Scintillator reflective layer preparation mold

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a mold for preparing a scintillator reflective layer, comprising: a mold body, comprising a plurality of mold components that can be combined and disassembled; wherein the plurality of mold components can be combined with each other to form a groove (32) for accommodating a scintillator bare strip (10). The embodiments of the present disclosure can improve the preparation efficiency of the scintillator reflective layer.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of scintillator manufacturing, and in particular to a mold for preparing a scintillator reflective layer. Background Art

[0002] A scintillator is an element that converts high-energy rays (such as X-rays or gamma rays) into visible light. The visible light emitted by the scintillator can be converted into electrical signals by photoelectric conversion devices. In radiation imaging security inspection systems, line scanning imaging is generally used. The array detector in the radiation imaging security inspection system includes scintillators and photoelectric conversion devices in the form of an array, which can convert high-energy rays that pass through the object being inspected into electrical signals. When irradiating the object, the high-energy rays interact with the material of the object, and the high-energy rays that are attenuated after passing through the object are received by the array detector and converted into electrical signals, and further form an image.

[0003] In practical applications, a scintillator usually retains a light-emitting surface and couples the light-emitting surface with a photoelectric conversion device such as a silicon photomultiplier tube or a photodiode. The scintillation photons generated in the scintillator pass through the light-emitting surface to the photoelectric conversion device and are converted into electrical signals by the photoelectric conversion device, thereby realizing the detection of high-energy rays.

[0004] The emission of scintillation light in the scintillator is in any direction. Therefore, if all the outer surfaces of the scintillator can transmit photons, only some of the photons will eventually reach the photoelectric conversion device and be detected. The remaining photons will escape from the scintillator from other surfaces except the light-emitting surface and will not be detected, resulting in low detection efficiency.

[0005] In order to make the scintillation photons generated in the scintillator be detected more fully, a reflective layer is usually prepared on the remaining surfaces except the light-emitting surface, so that the scintillation photons reaching these surfaces can be reflected back to the scintillator. In this way, the photons that have been reflected once or multiple times are eventually either lost in the scintillator or emitted from the scintillator through the light-emitting surface and detected by the photoelectric conversion device. Therefore, the outer reflective layer of the scintillator is used to effectively improve the detection efficiency of scintillation photons.

[0006] In order to prepare the reflective layer of the scintillator, in the related art, a reflective glue is separately scraped and coated on the surface where the reflective layer is to be prepared, or a reflective sheet is separately attached. Summary of the invention

[0007] The inventors have found that the method of preparing the reflective layer in the related art has problems such as low efficiency, low packaging accuracy, and easy light leakage. Especially for small-sized scintillator arrays with fine pixels, such as those with a size of only a few millimeters, this preparation method is difficult to operate.

[0008] In view of this, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a scintillator reflective layer preparation mold, which can improve the preparation efficiency.

[0009] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a scintillator reflective layer preparation mold is provided, comprising:

[0010] A mold body, including a plurality of mold components that can be combined and disassembled;

[0011] The plurality of mold assemblies can be combined with each other to form a groove for accommodating the bare scintillator strip.

[0012] In some embodiments, the plurality of mold assemblies include:

[0013] chassis;

[0014] at least one positioning strip including at least one groove;

[0015] Wherein, the at least one positioning strip is detachably mounted on the base frame.

[0016] In some embodiments, the top surface of the positioning strip is provided with a plurality of groups of raised dividing strips, the grooves are formed between each group of dividing strips, and the first glue containing grooves are formed between adjacent groups of dividing strips.

[0017] In some embodiments, the plurality of mold assemblies further comprises:

[0018] At least one side stop bar, detachably mounted on the base frame and snugly disposed between adjacent positioning bars;

[0019] The side edges of the side blocking strips are higher than the top surface of the positioning strips, and together with the groups of dividing vertical strips, they enclose the groove and the first glue containing groove.

[0020] In some embodiments, the side guard bar includes two side edges, and a second glue containing groove is formed between the two side edges.

[0021] In some embodiments, the heights of the dividing strips and the side edges relative to the top surface of the positioning strip both exceed the height of the scintillator bare strip.

