Method and apparatus for recording and reading out radiation images

A radiation image recording and read-out apparatus, comprising:

• i) an image recording section for exposing a stimulable phosphor sheet, which is capable of storing a radiation image thereon, to radiation, which carries image information of an object, in order to store a radiation image of the object on the stimulable phosphor sheet,
• ii) an image read-out section provided with:
• a stimulating ray source for producing stimulating rays and irradiating the stimulating rays to the stimulable phosphor sheet, on which the radiation image has been stored, the stimulating rays being irradiated to a surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet, which surface is opposite to a radiation irradiation side surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet, the stimulating rays causing the stimulable phosphor sheet to emit light in proportion to the amount of energy stored thereon during its exposure to the radiation, and
• photoelectric read-out means for photoelectrically detecting the light, which is emitted from the two surfaces of the stimulable phosphor sheet, in order to read out the radiation image and to obtain image signals representing the radiation image,
• iii) an erasing section for releasing residual energy, which remains on the stimulable phosphor sheet after the radiation image has been read out therefrom in the image read-out section, and
• iv) movement means for reciprocally moving the image read-out section and the erasing section together with each other with respect to the stimulable phosphor sheet.

A radiation image recording and read-out method, comprising the steps of:

• i) exposing a stimulable phosphor sheet, which is capable of storing a radiation image thereon, to radiation, which carries image information of an object, in order to store a radiation image of the object on the stimulable phosphor sheet,
• ii) exposing the stimulable phosphor sheet, on which the radiation image has been stored to stimulating rays, which cause the stimulable phosphor sheet to emit light in proportion to the amount of energy stored thereon during its exposure to the radiation, the stimulating rays being irradiated to a surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet, which surface is opposite to a radiation irradiation side surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet, and photoelectrically detecting the light, which is emitted from the two surfaces of the stimulable phosphor sheet, with photoelectric read-out means in order to read out the radiation image and to obtain image signals representing the radiation image,
• iii) releasing residual energy, which remains on the stimulable phosphor sheet after the radiation image has been read out therefrom, and
• iv) reciprocally moving an image read-out section, in which the step of reading out the radiation image is performed, and an erasing section, in which the step of releasing the residual energy remaining on the stimulable phosphor sheet is performed, together with each other vertically and horizontally with respect to the stimulable phosphor sheet.

A radiation image recording and read-out apparatus, comprising:

• i) an image recording section for exposing a stimulable phosphor sheet, which is capable of storing a radiation image thereon, to radiation, which carries image information of an object, in order to store a radiation image of the object on the stimulable phosphor sheet,
• ii) an image read-out section provided with:
• a stimulating ray source for producing stimulating rays and irradiating the stimulating rays to the stimulable phosphor sheet, on which the radiation image has been stored, the stimulating rays being irradiated to a surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet, which surface is opposite to a radiation irradiation side surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet, the stimulating rays causing the stimulable phosphor sheet to emit light in proportion to the amount of energy stored thereon during its exposure to the radiation, and
• photoelectric read-out means for photoelectrically detecting the light, which is emitted from the two surfaces of the stimulable phosphor sheet, in order to read out the radiation image and to obtain image signals representing the radiation image,
• iii) an erasing section for releasing residual energy, which remains on the stimulable phosphor sheet after the radiation image has been read out therefrom in the image read-out section, and
• iv) movement means for reciprocally moving the image read-out section and the erasing section together with each other vertically and horizontally with respect to the stimulable phosphor sheet.