Radiation pickup device, and radiation imaging system and method for the same

A radiation imaging system including:

• a radiation pickup device comprising;
• a casing having a radiation incident window formed therein,
• first and second rollers arranged in said casing on two sides of said radiation incident window, respectively,
• an endless belt-like imaging belt, which is obtained by forming a fluorescent layer, that is sensitive to a radiation to emit light, and a photosensitive layer sensitive to light emitted by said fluorescent layer, on a flexible substrate, and which is looped around said first and second rollers to be driven thereby, for forming a latent image corresponding to a radiation transmitted image,
• a charger, arranged in said casing on said first roller side, for uniformly charging said photosensitive layer of said imaging belt,
• a rolled dielectric recording sheet, removably arranged in said casing, for transcribing the latent image formed on said photosensitive layer of said imaging belt,
• a transcript roller which presses an extracted portion of said dielectric recording sheet against said second roller together with said imaging belt, thereby transcribing the latent image formed on said imaging belt onto said dielectric recording sheet, and
• a takeup roller for taking up a portion of said dielectric recording sheet on which the latent image is transcribed by being passed between said transcript roller and said second roller;
• radiation generating means for generating a radiation toward said radiation incident window of said radiation pickup device;
• and
• image reading means for scanning the latent image on said dielectric recording sheet by a probe while rewinding said dielectric recording sheet, taken up by said takeup roller, to another takeup roller, converting the latent image into an electrical signal, and reading the electrical signal.

A radiation imaging system including:

• a radiation pickup device comprising;
• a casing having a radiation incident window formed therein,
• first and second rollers arranged in said casing on two sides of said radiation incident window, respectively,
• an endless belt-like imaging belt, which is obtained by forming a fluorescent layer, that is sensitive to a radiation to emit light, and a photosensitive layer sensitive to light emitted by said fluorescent layer, on a flexible substrate, and which is looped around said first and second rollers to be driven thereby, for forming a latent image corresponding to a radiation transmitted image,
• a charger, arranged in said casing on said first roller side, for uniformly charging said photosensitive layer of said imaging belt,
• a rolled dielectric recording sheet, removably arranged in said casing, for transcribing the latent image formed on said photosensitive layer of said imaging belt,
• a transcript roller which presses an extracted portion of said dielectric recording sheet against said second roller together with said imaging belt, thereby transcribing the latent image formed on said imaging belt onto said dielectric recording sheet, and
• a takeup roller for taking up a portion of said dielectric recording sheet on which the latent image is transcribed by being passed between said transcript roller and said second roller;
• radiation generating means for generating a radiation toward said radiation incident window of said radiation pickup device;
• image reading means for scanning the latent image on said dielectric recording sheet by a probe while rewinding said dielectric recording sheet, taken up by said takeup roller, to another takeup roller, converting the latent image into an electrical signal, and reading the electrical signal;
• and
• developing means for developing the latent image on said dielectric recording sheet with a coloring developing agent.

A radiation image system including:

• a radiation pickup device comprising;
• a casing having a radiation incident window formed therein,
• first and second rollers arranged in said casing on two sides of said radiation incident window, respectively,
• an endless belt-like imaging belt comprising a fluorescent layer which is sensitive to a directly received radiation to emit light, a photosensitive layer which is sensitive to light emitted by said fluorescent layer and a flexible substrate on which said fluorescent layer and said photosensitive layer are formed, wherein said fluorescent layer, said photosensitive layer and said flexible substrate form said imaging belt in a one-piece body structure,
• a charger, arranged in the casing on said first roller side, for uniformly charging said photosensitive layer of said imaging belt,
• a rolled dielectric recording sheet, removably arranged in said casing, for transcribing the latent image formed on said photosensitive layer of said imaging belt,
• a transcript roller which presses an extracted portion of said dielectric recording sheet against said second roller together with said imaging belt, thereby transcribing the latent image formed on said imaging belt onto said dielectric recording sheet, and
• a takeup roller for taking up a portion of said dielectric recording sheet on which the latent image is transcribed by being passed between said transcript roller and said second roller;
• radiation generating means for generating a radiation toward said radiation incident window of said radiation pickup device;
• and
• developing means for developing the latent image on said dielectric recording sheet with a coloring developing agent.

A radiation imaging method for obtaining a hard copy of a radiation transmitted image by using an endless belt-like imaging belt, said endless belt-like imaging belt being employed to form a latent image corresponding to the radiation transmitted image and being obtained by forming a fluorescent layer which is sensitive to a directly received radiation to emit light, a photosensitive layer which is sensitive to light emitted by said fluorescent layer and a flexible substrate on which said fluorescent layer and said photosensitive layer are formed, wherein said fluorescent layer, said photosensitive layer and said flexible substrate form said imaging belt in a one-piece body structure, said method comprising the steps of:

• charging a front surface of said image storage medium, to which the radiation transmitted image reaches, with a high voltage;
• radiating the radiation transmitted image onto said front surface of said image storage medium in order to form the latent image thereon;
• scanning said front surface of said image storage medium, on which the latent image is formed, with a toner developing unit to which an AC voltage is supplied;
• and
• scanning said front surface of said image storage medium with a charger by a high voltage, thereby reversely transcribing a toner image formed on said front surface of said image storage medium onto a sheet member.