[0022] In some embodiments, a guiding mechanism is provided between the base frame and the at least one positioning bar, for guiding the at least one positioning bar to be installed on the base frame along a preset direction.

[0023] In some embodiments, the guide mechanism is a dovetail-shaped guide rail and guide groove matching structure.

[0024] In some embodiments, it also includes:

[0025] The connecting piece is used to connect the positioning strip and the side stop strip and fix the relative position between the positioning strip and the side stop strip.

[0026] In some embodiments, it also includes:

[0027] A positioning sleeve having a thin-walled structure with a hollow channel capable of accommodating the bare scintillator strip;

[0028] The outer side wall of the thin-walled structure matches the side wall of the groove, so that the thin-walled structure can be snugly inserted into the groove, and the wall thickness of the thin-walled structure is the same as the thickness of the reflective layer of the scintillator bare strip.

[0029] In some embodiments, the positioning sleeve further includes a hand-held portion connected to an upper portion of the thin-walled structure.

[0030] In some embodiments, it also includes:

[0031] The cover plate can cover the combined plurality of mold assemblies.

[0032] Therefore, according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the scintillator bare strip is set in the groove of the mold, and the glue that can form the reflective layer is poured into the reserved gap between the groove and the scintillator bare strip, and the reflective layer is formed after the glue is cured. This preparation method can form a reflective layer on at least part of the side surface of the scintillator bare strip at one time as needed, which greatly improves the preparation efficiency, and easily ensures the uniformity of the thickness of the reflective layer, thereby improving the preparation quality of the scintillator reflective layer. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] The accompanying drawings, which constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure.

[0034] The present disclosure may be more clearly understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0035] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the process of some embodiments of the method for preparing a scintillator reflective layer according to the present disclosure;

[0036] Figure 2 is a schematic flow chart of other embodiments of the method for preparing a scintillator reflective layer according to the present disclosure;

[0037] Figure 3 is a schematic flow chart of some further embodiments of the method for preparing a scintillator reflective layer according to the present disclosure;

[0038] Figure 4 It is a schematic structural diagram of some embodiments of preparing a mold for a scintillator reflective layer according to the present disclosure;

[0039] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of a scintillator bare strip used for preparing a scintillator reflective layer;

[0040] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of setting a scintillator bare strip in a mold for preparing a scintillator reflective layer after assembly;

[0041] Figure 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a positioning sleeve in some embodiments of preparing a mold for a scintillator reflective layer according to the present disclosure;

[0042] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of setting a full scintillator bare strip in the assembled scintillator reflective layer preparation mold;

[0043] Fig. 9 It is a structural schematic diagram of a partial top view of some embodiments of preparing a mold for a scintillator reflective layer according to the present disclosure;

[0044] Fig.10 yes Fig. 9 Structural diagram of the AA section;

[0045] Fig.11 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the scintillator obtained after preparing the scintillator reflective layer.

[0046] It should be understood that the size of each part shown in the accompanying drawings is not drawn according to the actual proportional relationship. In addition, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar components. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The description of the exemplary embodiments is merely illustrative and is in no way intended to limit the present disclosure and its application or use. The present disclosure can be implemented in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. These embodiments are provided to make the present disclosure thorough and complete and to fully express the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art. It should be noted that unless otherwise specifically stated, the relative arrangement of the components and steps, and the composition of the materials described in these embodiments should be interpreted as being merely exemplary and not as limiting.

[0048] The words "first", "second" and similar words used in this disclosure do not indicate any order, quantity or importance, but are only used to distinguish different parts. The words "include" or "comprise" and similar words mean that the elements before the word include the elements listed after the word, and do not exclude the possibility of including other elements. "Up", "down", "left", "right" and the like are only used to indicate relative positional relationships. When the absolute position of the described object changes, the relative positional relationship may also change accordingly.

[0049] In the present disclosure, when a specific device is described as being located between a first device and a second device, there may or may not be an intermediate device between the specific device and the first device or the second device. When a specific device is described as being connected to other devices, the specific device may be directly connected to the other device without an intermediate device, or may not be directly connected to the other device but have an intermediate device.

