Human body security inspection apparatus and method of operating the same and filter device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10983243-B2
Application number	US-201716491891-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2017
Priority date	Mar 7, 2017
Publication date	Apr 20, 2021
Grant date	Apr 20, 2021

Abstract

A human body security inspection apparatus, a method of operating the same, and an associated filter device are disclosed. The human body security inspection apparatus includes a radiation beam exit configured for emitting a radiation beam; a beam guiding box configured for guiding the radiation beam; and a filter device configured between the radiation beam exit and the beam guiding box. The filter device includes a housing and a filter cage having a central axis. The filter cage is formed by arranging two or more pairs of filtering sheets, which are made of different materials and/or have different thicknesses, in an encircling way. The filter cage is rotatable about its central axis such that at least one pair of filtering sheets is capable of filtering the radiation beam to adjust an outputted dosage of the radiation beam of the human body security inspection apparatus.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A human body security inspection apparatus comprising:
a radiation beam exit configured to emit a radiation beam; and
a beam guiding box configured to guide the radiation beam emitted from the radiation beam exit;
a filter device disposed between the radiation beam exit and the beam guiding box, the filter device comprising:
a housing; and
a filter cage, having a central axis, disposed within the housing and formed by arranging two or more pairs of filtering sheets, which are made of different materials and/or have different thicknesses, in an encircling way,
wherein the filter cage is rotatable about its central axis such that at least one pair of the two or more pairs of filtering sheets is capable of filtering the radiation beam from the radiation beam exit to adjust an outputted dosage of the radiation beam of the human body security inspection apparatus; and

a pair of filter region defining rods, the filter region defining rods of the pair being respectively disposed at opposite ends of the filter cage along the central axis of the filter cage and one or more filter region defining rods of the pair of filter region defining rods configured to be movable in a direction to define a filter region between the pair of filter region defining rods for the at least one pair of the two or more pairs of filtering sheets so as to define a scan range of the radiation beam.

2. The human body security inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a material and a diameter of the pair of filter region defining rods are configured to be sufficient to shield and block the radiation beam emitted by the radiation beam exit.

3. The human body security inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
an input unit configured to transmit, responsive to manipulation of a rod identifier representative of the pair of filter region defining rods, an instruction to move the one or more filter region defining rods of the pair; and
a control unit configured to control movement of the one or more filter region defining rods of the pair based on the instruction from the input unit.

4. The human body security inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , wherein:
the input unit is further configured to manipulate the rod identifier representative of the pair of filter region defining rods on a whole human body optical photogram or a whole human body security inspection scanning map, so as to define any section for scanning of a human body to be inspected by moving the rod identifier.

5. A method of operating a human body security inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , the method comprising:
performing a scan of a human body to be inspected in a first scan mode, wherein the first scan mode refers to a mode where the two or more pairs of filtering sheets are rotated so as to adjust an outputted dosage of a radiation beam to a high-dosage for scanning, and in the first scan mode, any section to be scanned of the human body is defined by manipulating the rod identifier representative of the pair of filtering region defining rods.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 , further comprising:
performing a scan of the human body using a second scan mode, wherein the second scan mode refers to a mode where the two or more filtering sheets are rotated so as to adjust an outputted dosage of the radiation beam to a low-dosage for scanning, and in the second scan mode, the whole human body scan is performed.

7. The human body security inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, in the filter cage, the materials and/or thicknesses of the two or more pairs of filtering sheets are determined based on different radiation filtering requirements for the radiation beam.

8. The human body security inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, in the filter cage, at least one pair of the two or more pairs of filtering sheets includes a pair of filtering sheets disposed around the central axis of the filter cage so as to be opposite to each other.

9. The human body security inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the two or more pairs of filtering sheets include three pairs of filtering sheets, each of which includes filtering sheets disposed around the central axis of the filter cage so as to be opposite to each other.

10. The human body security inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the filter cage is constructed as a squirrel cage with a gap between two adjacent filtering sheets.

11. The human body security inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a rotation of the filter cage is driven by a motor.

12. The human body security inspection apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the human body security inspection apparatus is a transmission imaging security inspection apparatus or a backscatter imaging security inspection apparatus.

13. A filter device for a human body security inspection apparatus, the filter device comprising:
a housing; and
a filter cage, having a central axis, disposed within the housing and formed by arranging two or more pairs of filtering sheets, which are made of different materials and/or have different thicknesses, in an encircling way, wherein the filter cage is rotatable about its central axis such that at least one pair of the two or more pairs of filtering sheets is capable of filtering a radiation beam from a radiation beam exit of a radiation source of the human body security inspection apparatus to adjust an outputted dosage of the radiation beam of the human body security inspection apparatus; and
a pair of filter region defining rods, the filter region defining rods of the pair respectively disposed at opposite ends of the filter cage along the central axis and one or more filter region defining rods of the pair configured to be movable in a direction in which the central axis of the filter cage extends.

14. The filter device as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the materials and/or thicknesses of the two or more pairs of filtering sheets are determined based on different radiation filtering requirements for the radiation beam.

15. The filter device as claimed in claim 13 , wherein at least one pair of the two or more pairs of filtering sheets includes a pair of filtering sheets disposed around the central axis of the filter cage so as to be opposite to each other.

16. The filter device as claimed in claim 15 , wherein the two or more pairs of filtering sheets include three pairs of filtering sheets, each of which includes filtering sheets disposed around the central axis of the filter cage so as to be opposite to each other.

17. The filter device as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the filter cage is constructed as a squirrel cage with a gap between two adjacent filtering sheets.

18. The filter device as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the rotation of the filter cage is driven by a motor.

19. The filter device as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the filter region defining rods have a material and a diameter configured to be sufficient to shield and block the radiation beam emitted by the radiation beam exit.

20. A control system filter for the filter device as claimed in claim 13 , the control system comprising:
an input unit configured to transmit, responsive to manipulation on a display of a rod identifier representative of the pair of filter region defining rods, an instruction to move one or more of the filter region defining rods of the pair; and
a control unit configured to control movement of the one or more of

Assignees

• Univ Tsinghua
• Nuctech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Chen Zhiqiang
• Li Yuanjing
• Zhao Ziran
• Wu Wanlong
• Ruan Ming
• Jin Yingkang
• Ding Guangwei
• Shen Zongjun
• Zhao Jiajiang

Classifications

• G21K1/10

  Scattering devices; Absorbing devices; Ionising radiation filters · CPC title

• G01N2223/053

  back scatter · CPC title

• G01N23/203

  Measuring back scattering · CPC title

• G01N2223/1016

  X-ray · CPC title

• G01N2223/32

  adjustments of elements during operation · CPC title