Radiation terminal based on a complex rotating beamline and its uses.

Abstract

The present invention relates to a radiation irradiation terminal based on a composite rotating beamline and its use. The radiation irradiation terminal includes a composite rotating beamline, a rotating supporter, and an operation room. The composite rotating beamline includes a rotating device beamline, a horizontal beamline, and an inclined beamline that forms a certain angle with the ground, and can realize irradiation at different angles. The composite rotating beamline is installed on the rotating supporter, and the rotating supporter rotates one composite beamline from 0 to 360 degrees to realize beam transportation to multiple operation rooms with different azimuth angles. By combining multiple rotating beamlines, multi-angle beam irradiation can be realized in one operation room. The present invention is a comprehensive and inexpensive ion radiation irradiation terminal design proposal that solves the difficult problems in the application and popularization of radiation irradiation equipment, has the outstanding advantages of a large number of operation rooms, many irradiation angles, low construction cost, and small installation area, and greatly improves treatment efficiency and reduces treatment costs.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a radiation exposure terminal based on a complex rotating beamline and its uses, and is related to the fields of medicine and radiation exposure. [Background technology]

[0002] Ion beam radiation therapy and radiation irradiation research are widely applied in the fields of medicine, industry, agriculture, etc. Radiation therapy is currently a technical means that has attracted great attention and been applied in tumor treatment around the world, and the ions most commonly used in ion-based cancer therapy are protons and carbon ions. Carbon ions have more significant advantages in linear energy density, biological effectiveness ratio, and side scattering, and can generate DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) that are difficult to repair, so they are usually used as the optimal choice for cancer treatment.

[0003] The most time-consuming stages in radiation therapy and radiation irradiation research are positioning before irradiation and waiting for dose attenuation after irradiation, and increasing the number of operation rooms is the key to improving irradiation efficiency. In current radiation therapy terminals, a single beam corresponds to a single operation room, and the multi-angle of a single operation room is realized by multiple fixed beams or rotating gantry technology. According to this solution, the cost of increasing the number of operation rooms is huge because the treatment efficiency is improved. Adding an operation room based on the 3 to 5 operation rooms currently used internationally will lead to a significant increase in the cost of the treatment device, which is disadvantageous for large-scale popularization and application.

[0004] When using ion beams to treat cancer, if only one irradiation direction is used, the normal cells between the skin and the tumor will receive at least 1 / 3 of the tumor radiation dose, causing some damage. In order to reduce the damage in this area, it is necessary to increase the radiation dose ratio of tumor tissue / normal tissue during treatment, so that in one treatment course, the radiation dose received by the normal tissue should be significantly reduced by irradiating from different directions and dividing the total radiation dose into multiple radiation directions. Horizontal terminals, 45-degree terminals, vertical terminals, etc. are commonly used. For example, China's first domestic heavy ion model device (Wuwei carbon ion therapy device) pulls the beam out of the plane of acceleration by the circular accelerator, passes it through one beam transmission line, and then uses a relatively large deflection magnet to realize the raising and lowering of the beam transmission line, thereby realizing the solution of four operation rooms: one vertical operation room, one horizontal operation room, and one horizontal + vertical operation room. The terminal's beamline length reaches 140 meters, and it requires a lot of equipment, a large amount of space in the vertical direction of the beamline, a lifting height of nearly 20 meters, a large horizontal installation area, and high construction costs.

[0005] To achieve multi-angle irradiation, rotating gantry technology can be used, but the high magnetic rigidity of carbon ions makes the scale of the rotating gantry very large. For example, the heavy ion rotating gantry developed by the Heidelberg Heavy Ion Research Center in Germany weighs 630 tons, of which the rotating part weighs 570 tons. Moreover, the large volume makes the processing and rotation costs very high. Even the superconducting carbon ion rotating gantry under development in the world weighs more than 200 tons. The magnetic rigidity of the proton beam therapy device is only 1 / 3 of that of the carbon ion, and the weight and volume of the gantry are greatly reduced. Conventional proton cancer treatment devices are usually equipped with rotating gantries to irradiate patients from multiple angles. To realize a beam delivery system, many functions need to be realized, and the terminal beamline becomes complicated, so the weight of the rotating gantry equipment is large, reaching the order of 100 tons, and the manufacturing cost of the entire rotating gantry is very high. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] In response to the above technical problems, the present invention provides a radiation irradiation terminal based on a compound rotating beamline and its use. The terminal includes a compound rotating beamline, and compared with the conventional fixed beamline terminal means, more operation rooms can be arranged in the horizontal circumferential direction in which the horizontal beamline and the 45 degree (or other angle) beamline of the compound rotating beamline rotate. The operation rooms are arranged on two floors, one above the other, and the number is greatly increased, and multiple operation rooms can be arranged by fixing one compound rotating beamline to one rotating supporter, so that the treatment efficiency is greatly improved. By fixing multiple compound rotating beamlines to at least two rotating supporters, simultaneous irradiation by multi-angle (vertical + horizontal, or 45 degree + horizontal) treatment beds in one operation room can be realized. This solves the problem of a significant increase in beamlines due to the arrangement of terminal operation rooms with different irradiation angles, while reducing the installation area and equipment investment of beamlines, meeting the requirements for miniaturization of the treatment terminal system, and facilitating popularization and application. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention utilizes the following technical solutions:

[0008] The radiation terminal based on the complex rotating beamline is a composite rotating beamline fixed to a first rotating supporter and including a rotator beamline and a terminal beamline, the terminal beamline including a horizontal beamline and an inclined beamline forming a certain angle with the ground, the horizontal beamline and the inclined beamline being branches of the rotator beamline; A first rotation supporter including two main beams arranged in parallel and two end beams arranged in gaps at both ends of the two main beams and connecting the two main beams; a plurality of first operation rooms that are evenly arranged in a circumferential direction in which the horizontal beam line rotates to form a working room on the first floor, each of the first operation rooms having a mounting hole in a wall; a plurality of second operation rooms arranged evenly in a circumferential direction in which the inclined beam line rotates to form a working room on a second floor, the plurality of second operation rooms each having a mounting hole in a wall; a plurality of irradiation heads that are installed in one-to-one correspondence with the first operation room and the second operation room, respectively, and receive the ion beam transmitted by the composite rotating beam line through mounting holes and irradiate the ion beam on a patient or a sample; and a drive mechanism that is mechanically connected to the first rotating supporter and drives the first rotating supporter to rotate 0 to 360 degrees along the circular rail, thereby making the composite rotating beamline a beamline that can rotate 0 to 360 degrees.

[0009] In the radiation irradiation terminal, preferably the terminal beamline further comprises a first vertical beamline and a second vertical beamline, both of which are branches of the rotation device beamline.

[0010] In the radiation irradiation terminal, preferably, a first vacuum membrane window is installed on the flanges of the ion beam output ends of the horizontal beam line, the inclined beam line and the second vertical beam line, and a second vacuum membrane window is installed on the receiving end flange of the irradiation head, and the first vacuum membrane window and the second vacuum membrane window realize vacuum sealing between the composite rotating beam line and the irradiation head.

[0011] In the radiation irradiation terminal, the size of the gap between the first vacuum membrane window and the second vacuum membrane window is preferably 5 to 200 mm.

[0012] In the radiation irradiation terminal, the first vertical beam line is preferably mechanically coupled to the first rotation supporter via a thrust bearing.

[0013] In the radiation irradiation terminal, the main beam preferably includes a vertical beam, a horizontal beam, and two inclined beams connecting the vertical beam and the horizontal beam, the horizontal beams of the two main beams are connected to each other by a connecting shaft and a connecting plate, and a composite rotating beam line is attached within a cavity formed by the two main beams.

[0014] In the radiation irradiation terminal, preferably, the radiation irradiation terminal further comprises a motion assembly including an interconnected slider and a connecting member, the slider being slidably connected to the annular rail, and the connecting member being transmission-connected to the drive mechanism.