[0050] All terms (including technical terms or scientific terms) used in the present disclosure have the same meanings as those understood by ordinary technicians in the field to which the present disclosure belongs, unless otherwise specifically defined. It should also be understood that terms defined in general dictionaries, such as general dictionaries, should be interpreted as having meanings consistent with their meanings in the context of the relevant technology, and should not be interpreted in an idealized or extremely formal sense, unless explicitly defined herein.

[0051] Technologies, methods, and equipment known to ordinary technicians in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail, but where appropriate, the technologies, methods, and equipment should be considered as part of the specification.

[0052] like Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the process flow of some embodiments of the method for preparing a scintillator reflective layer according to the present disclosure. Figure 1 , and combined with Figure 2-Figure 11 As shown, in some embodiments, the method for preparing a scintillator reflective layer of the present disclosure includes:

[0053] Step 200: placing the bare scintillator bar 10 in the groove 32 of the mold, and reserving a gap between the side wall of the groove 32 and at least part of the side outer contour of the bare scintillator bar 10;

[0054] Step 400, pouring glue for forming the reflective layer 13 into the gap;

[0055] Step 600 , solidifying the glue in the gap to form a reflective layer 13 .

[0056] In this embodiment, the groove 32 is a space for accommodating the bare scintillator bar 10 and injecting the glue. The bare scintillator bar 10 without a reflective layer on the surface is arranged in the groove 32 of the mold, and the light-emitting side of the bare scintillator bar 10 contacts the bottom surface of the groove 32. The inner dimension of the groove 32 and the outer dimension of the bare scintillator bar 10 meet the preset difference to meet the width requirement of the reserved gap.

[0057] refer to Figure 6 The scintillator bare strip may be a single scintillator or a scintillator array, the scintillator array may be a scintillator array in the form of a single row, multiple rows, or a planar array, and the scintillator array may also be a scintillator array in an irregular shape.

[0058] When the scintillator bare strip 10 is set in the groove 32, the outer contours of all sides of the scintillator bare strip 10 can reserve gaps with the side walls of the groove 32 to form the reflective layer 13 of each side wall. In other embodiments, the outer contours of only some sides of the scintillator bare strip 10 can reserve gaps with the side walls of the groove 32 to form the reflective layer of some sides. The scintillator array encapsulated by the reflective layer 13 can be used in X-ray computed tomography (X-CT) and / or line scanning imaging mode X-ray, gamma ray ionizing radiation imaging detector devices, especially suitable for radiation imaging security inspection and medical fields.

[0059] When the gap is reserved, the gap sizes formed between the outer contours of each side of the scintillator bare strip 10 and the side walls of the groove 32 are equal, so that a reflective layer with uniform thickness can be formed. In other embodiments, the gap sizes formed between the outer contours of each side of the scintillator bare strip 10 and the side walls of the groove 32 may not be completely equal.

[0060] The glue used to form the reflective layer in step 400 is a uniform mixture of reflective powder and curable transparent colloid formed by grinding. According to the required reflection efficiency, the reflective powder can be selected from white or other color pigments. Among them, the white pigment can be, but is not limited to, a mixture of one or more of TiO2, MgO, (PbCO3)﹒Pb(OH)2, Ba2SO4 and ZnO powder. The pigment powder can be composed of different particle size powder gradations of 0.01 to 100 um.

[0061] The curable transparent colloid can be any resin with moderate viscosity, long room temperature operability, transparency, high strength and good weather resistance after curing, such as epoxy resin, acrylic resin, polystyrene resin, polyamide resin or silicone resin. The mass content of the solid reflective powder accounts for 20-80% of the total glue. The glue is ball-milled and / or roller-milled to ensure that the reflective powder is evenly distributed in the glue.

[0062] In order to improve the potting performance of the glue, one or more additives may be added to the glue. The additives may include one or more of a curing agent, a defoaming agent and a diluent.

[0063] Before step 200, a film or adhesive may be provided on the bottom surface of the bare scintillator bar 10 so as to adhere the bottom surface of the bare scintillator bar 10 to the groove 32 through the film or adhesive. By pasting the film or adhesive, the bare scintillator bar 10 can be fixed and the light-emitting surface of the bare scintillator bar 10 can be prevented from forming a reflective layer.

