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 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; and
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 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; and 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)
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17. 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 the particle beam and being configured to create a spread-out Bragg peak for the particle beam; wherein the modulator wheel, as configured, produces different spread-out Bragg peaks at different depths within a patient, the different spread-out Bragg peaks deviating from predefined spread-out Bragg peak for the modulator wheel for a given depth application in the patient; and wherein the particle therapy system is configured so that, for different depth applications within the patient, pulse widths of the particle source vary with rotational positions of the modulator wheel in order to produce spread-out Bragg peaks that approximate the predefined spread-out Bragg peak. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification