阅读说明：本技术 一种射线滤波器及多能谱成像系统 (Ray filter and multi-energy spectrum imaging system ) 是由 吴宏新 王亚杰 张文宇 何艾静 张康平 孙宇 王继斌 于 2020-12-29 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明涉及X射线成像装置技术领域,提供一种射线滤波器及多能谱成像系统,该射线滤波器包括：基底,所述基底为框架结构,所述基底的框架内具有并列设置的至少两种滤波单元,不同的所述滤波单元将同一射线分离成的射线均具有不同的能量。本发明提供的射线滤波器,在基底的框架内具有并列设置的至少两种滤波单元,不同的滤波单元将同一射线分离成的射线均具有不同的能量,使得多能谱成像系统在进行双能或多能成像时,一次扫描即可获取被扫描物上的目标位置的扫描图像,提高了检测效率,降低了辐射对患者带来的伤害；并且,无需改变探测器的内部结构或半导体材料,实现成本低。(The invention relates to the technical field of X-ray imaging devices, and provides a ray filter and a multi-energy spectrum imaging system, wherein the ray filter comprises: the filtering device comprises a substrate, wherein the substrate is of a frame structure, at least two filtering units which are arranged in parallel are arranged in the frame of the substrate, and different filtering units separate the same ray into rays with different energies. The ray filter provided by the invention has at least two filtering units which are arranged in parallel in the frame of the substrate, and the rays separated from the same ray by different filtering units have different energies, so that when a multi-energy spectrum imaging system carries out dual-energy or multi-energy imaging, a scanning image of a target position on a scanned object can be obtained by one-time scanning, the detection efficiency is improved, and the harm of radiation to a patient is reduced; in addition, the internal structure or the semiconductor material of the detector does not need to be changed, and the realization cost is low.)

1. A radiation filter, comprising: the filtering device comprises a substrate, wherein the substrate is of a frame structure, at least two filtering units which are arranged in parallel are arranged in the frame of the substrate, and different filtering units separate the same ray into rays with different energies.

2. The radiation filter according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of filter elements on the substrate are alternately arranged in sequence in a transverse and/or longitudinal direction.

3. The ray filter of claim 2, wherein the filter units are square or circular, and a plurality of filter units are alternately arranged on the substrate in sequence along the transverse direction and the longitudinal direction.

4. The radiation filter according to claim 2, wherein said filter elements are rectangular and a plurality of said filter elements are alternately arranged on the substrate in sequence along a transverse or longitudinal direction.

5. The radiation filter according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein at least one of the plurality of filter elements is a cavity structure.

6. The radiation filter according to claim 5, wherein said filter element is a single layer structure on said substrate.

7. The radiation filter according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the frame of the substrate has a grid-like cutout structure therein, and the grid-like cutout structure is used for connecting a plurality of the filter units respectively.

8. The radiation filter according to claim 7, wherein the filter unit is connected to the grid-hollowed structure of the substrate by embedding or bonding.

9. A multi-spectral imaging system comprising a radiation filter according to any one of claims 1-8; further comprising:

the area array detector is provided with a plurality of crystal units which are arranged in parallel, and the crystal units are arranged in one-to-one correspondence with the filtering units of the ray filter;

and the computing unit is electrically connected with the area array detector and is used for receiving the rays detected by the area array detector and analyzing data.

10. The multi-energy spectrum imaging system of claim 9, wherein the shape of the crystal unit is the same as the shape of the filter unit, and the area of the crystal unit is smaller than or equal to the area of the filter unit.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of X-ray imaging devices, in particular to a ray filter and a multi-energy spectrum imaging system.

Background

The energy spectrum imaging technology can provide more image information than the conventional CT by utilizing different absorptions of substances generated by X-rays with different energies, not only can acquire the density and distribution images of the substances, but also can acquire energy spectrum images, and can calculate the effective atomic coefficient and the electron density of pathological changes or tissues on the basis of the energy spectrum imaging technology, thereby realizing specific tissue identification and having great application potential in the aspects of substance identification, bone density measurement and the like.