[0064] During the process of adding reflective powder to the glue and the process of pouring the glue after the scintillator is fixed, the bubbles in the glue must be fully eliminated in order to improve the quality of the reflective layer. Debubbling can be achieved by grinding, centrifugation, vacuuming, adding defoaming agents, etc., or a combination of several methods. The timing of the debubbling operation can be selected before pouring the glue, or after pouring the glue. When debubbling is performed after pouring the glue, the debubbling operation can be performed by one or a combination of centrifugation, vacuuming, etc.; when debubbling is performed before pouring the glue, the debubbling operation can include eliminating bubbles in the glue by grinding or adding defoaming agents.

[0065] In order to stably fix the scintillator bare bar 10 in the groove 32, a glue film or adhesive may be provided on the bottom surface of the scintillator bare bar 10 before the scintillator bare bar 10 is provided, so that the bottom surface of the scintillator bare bar 10 is bonded to the groove 32 by the glue film or adhesive, thereby forming a reflective layer of a desired thickness when the glue is poured and cured. In other embodiments, the scintillator bare bar 10 and the groove 32 may also be fixed by other means such as snap-fitting.

[0066] According to the range of the reflective layer to be formed on the scintillator bare bar 10, a corresponding amount of glue can be filled in the gap. In order to obtain a more complete range of the reflective layer, the glue can be poured into the gap when pouring the glue, and the gap is filled with the glue and the top surface of the scintillator bare bar 10 is covered. In this way, a reflective layer can also be formed on the reverse side of the light-emitting surface of the scintillator bare bar 10.

[0067] In order to cover the top surface of the scintillator bare bar 10 with glue, the depth of the groove 32 is greater than the thickness of the scintillator bare bar 10. When the glue completely fills the groove 32 and covers the scintillator bare bar 10, an upward arc will be formed above the scintillator bare bar 10 due to surface tension. In order to make the thickness of the reflective layer on the top surface of the scintillator bare bar 10 uniform, after the glue covers the top surface of the scintillator bare bar 10, a cover plate can be covered on the top of the scintillator bare bar 10. The glue on the top surface of the scintillator bare bar 10 is squeezed by the cover plate with high flatness, so that the reflective layer 12 on the top surface of the scintillator bare bar 10 is flatter. In addition, a reflective layer 12 of a specific shape can also be formed by the surface shape of the cover plate.

[0068] like Figure 2, which is a schematic flow diagram of other embodiments of the method for preparing a scintillator reflective layer according to the present disclosure. Compared with the above-mentioned embodiments, after forming the reflective layer 13 in step 600, steps 710 and 720 are also included. In step 710, the scintillator or scintillator array 10' formed with the reflective layer 13 can be separated from the mold. After the residual glue film on the light-emitting surface of the scintillator array 10' separated from the mold is removed, the glue burrs formed by the reflective layer 13 in the mold gap can be eliminated by trimming and grinding in step 720.

[0069] In order to make the size of the reflective layer 13 on each surface of the scintillator or scintillator array 10' meet the design requirements, the thickness of the reflective layer of the scintillator or scintillator array 10' can be detected after demolding. If the size does not meet the requirements, it can be processed through step 730. In step 730, after the scintillator is separated from the mold, the thickness of the reflective layer 13 is adjusted by precision grinding.

[0070] In each embodiment of the above-mentioned method for preparing the scintillator reflective layer, in order to make the scintillator array forming the reflective layer easier to demold, a release agent may be applied to at least the inner wall of the groove 32 before the scintillator bare strip 10 is set. As needed, in addition to the inner wall of the groove, all surfaces on the mold for preparing the scintillator reflective layer that may contact the glue may be coated with a release agent. For the embodiment of the method for covering the cover plate, in addition to coating the release agent on the inner wall of the groove 32, a release agent may also be applied to one side of the cover plate close to the top surface of the scintillator bare strip 10 before covering the cover plate. In other embodiments, the top surface of the scintillator bare strip 10 may also be covered with release paper or a release film.

