular depth within the object,a detection means, responsive to X-rays from said collimation means, capable of discrimination of X-ray intensities with respect to position of incidence on the detection means and thereby arranged to produce an output signal representing X-ray intensity variation across an angular scattering range, andan analyzing means for processing the output signal to determine the presence of X-rays coherently scattered through at least one predetermined angles,wherein the focusing collimation means and X-ray fan beam are mutually arranged such that the collimation means is of constrained height in a parallel direction to a plane occupied by the fan beam and thus arranged so as to inhibit transmission through the collimation means of X-rays scattered from neighboring voxel elements onto which the X-ray beam is also incident.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An X-ray inspection system comprises an X-ray source (1) disposed to irradiate an object to be inspected (4) with a beam of X-rays in the form of a fan project from the source (1) through the object (4), detection means (6) capable of discriminating between the intensitities of X-rays coherently scattered through the object (4) at different angles to produce an output signal dependent on the intensity of the X-rays scattered through each of those angles and analyzing means (not shown) operably connected to the detention means (6) to process the output signal to determine the presence of X-rays coherently scattered through one or more pre-determined angles. Collimination means (23) is provided between the detection means (6) and the object (4) and is adapted to pass only X-rays coherently scattered at the different angles from a limited voxel (volume element) depth central at point P. Movement at the collimator (23) along the direction of the beam together with translation of the object by e.g. a conveyor (5) in the direction (22) allows the whole volume of the object, such as an item of baggage, to be scanned.
71 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. An X-ray inspection system comprising:
-
a collimated X-ray source disposed to produce a beam of X-rays in the form of a fan projected from the source towards an object, a focusing collimation means disposed to pass only X-rays scattered from a voxel element at a particular depth within the object, a detection means, responsive to X-rays from said collimation means, capable of discrimination of X-ray intensities with respect to position of incidence on the detection means and thereby arranged to produce an output signal representing X-ray intensity variation across an angular scattering range, and an analyzing means for processing the output signal to determine the presence of X-rays coherently scattered through at least one predetermined angles, wherein the focusing collimation means and X-ray fan beam are mutually arranged such that the collimation means is of constrained height in a parallel direction to a plane occupied by the fan beam and thus arranged so as to inhibit transmission through the collimation means of X-rays scattered from neighboring voxel elements onto which the X-ray beam is also incident. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. An X-ray inspection system comprising:
-
a collimated X-ray source disposed to produce a beam of X-rays in the form of a fan projected from the source toward an object, a detector determining the intensity of coherently scattered X-rays at different scattering angles and producing an output signal dependent on the intensity of X-rays scattered through each of those angles, a collimator, disposed between the detector and the object, passing to said detector only X-rays that have been coherently scattered from a limited voxel depth through various angles and that lie in planes which are substantially parallel to a scattering plane which passes through the source and the centre of the voxel from which scattering occurred and which is perpendicular to the plane of the fan beam, and an analyser, responsive to the detector, processing the output signal to determine the presence of X-rays coherently scattered through at least one predetermined angles. - View Dependent Claims (19)
-
-
20. An X-ray inspection system comprising:
-
a collimated X-ray source disposed to produce a beam of X-rays in the form of a fan projected from the source toward an object, a detection means capable of determining the intensity of coherently scattered X-rays at different scattering angles and producing an output signal dependent on the intensity of X-rays scattered through each of those angles, a collimation means, disposed between the detection means and the object, for passing to said detection means only X-rays that have been coherently scattered from a limited voxel depth through various angles and that lie in planes which are substantially parallel to a scattering plane which passes through the source and the centre of the voxel from which scattering occurred and which is perpendicular to the plane of the fan beam, and an analysing means, responsive to the detection means, for processing the output signal to determine the presence of X-rays coherently scattered through at least one predetermined angles.
-
Specification