[0015] In the radiation irradiation terminal, preferably, the rotation device beamline realizes rotation by a rotating structure including a rotating cylinder, a gear, a gear shaft, and a positioning shaft, the gear shaft and the positioning shaft are each fastened and connected to the rotating supporter, the gear is connected to the positioning shaft via a transition flange and a bearing, meshes with the gear shaft, and is fastened and connected to the rotating cylinder, the rotating cylinder fixes the rotating beamline, and the rotating cylinder, the positioning shaft, and the rotating supporter are all provided with a through hole through which the rotating beamline passes.

[0016] In the radiation irradiation terminal, the rotator beamline preferably rotates in the same direction as the terminal beamline, the rotation angle is 1 / 2 of the rotation angle of the terminal beamline, and the phase shift of the rotator beamline in the x direction is an even multiple of π and the phase in the y direction is an odd multiple of π, so that the terminal beamline does not optically fluctuate during rotation.

[0017] In the radiation irradiation terminal, preferably, the number of the rotating supporter is at least one. When the number of the rotating supporter is two, the two rotating supporters are respectively a first rotating supporter and a second rotating supporter arranged coaxially, the first vertical beamline passes through a deflection dipole magnet to become a second horizontal beamline, the second horizontal beamline is fixed to the second rotating supporter, and the irradiation head of the second horizontal beamline and the irradiation head of the second vertical beamline are located in the same operation room, forming vertical and horizontal double angle irradiation.

[0018] In the radiation irradiation terminal, preferably, the number of the rotating supporter is at least one. When the number of the rotating supporter is two, the two rotating supporters are respectively a first rotating supporter and a second rotating supporter arranged coaxially, the first vertical beam line passes through a deflection dipole magnet to become a second horizontal beam line, the second horizontal beam line is fixed to the second rotating supporter, and the irradiation head of the inclined beam line and the third horizontal irradiation head of the second horizontal beam line are located in the same operation room, forming inclined and horizontal double angle irradiation.

[0019] The radiation projection terminal is preferably designed with an projection head and a complex rotating beam line either integral or separate.

[0020] A third aspect of the invention further relates to the use of said irradiation terminal in radiation therapy and industrial irradiation.

[0021] The present invention employs the above technical means and therefore has the following advantages.

[0022] 1. The composite rotating beamline of the present invention extracts a beam in any way based on any type of accelerator, then deflects it vertically, and combines a horizontal beamline, a first vertical beamline, a second vertical beamline, and a 45 degree (or other angle) beamline to realize beam transport with different irradiation angles. Furthermore, by combining and rotating the beamlines, beam transport to multiple operation rooms with different azimuth angles can be realized. This composite rotating beamline has a compact structure, and the beamline length can be shortened by 90% compared to conventional fixed beamlines.

[0023] 2. In conventional treatment terminals, one beamline corresponds to one operation room, and four beamlines are required to realize beam transport to four operation rooms, and the total length of the beamline is nearly 200 meters. According to the present invention, beam transport to eight or more operation rooms can be realized using one beamline of about 30 meters, which not only reduces the cost of process equipment such as magnets, vacuum, and power supplies, but also reduces the scale and cost of the associated auxiliary equipment, and at the same time, significantly reduces the operating cost of the treatment process using the device.

[0024] 3. According to the present invention, a single rotating beamline can realize beam transportation to multiple operation rooms. The rotating beamline can be a single-angle or a multi-angle composite beamline. The number of operation rooms of a single-angle rotating beamline can reach 8 or more, and based on this, a multi-angle composite rotating beamline can be constructed, which not only can expand the treatment angle, but also can further increase the number of operation rooms. Furthermore, based on the above, the rotating beamline can be a multi-stage composite structure, and each stage of the multi-angle rotating beamline can correspond to multiple operation rooms, so that the treatment efficiency is greatly improved.

[0025] 4. In a single treatment of a tumor patient, multi-angle irradiation is often required to reduce damage to normal cells on the beam path. According to the present invention, by rotating the beamline in multiple stages, multi-angle irradiation treatment can be realized in one operation room. For example, by rotating in two stages, double angle irradiation of 45 degrees and horizontal, vertical and horizontal can be realized. In this way, tumor patients can receive the multi-angle irradiation required in one operation room. In addition, by combining such multiple stages of rotation, multiple multi-angle operation rooms can be realized at low cost, and the treatment efficiency can be further improved significantly.