When a multi-energy spectrum imaging system in the related technology performs energy spectrum imaging, the most common method is to apply a double-layer energy spectrum detector for energy resolution, adopt a conventional CT scanning scheme, collect low-energy rays and high-energy rays respectively through an upper layer detector and a lower layer detector for energy collection, and then perform related energy spectrum calculation; in addition, a photon counting detector is commonly used, energy gating threshold values are set to divide energy spectrum channels, accumulated counting is respectively carried out on photon numbers in different energy spectrum regions, and more comprehensive energy spectrum information about different materials is obtained to further realize substance identification. However, the above two methods change the internal structure or semiconductor material of the detector, and have high implementation cost and complex structure.

Disclosure of Invention

Therefore, the present invention is to provide a radiation filter and a multi-energy spectrum imaging system, which overcome the defects that the related art multi-energy spectrum imaging system changes the internal structure or semiconductor material of a detector, and has high implementation cost and a complex structure.

The present invention provides a radiation filter comprising: the filtering device comprises a substrate, wherein the substrate is of a frame structure, at least two filtering units which are arranged in parallel are arranged in the frame of the substrate, and different filtering units separate the same ray into rays with different energies.

Optionally, the plurality of filtering units on the substrate are alternately arranged in sequence along the transverse direction and/or the longitudinal direction.

Optionally, the filter units are square or circular, and a plurality of filter units are alternately arranged on the substrate in sequence along the transverse direction and the longitudinal direction.

Optionally, the filter units are rectangular, and the plurality of filter units are alternately arranged on the substrate in sequence along the transverse direction or the longitudinal direction.

Optionally, at least one of the plurality of filter units is a cavity structure.

Optionally, the filtering unit is a single-layer structure on the substrate.

Optionally, a frame of the substrate has a grid hollow structure, and the grid hollow structure is used for respectively connecting the plurality of filtering units.

Optionally, the filtering unit is connected to the grid hollow structure of the substrate in an embedding or bonding manner.

The invention also provides a multi-energy spectrum imaging system, which comprises the ray filter; further comprising: the area array detector is provided with a plurality of crystal units which are arranged in parallel, and the crystal units are arranged in one-to-one correspondence with the filtering units of the ray filter; and the computing unit is electrically connected with the area array detector and is used for receiving the rays detected by the area array detector and analyzing data.

Optionally, the shape of the crystal unit is the same as that of the filter unit, and the area of the crystal unit is smaller than or equal to that of the filter unit.

The technical scheme of the invention has the following advantages:

the ray filter provided by the invention has at least two filtering units which are arranged in parallel in the frame of the substrate, and the rays separated from the same ray by different filtering units have different energies, so that when a multi-energy spectrum imaging system carries out dual-energy or multi-energy imaging, a scanning image of a target position on a scanned object can be obtained by one-time scanning, the detection efficiency is improved, and the harm of radiation to a patient is reduced; in addition, the internal structure or the semiconductor material of the detector does not need to be changed, and the realization cost is low.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and other drawings can be obtained by those skilled in the art without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a radiation filter provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a graph of data obtained for two different energies of radiation using the radiation filter of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of interpolation processing of data obtained using the ray filter of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a further schematic illustration of interpolation processing of data obtained using the ray filter of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of processing the data of FIG. 3 using binning;

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the results of the processing of FIG. 5;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a radiation filter provided in yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a graph illustrating data obtained using the radiation filter of FIG. 7 for four different energies of radiation;

FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of interpolation processing of data obtained using the ray filter of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a further schematic illustration of interpolation processing of data obtained using the ray filter of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a further schematic illustration of interpolation processing of data obtained using the ray filter of FIG. 8;

FIG. 12 is a further schematic illustration of interpolation processing of data obtained using the ray filter of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a schematic illustration of processing the data of FIG. 12 using binning;

FIG. 14 is a graph showing the results of the processing of FIG. 13;

fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a radiation filter provided in yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-energy spectral imaging system provided in one embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-energy spectrum imaging system according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

Description of reference numerals:

1-a ray filter; 2-a first filtering unit; 3-a second filtering unit;

4-a third filtering unit; 5-fourth filtering unit.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions of the present invention will be described clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it should be understood that the described embodiments are some, but not all embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc., indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, but do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood in specific cases to those skilled in the art.