[0071] like Figure 3 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a process flow of some further embodiments of the method for preparing a scintillator reflective layer according to the present disclosure. Figure 3 In some embodiments, the operation of setting the scintillator bare bar 10 in step 200 may specifically include steps 210 to 230. In step 210, a positioning sleeve 50 is inserted into the groove 32, and the positioning sleeve 50 has a hollow channel 51 capable of accommodating the scintillator bare bar 10. In step 220, the scintillator bare bar 10 is set to the bottom of the groove 32 via the hollow channel 51. In step 230, the positioning sleeve 50 is removed from the groove 32 to form a gap between the side wall of the groove 32 and the scintillator bare bar 10.

[0072] When designing the positioning sleeve, the hollow channel 51 of the positioning sleeve 50 has the same size as the scintillator bare bar 10, and may have a slight positive tolerance so as to allow only the scintillator bare bar 10 to pass through.

[0073] refer to Figure 4, Figure 6-Figure 10 , the embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a scintillator reflective layer preparation mold that can support the above-mentioned preparation method. In some embodiments, the scintillator reflective layer preparation mold includes a mold body. The mold body includes a plurality of mold components that can be combined and disassembled, and the plurality of mold components can be combined with each other to form a groove 32 for accommodating the scintillator bare strip 10. The mold body can be made of a material with high hardness and high machinable surface finish. The material can be selected but not limited to stainless steel, mold steel, cemented carbide, copper alloy or aluminum alloy.

[0074] The mold for preparing the scintillator reflective layer can be realized by using various combinable and disassembled mold components. Figure 4 In the embodiment, the plurality of mold assemblies include: a base frame 20 and at least one positioning bar 30. The positioning bar 30 includes at least one groove 32 for accommodating the bare scintillator bar 10 and receiving the injected glue. The positioning bar 30 can be installed on the base frame 20 and removed from the base frame 20 as needed, so that the manufacturer can install more or less positioning bars as needed to complete the preparation of the reflective layer of a specified number of bare scintillator bars 10 at one time. In addition, the demoulding of the scintillator or scintillator array 10' formed with the reflective layer 13 is assisted by removing the positioning bar 30 from the base frame 20.

[0075] refer to Figure 4 In some embodiments, the top surface of the positioning strip 30 is provided with a plurality of groups of raised dividing strips 31. The grooves 32 are formed between each group of dividing strips 31, and the first glue receiving grooves 33 are formed between adjacent groups of dividing strips 31. The dividing strips 31 can be designed according to the depth, length and other dimensions of the grooves 32. The first glue receiving grooves 33 can receive glue overflowing from the grooves 32.

[0076] In order to better control the width of the groove 32, in some embodiments, the plurality of mold assemblies further include at least one side block 40. The side block 40 is detachably mounted on the base frame 20 and is closely disposed between adjacent positioning bars 30. The side edges 41 of the side block 40 are higher than the top surface of the positioning bar 30, and together with each group of dividing vertical bars 31, they enclose the groove 32 and the first glue containing groove 33.

[0077] refer to Figure 4 and Figure 6The base frame 20 includes a supporting surface 21 for supporting the positioning strips 30 and the side blocking strips 40, and a raised frame 22 for blocking the positioning strips 30 and the side blocking strips 40 on the sides. According to the size of the scintillator bare strips for the reflective layer to be prepared, the side blocking strips 40 and the positioning strips 30 may be arranged in an alternate arrangement, so that the width of the grooves 32 formed corresponds to the width of a single row of scintillator bare strips. In other embodiments, more than two positioning strips 30 may be arranged between the two side blocking strips 40a and 40b, so that the preparation of the reflective layer of more rows of scintillator bare strips can be achieved. Figure 4 In the embodiment, the side blocking strip 40 may include two side edges 41, and a second glue receiving groove 42 is formed between the two side edges 41. The second glue receiving groove 42 may receive glue overflowing from the groove 32.

[0078] In order to allow the glue to cover the top surface of the scintillator bare strip 10, the height of the dividing vertical strips 31 and the side edges 41 relative to the top surface of the positioning strip 30 can exceed the height of the scintillator bare strip 10, so that the depth of the groove 32 exceeds the height of the scintillator bare strip 10.

