CT devices and methods thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9655220-B2
Application number	US-201314758779-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2013
Priority date	Dec 31, 2012
Publication date	May 16, 2017
Grant date	May 16, 2017

Abstract

CT devices and methods thereof are disclosed. The CT device comprises a circular electron gun array including a plurality of electron guns, each of the electron guns is configured to emit electron beams along the radial direction of the circular electron gun array in sequence according to a predetermine pulse sequence; an acceleration cavity disposed inside of a circle on which the circular electron gun array is positioned, including a plurality of nested concentric coaxial cavities that operate in π mode for accelerating electron beams emitted from the respective electron guns of the circular electron gun array; a circular transmission target disposed inside of a circle on which the acceleration cavity is positioned and being bombarded by the accelerated electron beams to generate X-rays; and a circular detector configured to receive the X-rays after they have passed through an object to be detected.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A CT device comprising
a circular electron gun array including a plurality of electron guns, each of the electron guns is configured to emit electron beams along the radial direction of the circular electron gun array in sequence according to a predetermine pulse sequence;
an acceleration cavity disposed inside of a circle on which the circular electron gun array is positioned, including a plurality of nested concentric coaxial cavities that operate in π mode for accelerating electron beams emitted from the respective electron guns of the circular electron gun array;
a circular transmission target disposed inside of a circle on which the acceleration cavity is positioned and being bombarded by the accelerated electron beams to generate X-rays; and
a circular detector configured to receive the X-rays after they have passed through an object to be detected.

2. The CT device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an electron gun control unit connected to the circular electron gun array and configured to generate the pulse sequence to control the circular electron gun array to generate electron beams that are emitted along the radial direction;
a microwave power source connected to the acceleration cavity so that the electron beams are accelerated along the radial direction to have expected energy and bombard the circular transmission target to generate radial X-rays.

3. The CT device according to claim 2 , wherein the electron gun control unit is controlled to change a trigger mode so as to change the scanning speed of the circular electron gun array.

4. The CT device according to claim 2 , wherein the feed power of the microwave power source is adjusted to change the energy of the X-rays so as to generate X-ray beams of different energies.

5. The CT device according to claim 2 , further comprising a control system coupled to the electron gun control unit and the microwave power source, and configured to generate a control signal to control the electron guns in the circular electron gun array to start in sequence and to control the microwave power source to generate microwave power for accelerating electron beams generated by the respective electron gun in sequence.

6. The CT device according to claim 2 , further comprising a control system connected to the electron gun control unit and the microwave power source, and configured to generate the control signal to control a first group of electron guns that are equally spaced in the circular electron gun array to start at a first timing simultaneously, to control a second group of electron guns that are equally spaced in the circular electron gun array to start at a second timing simultaneously, and to control the microwave power source to generate microwave power for accelerating electron beams generated by the respective electron guns in sequence.

7. The CT device according to claim 2 , wherein each electron gun in the circular electron gun array is arranged on the outer side of the wall of a concentric coaxial cavity that is most outside of the plurality of concentric coaxial cavities.

8. The CT device according to claim 1 , further comprising a transmission unit configured to carry the object to be detected to move along the axis of the circular electron gun array.

9. The CT device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of concentric coaxial cavities is coupled via a coupling hole.

10. The CT device according to claim 1 , wherein the circular detector array is arranged inside of the circular target and separates from the circular target in the axial direction.

11. The CT device according to claim 1 , further comprising a driving mechanism configured to drive the circular electron gun array to move to and fro a certain degree when each electron gun emits electron beams along the radial direction under the control of the control signal, the degree being less than or equal to the angle between two line, one line connecting one of the electron guns to a center of a circle on which the circular electron gun array is positioned, the other line connecting an adjacent electron gun to the center.

12. The CT device according to claim 1 , further comprising a collimator configured to collimate the X-rays.

13. The CT device according to claim 1 , wherein each detection unit in the circular detector array is a multi-detector row unit.

14. A method for a CT device, comprising steps of
emitting, from respective electron guns of a circular electron gun array, electron beams along a radial direction of the circular electron gun array in sequence according to a predetermine pulse sequence;
accelerating the electron beams emitted from the respective electron guns of the circular electron gun array in sequence by an acceleration cavity, which acceleration cavity including a plurality of nested concentric coaxial cavities that operate in π mode;
generating X-rays by the accelerated electron beams bombarding a transmission target; and
receiving the X-rays after they have passed through an object to be detected.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the scanning speed of the circular electron gun array is changed by changing the trigger mode of the electron guns.

16. The method according to claim 14 , wherein energy of the X-rays is changed by adjusting the feed power of the microwave power source so as to generate X-ray beams of different energies.

17. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising a step of generating a control signal to control the electron guns in the circular electron gun array to start in sequence, and to control the microwave power source to generate microwave power for accelerating electron beams generated by the respective electron gun in sequence.

18. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising a step of generating a control signal to control a first group of electron guns that are equally spaced in the circular electron gun array to start at a first timing simultaneously, to control a second group of electron guns that are equally spaced in the circular electron gun array to start at a second timing simultaneously, and to control the microwave power source to generate microwave power for accelerating electron beams generated by the respective electron guns in sequence.

19. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising a step of driving the circular electron gun array to move to and fro a certain degree when each electron gun emits electron beams along the radial direction under the control of the control signal, the degree being less than or equal to the angle between two line, one line connecting one of the electron guns to a center of a circle on which the circular electron gun array is positioned, the other line connecting an adjacent electron gun to the center.

Assignees

• Univ Tsinghua
• Nuctech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kang Kejun
• Tang Chuanxiang
• Zhao Ziran
• Zhang Zhe

Classifications

• A61B6/4275

  using a detector unit almost surrounding the patient, e.g. more than 180° · CPC title

• H05H7/18

  Cavities; Resonators {(travelling-wave tubes H01J23/18; hyperfrequency cavities in general H01P7/04, H01P7/06)} · CPC title

• A61B6/032

  Transmission computed tomography [CT] · CPC title

• G01N2223/419

  computed tomograph · CPC title

• G01N23/046

  using tomography, e.g. computed tomography [CT] · CPC title