X-ray inspection using spatially and spectrally tailored beams
First Claim
1. A graduated collimating aperture for providing a beam of increasing average energy as a function of distance measured from a central axis, the collimating aperture comprising a plurality of concentric areas, each of the areas defined in a plane substantially perpendicular to the central axis, such that any specified area is characterized by an opacity to the beam exceeding that of any area interior to the specified area.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for inspecting an object, the system and method comprising a source for generating a penetrating radiation beam for irradiating the object, the beam having, for each instant of time, an instantaneous energy spectrum of intensity, a shaper for modulating the generated beam, thereby creating a shaped beam, the shaper comprising at least a first section and a second section, the first section attenuating the intensity of a portion of the generated beam by a first attenuation factor and the second section attenuating the intensity of another portion of the generated beam by a second attenuation factor, and at least one detector for detecting the shaped beam after the shaped beam interacts with the object. The source may scan a beam across an object while the source and at least one detector are moving on a platform capable of highway travel or on an inspection module movable with respect to the object.
93 Citations
7 Claims
- 1. A graduated collimating aperture for providing a beam of increasing average energy as a function of distance measured from a central axis, the collimating aperture comprising a plurality of concentric areas, each of the areas defined in a plane substantially perpendicular to the central axis, such that any specified area is characterized by an opacity to the beam exceeding that of any area interior to the specified area.
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5. An inspection system for inspecting an object, the system comprising:
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a. a source for generating a penetrating radiation beam for irradiating the object, the beam having, at each instant of time, an instantaneous power spectrum of intensity as a function of energy; b. a shaper for modulating the generated beam, thereby creating a shaped beam, the shaper comprising at least a first section and a second section, the first section attenuating the intensity of a portion of the generated beam by a first attenuation factor and the second section attenuating the intensity of another portion of the generated beam by a second attenuation factor; c. a scanner for scanning the first and second sections of the penetrating radiation beam with respect to the inspected object and d. at least one detector for detecting the shaped beam after the shaped beam interacts with the object wherein the shaper spatially separates the shaped beam into a first beam and a second beam, the first beam including the portion of the generated beam attenuated in the first section of the shaper and the second beam including the portion of the generated beam attenuated in the second section of the shaper. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7)
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Specification