In addition, the technical features involved in the different embodiments of the present invention described below may be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a radiation filter provided in an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 1, the present invention provides a radiation filter 1 including: the substrate is of a frame structure, at least two filter units are arranged in the frame of the substrate in parallel, and the rays separated from the same ray by different filter units have different energies.

Specifically, the filter units on the radiation filter 1 may be sequentially and alternately arranged in a checkerboard manner along the transverse and longitudinal directions of the substrate. For example, the filter units on the radiation filter 1 may be alternately arranged in parallel strips along the transverse or longitudinal direction of the substrate. Wherein, the filtering unit can be square or round.

For example, different filter units may correspond to a filter material with a transmission capacity, and the filter material may be aluminum, copper, or air. For example, the thickness of the same filter material may be varied to vary its transmissivity.

For example, at least one of the plurality of filter units has a cavity structure, for example, a through hole may be formed in the substrate to form a hollow area, the filter unit at the position is air, and after the radiation directly passes through the filter unit, the energy is not attenuated.

For example, the filter unit has a single-layer structure on the substrate. For example, the substrate of the radiation filter 1 may be a grid-shaped frame with a plurality of hollow structures, and filter materials with different transmission capacities are embedded or pasted in each grid to form different filter units. For example, one of the filter materials may be aluminum, which is denoted as the first filter unit 2; another filter material, which may be copper, is denoted as the second filter unit 3. The filter materials embedded in the grid are not limited to two, four or nine, and different filter materials are embedded at different positions according to requirements.

For example, the grid on the substrate may have a size of 64 × 64, that is, 64 grid regions are arranged along the length direction of the substrate and 64 grid regions are arranged along the width direction of the substrate. Wherein half of the grid areas in each row are the first filter units 2, half of the grid areas are the second filter units 3, half of the grid areas in each column are the first filter units 2, and half of the grid areas are the second filter units 3.

For example, the radiation filter 1 may further include a base plate, the substrate is disposed on a surface of the base plate, the base plate may be used for being bonded or welded on the radiation generator or the area array detector, and a thickness of the base plate may be set to be smaller to reduce energy attenuation when the X-ray passes through. For example, the bottom plate may be made of a thin aluminum plate.

The radiation filter 1 in yet another embodiment may be packaged inside an area array detector, and after entering the area array detector, the radiation is separated into rays with different energies, and then reaches the crystal unit of the area array detector.

The radiation filter 1 in another embodiment may be attached to the outer surface of the area array detector, and before entering the area array detector, the radiation is separated into the radiation with different energies, and then reaches the crystal unit of the area array detector.

In yet another embodiment, the shape of the crystal unit on the area array detector is the same as the shape of the filter unit on the radiation filter 1.

In yet another embodiment, the area of the crystal unit on the area array detector is smaller than or equal to the area of the filter unit on the radiation filter 1.

For example, when the area of the filter unit is the same as the size of the crystal unit of the area array detector, one crystal unit may correspond to one filter unit. For example, when the area of the filter unit is larger than the size of the crystal unit of the area array detector, one filter unit may correspond to a plurality of crystal units. When the array type surface-mount imaging device is used, the filtering unit on the substrate can be aligned with the crystal unit of the area array detector, and the imaging effect is improved.

When a radiation passes through the radiation filter 1, the first filter unit 2 and the second filter unit 3 have different transmission capabilities for the X-ray, for example, the first filter unit 2 has a higher transmission rate for the X-ray than the second filter unit 3, and the X-ray is converted into a high-energy X-ray and a low-energy X-ray after passing through the radiation filter 1.