[0079] refer to Figure 4 In order to enable the positioning bar 30 to be stably and reliably installed on the base frame 20, a guide mechanism may be provided between the base frame 20 and the at least one positioning bar 30 to guide the at least one positioning bar 30 to be installed on the base frame 20 along a preset direction. Figure 4 In the embodiment, the guide mechanism can adopt a dovetail-shaped guide rail and guide groove matching structure so as to guide the positioning bar 30 in a direction parallel to the surface of the base frame 20 while limiting the positioning bar 30 from detaching from the base frame 20 in other directions, thereby improving the convenience and stability of the installation of the positioning bar 30.

[0080] For example, a dovetail-shaped protrusion 34 protruding downward is provided at the bottom of the positioning bar 30, and a dovetail-shaped groove 22 recessed downward is provided on the support surface 21 of the bottom frame 20, and the dovetail groove protrusion 34 and the dovetail groove 22 constitute a dovetail-shaped guide rail and guide groove matching structure. In other embodiments, the guide mechanism can also be in other structural forms, such as guide rail and guide groove matching structures of other shapes, or guide groove structures provided at both ends of the positioning bar 30.

[0081] A guide mechanism may be provided between the side guard bar 40 and the bottom frame 20, and the side guard bar 40 may share the same guide mechanism as the positioning bar 30. For example, a dovetail-shaped protrusion 43 protruding downward is provided at the bottom of the side guard bar 40, and the dovetail-shaped protrusion 43 also forms a dovetail-shaped guide rail and guide groove matching structure with the dovetail-shaped groove 22.

[0082] In this way, the operator can gradually install the positioning bar 30 and the side block 40 on the bottom frame 20 in sequence according to the need. Afterwards, the positioning bar 30 and the side block 40 can be connected by the connecting member 60, and the relative position between the positioning bar 30 and the side block 40 can be fixed. The connecting member 60 can be a bolt, a pin, etc. The operator can pass the connecting member 60 through the connecting hole 35 of each positioning bar 30 and the connecting hole 44 of each side block 40 and fix it.

[0083] In order to simplify the arrangement of the scintillator bare bar 10, the operator can arrange the scintillator bare bar 10 into the groove 32 formed by the positioning bar 30 or the positioning bar 30 and the side block bar 40 by means of the positioning sleeve 50. Figure 7 In some embodiments, the positioning sleeve 50 has a thin-walled structure 52 that can accommodate the hollow channel 51 of the scintillator bare bar 10. The outer wall of the thin-walled structure 52 can match the side wall of the groove 32 so that the thin-walled structure 52 can be inserted into the groove 32 in a snug manner. In order to accurately control the thickness of the generated reflective layer 13, the wall thickness of the thin-walled structure 52 can be set to be the same as the thickness of the reflective layer 13 of the scintillator bare bar 10. In this way, after the scintillator bare bar 10 is fixed in the groove 32, the positioning sleeve 50 can be taken out to form a reserved gap between the side wall of the groove 32 and the side outer contour of the scintillator bare bar 10. According to the different thickness requirements of the thin-walled structure 52, it can be made by milling, thin-wall stamping or injection molding. The positioning sleeve 50 can be made of materials with certain strength and rigidity, such as stainless steel, copper alloy, mold steel, aluminum alloy or resin, and the processing method can be selected but not limited to precision milling, stamping, bending or injection molding.

[0084] In order to facilitate the operation of the operator, in some embodiments, the positioning sleeve 50 further includes a hand-held portion 53 connected to the upper portion of the thin-walled structure 52. A support portion 54 may be further provided between the hand-held portion 53 and the thin-walled structure 52, and when the thin-walled structure 52 is inserted into the groove 32, the support portion 54 may support the upper portion of each positioning strip 30 and the side stop strip 40.

[0085] refer to Figure 6-Figure 8 After installing the mold, the operator can hold the hand-held portion 53 by hand to insert the thin-walled structure 52 into the first groove 32, and after setting the scintillator bare strip 10, the operator can take the thin-walled structure 52 out of the groove 32 by the hand-held portion 53, and then insert it into the second groove 32, and repeat this process until Figure 8 The scintillator bare strips 10 are disposed in all the grooves 32 shown.