[0026] 5. The present invention adopts a separate design and uses vacuum membrane window technology to design the composite rotating beamline and the irradiation head as separate entities, which further reduces the rotation radius, reduces the processing and installation costs of the rotating parts, and improves the accuracy of the movement and positioning of the rotating beamline. Between the composite rotating beamline and the irradiation head, a vacuum membrane window is used to realize vacuum sealing and physical space separation, so that the ion beam can pass from the composite rotating beamline through the first vacuum membrane window, the atmosphere, and the second vacuum membrane window without loss to the irradiation head. The composite rotating beamline and the irradiation head are designed as separate entities, which further reduces the rotation radius by 50%, simplifies the rotation structure, reduces the processing and installation costs, and makes it easier to ensure accuracy.

[0027] 6. The beam extracted from the synchrotron has high asymmetry in the horizontal (substitute in the x direction when related to the rotation later) and vertical (substitute in the y direction when related to the rotation later) directions, so that the terminal beam spot is required not to change during rotation in order to ensure the irradiation accuracy. The present invention uses a rotating machine to realize that the optical parameters of the terminal beamline are not changed during rotation, and the difficulty of controlling the terminal target during rotation is greatly reduced. The rotating device adopts a compact design with a total length of only 2.5m, which is much smaller than the conventional 9-10m means in the world, greatly reducing the vertical space required by the device, and reducing the difficulty and cost of constructing the device. The multi-angle beamline on the same rotating device beamline is a challenge in optical design. The present invention can suppress the beam spot size over the entire line within ±16mm by optimizing the position and strength of the magnet elements, and can greatly reduce the size and manufacturing costs of magnets, power supplies, beam diagnostic devices, and vacuum elements, and can also greatly reduce the price of corresponding associated auxiliary equipment.

[0028] 7. The beam extracted from the synchrotron has high asymmetry in the horizontal (substitute in the x-direction when later related to rotation) and vertical (substitute in the y-direction when later related to rotation) directions, so that the terminal beam spot must not change during rotation to ensure irradiation accuracy. The present invention utilizes a rotating machine to realize that the optical parameters of the terminal beamline do not change during rotation, and the difficulty of controlling the terminal target during rotation is greatly reduced. Another outstanding advantage of this rotating device optical design is that it can accommodate any angle terminal beamline, such as the horizontal, vertical and 45 degree compound rotating beamline of the present invention, while maintaining a small beam spot size throughout the line, and at the same time, it can realize that the optical parameters of multiple arbitrary angle terminal beamlines are kept constant during rotation. The rotating device adopts a compact design with a total length of only 2.5m, which is much smaller than the conventional 9-10m means in the world, greatly reducing the vertical space required by the device, and reducing the difficulty and cost of constructing the device.

