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AssigneeAmerican Science and Engineering, Inc.
InventorsRichard Mastronardi, Alan DeCew, David McMahon
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A Computerized Tomography (CT) system for examining large objects, e.g., rocket motors, includes an improved support structure comprising a large bearing and an elongated cup-like support attached to the inner race of the bearing and extending away from the bearing in coaxial relation thereto for supporting the object to be examined and for rotating that object about the axis of the bearing. Spacers or an elevator are provided adjacent the bottom of the cup-like structure for selectively translating the object being examined along the axis of the support structure and bearing. An X-ray source is positioned to beam X-rays through the object being examined at a diametral plane in said object closely adjacent to one face of the bearing, and a detector is also provided which is responsive to X-rays passing through the object to determine the X-ray opacity of a slice of said object closely adjacent to the bearing. The source and detector, or alternatively the bearing and cup-like support, are mounted for translation in a direction transverse to the beam direction. The support structure may be oriented vertically within a pit located below the door of a building structure, with the bearing, source and detector being located above the floor.
A Computerized Tomography system for inspecting large objects, comprising a rotary bearing having an inner diameter sufficiently large to encircle the object to be inspected, an elongated cup-like support structure attached to said bearing for rotation therewith, said support structure extending away from one face of said bearing in coaxial relation to said bearing, said support structure being adapted to receive and support an object to be examined with said object protruding outwardly of said support structure through said bearing and past the other face of said bearing, drive means coupled to said bearing for rotating said bearing, said support structure, and the object to be examined about the central axis of said bearing and support structure, a radiant energy source positioned to beam radiant energy toward the object to be examined in a direction transverse to the axis of rotation of said bearing, said beam passing through a diametral plane in said object closely adjacent to said bearing, detector means positioned adjacent said object for detecting the radiant energy opacity of said object at said dimetral plane thereof, and translation means for selectively displacing said object along the axis of said support structure and through said bearing, to change the diametral plane of the object being examined without changing the position of the diametral plane under examination relative to said bearing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.