[0086] After the glue is poured into each groove 32 and covers the top surface of the scintillator bare strip 10, a cover plate can be added to the scintillator reflective layer preparation mold and covered on top of the combined multiple mold assemblies through the cover plate to make the reflective layer on the top surface of the scintillator bare strip 10 smoother.

[0087] refer to Figure 4-Figure 11 , the following describes in detail the scintillator reflective layer preparation process based on a specific scintillator reflective layer preparation mold.

[0088] According to the design requirements, the scintillator bare strips for the outer reflective layer to be prepared are in a one-dimensional linear array, with a length of 25 mm, a width of 3 mm, and a thickness of 1.5 mm. It is hoped that the thickness of the reflective layer on the five outer surfaces except the light-emitting surface is 0.2 mm.

[0089] According to the above design dimensions, the positioning strip 30 can be processed into a width of 3.4 mm, and a raised dividing strip 31 can be processed on the positioning strip 30, and the height of the dividing strip 31 is 1.8 mm, the length of the groove 32 between the dividing strips 31 is 25.4 mm, and the length of the first glue-containing groove 33 is 3 mm. The side baffle 40 is also processed into a thickness of 4 mm, and the height of the side edge 41 of the side baffle 40 is equal to the height of the dividing strip 31 after installation. A second glue-containing groove of 2 mm width is set on the side baffle 40. The positioning sleeve 50 can be made of a metal plate with a thickness of 0.2 mm by stamping and flanging. The above components can be made of stainless steel with a high surface finish.

[0090] Before pouring the glue, double-sided tape or adhesive can be pre-pasted on the light-emitting surface of the scintillator bare strip 10, and the installed mold is soaked in a release agent and then dried. In this way, the surface in contact with the glue is attached with the release agent, which facilitates the demolding operation.

[0091] When the scintillator bare strip 10 is set to the groove 32, refer to Fig. 9 and Fig.10 The reserved gap between the split vertical strips 31 on the opposite sides of the scintillator bare bar 10 and the scintillator bare bar 10 is W2, the reserved gap between the side edges 41 of the side blocking strips 40 on the other opposite sides of the scintillator bare bar 10 and the scintillator bare bar 10 is W1, and the reserved gap between the upper edges of the split vertical strips 31 and the side edges 41 and the top surface of the scintillator bare bar 10 is W3. Pour the glue into the reserved gaps of each groove and cover the top surface of the scintillator bare bar 10 with the glue.

[0092] After pouring the glue, the glue is subjected to vacuum degassing treatment so that the glue can fully fill the reserved gap and completely cover the side and top surfaces of the scintillator bare strip 10. The degassing operation can be performed before the operation of covering the cover plate. Then, the cover plate is covered on the top of each scintillator bare strip 10. After the cover plate abuts against the upper edge of the dividing vertical strip 31 and the side edge 41, a relatively flat glue area is formed on the top surface of the scintillator bare strip 10, and the excess glue is squeezed and flows into the first glue containing groove 31 and the second glue containing groove 42.

[0093] After the glue is fully cured, the connector 60 is removed, and then each positioning strip 30 and side blocking strip 40 are removed in turn, and then the scintillator array with the outer reflective layer formed is removed from the positioning strip 30. The light-emitting surface without the reflective layer can be exposed by tearing off the double-sided adhesive on the scintillator array, while the remaining surfaces are covered with a reflective layer of a certain thickness.

[0094] The burrs on the reflective layer can be removed by manual or mechanical grinding. If the overall size of the scintillator array with a reflective layer formed deviates from the design, for example, slightly larger than the design value, the reflective layer in the direction of the larger size can be ground to obtain a finished scintillator array with a size that meets the design value. The positioning strips 30, the side blocking strips 40 and the bottom frame 20 can be reused in another preparation process.