The ray filter provided by the invention has at least two filtering units which are arranged in parallel in the frame of the substrate, and the rays separated from the same ray by different filtering units have different energies, so that when a multi-energy spectrum imaging system carries out dual-energy or multi-energy imaging, a scanning image of a target position on a scanned object can be obtained by one-time scanning, the detection efficiency is improved, and the harm of radiation to a patient is reduced.

For example, for the entire multi-energy spectral generating system, it has a ray generator for emitting the X-rays required for scanning; the system also comprises an area array detector for receiving X-rays; and the calculation unit is used for receiving the rays detected by the area array detector and analyzing data.

For example, the spectral imaging system may be a cone-beam CT scanning system or a direct digital radiography system. In this case, the radiation filter 1 may be provided as a separate component in front of the area array detector, and separate the radiation into the radiation having different energies after the radiation scans the object to be detected.

FIG. 2 is a graph of data obtained for two different energies of radiation using the radiation filter of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of interpolation processing of data obtained using the ray filter of FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a further schematic illustration of interpolation processing of data obtained using the ray filter of FIG. 2; FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of processing the data of FIG. 3 using binning; FIG. 6 is a graph showing the results of the processing of FIG. 5; wherein "a" in the various figures represents data acquired by rays of one energy, "B" represents data acquired by rays of yet another energy, "C" represents data acquired by rays of yet another energy, and "D" represents data acquired by rays of yet another energy. I.e., A, B, C and D, respectively, each correspond to data acquired by a ray of one energy.

As shown in fig. 2, fig. 3, fig. 4, fig. 5 and fig. 6, for example, in one scan, the ray generator uses a high voltage, for example, 140KV, after the X-ray passes through the scanned object, the X-ray passes through the filtering units with different transmission capabilities, and then is divided into rays with different energies, the rays with different energies are received by the area array detector, the area array detector transmits data to the computing unit, and finally, a high-energy image and a low-energy image for the same scanned object can be generated. The calculation unit can extract data, and two groups of projection images of high-energy data and low-energy data aiming at the same object can be obtained through reconstruction, so that projection acquisition of dual-energy CT imaging is realized. For example, in one embodiment, the data with the "x" sign is completely supplemented by interpolation to obtain two groups of data with the same number as the original number of samples, and then the high-energy data and the low-energy data are obtained by pixel combination, and the number of samples is reduced to 1/2. And finally, utilizing CT reconstruction to obtain linear attenuation coefficients of the scanned object under two energies, then selecting different base materials to carry out base material decomposition calculation on the detected object, and further obtaining an atomic number image and an electron density image to realize the identification of specific tissues.

According to the multi-energy spectrum imaging system, the ray filter 1 is arranged at the receiving end of the area array detector, when the multi-energy spectrum imaging system is used, the ray generator emits X rays, the X rays pass through an object to be detected and are filtered by the ray filter 1, the X rays pass through the first filtering unit 2 and the second filtering unit 3 and are divided into two rays with different high and low energies, the two rays with different high and low energies are received by the area array detector, and finally a high-energy CT image and a low-energy CT image aiming at the same object to be detected can be generated. The multi-energy spectrum imaging system can realize dual-energy CT imaging through one-time scanning, improves the detection efficiency, reduces the harm of radiation to patients, does not need to change the crystal structure, materials and related manufacturing processes in the existing area array detector, and is favorable for reducing the production cost.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a radiation filter 1 provided in a further embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 8 is a graph illustrating data obtained using the radiation filter of FIG. 7 for four different energies of radiation; FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of interpolation processing of data obtained using the ray filter of FIG. 8; FIG. 10 is a further schematic illustration of interpolation processing of data obtained using the ray filter of FIG. 8; FIG. 11 is a further schematic illustration of interpolation processing of data obtained using the ray filter of FIG. 8; FIG. 12 is a further schematic illustration of interpolation processing of data obtained using the ray filter of FIG. 11; FIG. 13 is a schematic illustration of processing the data of FIG. 12 using binning; FIG. 14 is a graph showing the results of the processing of FIG. 13; as shown in fig. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, in yet another embodiment, the radiation filter 1 includes a first filtering unit 2, a second filtering unit 3, a third filtering unit 4 and a fourth filtering unit 5; the first filtering unit 2, the second filtering unit 3, the third filtering unit 4 and the fourth filtering unit 5 are alternately arranged along the counterclockwise direction or the clockwise direction. The four grid areas are a small whole, and the distribution positions of the first filtering unit 2, the second filtering unit 3, the third filtering unit 4 and the fourth filtering unit 5 in the small whole can be designed as required, which is not limited herein. The use of the radiation filter 1 with four filter units is the same as the use of the radiation filter 1 with two filter units, and will not be described herein again.

Fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a radiation filter provided in yet another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-energy spectral imaging system provided in one embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 15 and 16, the multi-energy spectrum imaging system may be a panoramic CT scanning system or a direct digital radiography system, for example.

In this embodiment, both the two filter units are strip-shaped structures, which are respectively denoted as a first filter unit 2 and a second filter unit 3, and the first filter unit 2 and the second filter unit 3 are disposed on the substrate along the transverse direction.

For example, the size of the radiation filter 1 can be designed to be larger, and when the radiation filter 1 is used, the radiation filter can be placed at the receiving end of the area array detector and completely covers the surface of the area array detector, and is perpendicular to the radiation. After the ray is emitted, the ray penetrates through the scanned object, then the ray penetrates through the first filtering unit 2 and can be a high-energy ray, the ray penetrates through the second filtering unit 3 and can be a low-energy ray, the two rays are received by the area array detector, the area array detector feeds back the received ray data to the computing unit of the multi-energy spectrum imaging system, and finally a high-energy image and a low-energy image can be generated. And the ray generator can be rotated to scan and image different positions of the scanned object. In conclusion, the multi-energy spectrum imaging system can realize dual-energy or even multi-energy imaging by scanning once, improves the detection efficiency, reduces the damage of radiation to patients, does not need to change the internal crystal structure, materials and related manufacturing process of the existing area array detector, and is favorable for reducing the cost.

Fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-energy spectrum imaging system according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

For example, the multi-energy spectrum imaging system may be a panoramic CT scanning system or a direct digital radiography system.

The radiation filter 1 in this embodiment may be provided as a separate component at the emitting end of the radiation generator to separate the radiation into rays having different energies before the radiation scans the object to be detected.

In one scan, the radiation generator is beamed at a high voltage, e.g., 110 KV. For example, the size of the radiation filter 1 can be designed to be larger, and when the radiation filter 1 is used, the radiation filter can be placed at the emission end of the radiation generator and completely block the whole beam outlet and is perpendicular to the radiation. After the ray is emitted, the ray passing through the first filtering unit 2 can be a high-energy ray, the ray passing through the second filtering unit 3 can be a low-energy ray, the two rays pass through the scanned object and are received by the area array detector, the area array detector feeds back the received ray data to the computing unit of the multi-energy spectrum imaging system, and finally a high-energy image and a low-energy image can be generated. And the ray generator can be rotated to scan and image different positions of the scanned object. By rotating the angle of the ray generator, the multiple rays separated by the ray filter 1 sequentially scan the same position of the object to be detected, so as to obtain images of the object to be detected under the irradiation of rays with different energies.

In conclusion, the multi-energy spectrum imaging system can realize dual-energy or even multi-energy imaging by scanning once, improves the detection efficiency, reduces the damage of radiation to patients, does not need to change the internal crystal structure, materials and related manufacturing process of the existing area array detector, and is favorable for reducing the cost.

It should be understood that the above examples are only for clarity of illustration and are not intended to limit the embodiments. Other variations and modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art in light of the above description. And are neither required nor exhaustive of all embodiments. And obvious variations or modifications therefrom are within the scope of the invention.