Straddle inspection system
AssigneeAdvanced Research and Applications Corporation
InventorRobert A. Armistead
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A radiographic inspection apparatus for large containers, vehicles and structures having a movable frame which can straddle the container or object being inspected. The straddling frame has opposed parallel sides which carry a source of penetrating radiation and a detector array. The source or sources and detectors are moved along the length of a container while radiographic image data is being sequentially recorded. By summing or collecting the sequence of data over the length of a container as the straddling frame moves along, a full two-dimensional radiographic image of the container may be obtained. Radiographic images may be enhanced either by providing uniform motion for the straddling frame or by measuring non-uniform motion and compensating corresponding regions of the radiographic image.
Claims48
An apparatus for radiographic inspection of vehicles and large containers comprising,
- a movable, inverted U-shaped frame having first and second parallel vertical sides spaced apart by a distance greater than a container to be inspected,
- means for moving the frame relative to a container to be inspected,
- a penetrating radiation source disposed on a first side of the frame having a beam directed toward the second side,
- a detector disposed to record radiation traversing the space between the sides, producing a radiographic signal indicative of material in the space, and
- means for summing radiographic signals along a dimension of the container thereby forming a radiographic image of the contents of the container.
An apparatus for the radiographic inspection of large containers comprising,
- a straddle carrier vehicle or crane having two sets of wheels supported by a frame, the wheels mutually spaced apart on opposite sides of the frame by a distance exceeding the width of a container to be inspected such that one set of wheels is on each side of the container in a straddle relation therewith, the vehicle having propulsion means for moving relative to the container,
- an X-ray source disposed on a first side of said straddle carrier vehicle having a beam directed toward the second side,
- an X-ray detector array disposed to intercept the X-ray beam upon traversing the space between mutually spaced apart sets of wheels and to produce a signal representing the X-ray image through the container, and
- means for displaying or recording the image signal.
A method of radiographic inspection of large opaque objects, such as cargo containers, rail cars, trucks and the like comprising,
- establishing a stationary position for a large opaque object having a length, height and width,
- straddling the width of the large object with a frame having opposed sides,
- directing a beam of penetrating radiation through the object from one side of the frame to the opposite side,
- detecting the beam passing through the object and producing a visible radiographic signal for a single location corresponding to the detected beam,
- moving the frame and beam along the length of the object,
- summing the radiographic signals for a plurality of frame and beam positions along the length of the object thereby forming a two-dimensional radiographic image of the object.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.