[0095] Through the description of the above-mentioned scintillator reflective layer preparation mold and method embodiments, the methods of preparing reflective layers in the related art have problems such as low efficiency, low packaging accuracy, easy light leakage, etc., especially for small-sized scintillator arrays with fine pixels that are usually only a few millimeters, which are difficult to operate. Some embodiments of the present disclosure can prepare all reflective layers on the remaining five surfaces except the light-emitting surface at one time, and the packaged scintillator outer reflective layer has good uniformity. In terms of operation, a large number of scintillator reflective layers can be prepared with fewer operating procedures, so it is very efficient and is particularly suitable for the reflective layer packaging of small-sized scintillator arrays with fine structures. This significantly reduces the production cost of scintillator arrays (such as GOS ceramic scintillator arrays), which is conducive to expanding its application range from the traditional medical radiation imaging field to the security radiation imaging field that requires lower costs.

[0096] So far, various embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail. In order to avoid obscuring the concept of the present disclosure, some details known in the art are not described. Based on the above description, those skilled in the art can fully understand how to implement the technical solution disclosed here.

[0097] Although some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail by way of examples, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above examples are for illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments may be modified or some technical features may be replaced by equivalents without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A mold for preparing a scintillator reflective layer, comprising: A mold body comprises a plurality of mold assemblies that can be combined and disassembled; wherein the plurality of mold assemblies can be combined with each other to form a groove (32) to accommodate a bare scintillator strip (10) and a glue for forming a reflective layer (13) poured into a gap reserved between a side wall of the groove (32) and at least a portion of a side outer contour of the bare scintillator strip (10).

2. The scintillator reflective layer preparation mold according to claim 1, wherein: The plurality of mold assemblies include: Base frame (20); At least one positioning strip (30) comprising at least one groove (32); Wherein, the at least one positioning strip (30) is detachably mounted on the base frame (20).

3. The scintillator reflective layer preparation mold according to claim 2, wherein: The top surface of the positioning strip (30) is provided with a plurality of groups of raised dividing strips (31), the grooves (32) are formed between each group of dividing strips (31), and first glue containing grooves (33) are formed between adjacent groups of dividing strips (31).

4. The scintillator reflective layer preparation mold according to claim 3, wherein: The plurality of mold assemblies further include: At least one side blocking strip (40) is detachably mounted on the base frame (20) and is closely disposed between adjacent positioning strips (30); The side edges (41) of the side blocking strips (40) are higher than the top surface of the positioning strips (30), and together with the groups of dividing vertical strips (31) form the grooves (32) and the first glue containing grooves (33).

5. The scintillator reflective layer preparation mold according to claim 4, wherein: The side blocking strip (40) comprises two side edges (41), and a second glue containing groove (42) is formed between the two side edges (41).

6. The scintillator reflective layer preparation mold according to claim 4, wherein: The heights of the dividing vertical strips (31) and the side edges (41) relative to the top surface of the positioning strip (30) are both higher than the height of the scintillator bare strip (10).

7. The scintillator reflective layer preparation mold according to claim 2, wherein: A guiding mechanism is provided between the base frame (20) and the at least one positioning strip (30), and is used to guide the at least one positioning strip (30) to be installed on the base frame (20) along a preset direction.

8. The scintillator reflective layer preparation mold according to claim 7, wherein: The guide mechanism is a dovetail-shaped guide rail and guide groove matching structure.

9. The scintillator reflective layer preparation mold according to claim 4, further comprising: The connecting member (60) is used to connect the positioning bar (30) and the side blocking bar (40) and to fix the relative position between the positioning bar (30) and the side blocking bar (40).

10. The scintillator reflective layer preparation mold according to claim 1, further comprising: A positioning sleeve (50) having a thin-walled structure (52) of a hollow channel (51) capable of accommodating the scintillator bare strip (10); The outer side wall of the thin-walled structure (52) matches the side wall of the groove (32), so that the thin-walled structure (52) can be inserted into the groove (32) in a snug fit, and the wall thickness of the thin-walled structure (52) is the same as the thickness of the reflective layer (13) of the scintillator bare strip (10).

11. The scintillator reflective layer preparation mold according to claim 10, wherein: The positioning sleeve (50) further comprises a hand-held portion (53) connected to the upper portion of the thin-walled structure (52).

12. The scintillator reflective layer preparation mold according to claim 1, further comprising: The cover plate can cover the combined plurality of mold assemblies.

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