[0029] 8. The radiation irradiation terminal of the present invention can be connected to any type of accelerator, providing beam transport to multiple angles and multiple operation rooms at lower cost, further reducing the installation area of ​​the device, reducing investment in facilities, and improving treatment efficiency. It can be applied to not only heavy ion devices but also proton devices, and can be applied not only to irradiation therapy but also to industrial radiation irradiation, making it a highly versatile solution in the fields of radiation therapy and radiation irradiation. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0030] [Figure 1a] This is a schematic diagram of a beam being extracted horizontally from a particle accelerator and deflected vertically downward to a terminal. [Figure 1b] This is a schematic diagram of deflection vertically upward to the terminal. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a compound rotating beamline fixed to a rotating supporter, provided by one embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an irradiation system provided according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a compound rotating beam line is fixed to one rotating supporter. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a compound rotating beamline fixed to a rotating supporter, provided by an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a compound rotating beamline fixed to a rotating supporter, provided by an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a compound rotating beamline fixed to a rotating supporter, provided by an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a composite rotating beamline fixed to a rotating supporter provided by an embodiment of the present invention, which is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 5 . [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is a plan view of a compound rotating beamline fixed to two rotating supports, provided by another embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the lines 1-1 and 2-2 in FIG. 8. [Figure 10] 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 3-3 and 4-4 in FIG. 8. [Figure 11] FIG. 13 is a plan view of a compound rotating beamline fixed to two rotating supporters provided by a third embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 12] 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 5-5 and 6-6 in FIG. 11. [Figure 13] 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 7-7 and 8-8 in FIG. 11. [Figure 14] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a compound rotating beamline fixed to two rotating supports, as provided by some embodiments of the present invention. [Figure 15] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a compound rotating beamline fixed to two rotating supports, as provided by some embodiments of the present invention. [Figure 16] FIG. 15 is a partially enlarged view of A in FIG. 4, FIG. 6, FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIG. 11, and FIG. [Figure 17] FIG. 10 is a partially enlarged view of B in FIG. [Figure 18] FIG. 2 is an optical parameter diagram of the first horizontal terminal of the present invention. [Figure 19] FIG. 2 is an optical parameter diagram of the first 45-degree terminal of the present invention. [Figure 20] FIG. 2 is an optical parameter diagram of the first vertical terminal of the present invention. [Figure 21] FIG. 4 is an optical parameter diagram of the second horizontal terminal of the present invention. [Figure 22] FIG. 11 is an optical parameter diagram of the third horizontal terminal of the present invention. [Figure 23] FIG. 2 is a beam envelope diagram of the first horizontal terminal of the present invention. [Figure 24] FIG. 2 is a beam envelope diagram of the first 45 degree terminal of the present invention. [Diagram 25] FIG. 2 is a beam envelope diagram of a first vertical terminal of the present invention. [Figure 26] FIG. 2 is a beam envelope diagram of a second horizontal terminal of the present invention. [Figure 27]FIG. 11 is a beam envelope diagram of a third horizontal terminal of the present invention.

[0031] [Explanation of symbols] 1 Rotating device beamline 2 First horizontal beamline 3 First vertical beamline 4. 45 degree beamline 5. Second Vertical Beamline 6 First rotating dynamic sealing device 7 Second rotating dynamic sealing device 8 First Rotating Supporter 9 Second Rotation Supporter 91 Main beam 92 End beam 93 Connecting shaft 94 Motion Assembly 95 Circular Rail 96 Drive Mechanism 97 Connecting Plate 10 Thrust bearing 11 Vertical irradiation head 12 45 degree irradiation head 13 First horizontal irradiation head 14 Third rotating dynamic sealing device 15 Second Horizontal Beamline 16 Second horizontal irradiation head 17 Third horizontal irradiation head 18 Treatment Beds 19 Rotation axis 20 First vacuum membrane window 21 Second vacuum membrane window 22 Rotating membrane window axis 23 Irradiation head membrane window axis 24 Circular Contact Wire 25 Mounting hole 26~29 1st to 4th horizontal control rooms 30~33 1st to 4th 45 degree + horizontal control room 34~37 1st to 4th vertical + horizontal control rooms 38 Irradiation Preparation Room 39 Rotating Structure 391 Rotating Cylinder 392 Gear 393 Gear shaft 394 Positioning axis 395 Motor 396 Fixed Supporter 397 Bearings 398 First Bolt 399 Second Bolt 3910 Transition Flange 40 Quadruple Magnet 41 45 degree double pole magnet. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0032] In order to make the objectives, technical means and advantages of the present invention clearer, the following will clearly and completely describe the technical means in the present invention. It is clear that the described embodiments are not all the embodiments of the present invention, but are only some of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present invention, all other embodiments that can be obtained by those skilled in the art without any creative effort belong to the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0033] Unless otherwise defined, technical or scientific terms used in the present invention should have the ordinary meaning as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the field to which the present invention belongs. The terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth" and similar terms used in the present invention do not denote any order, number or importance, but are used only to distinguish different components. Similar terms such as "comprise" or "comprise" mean that the element or thing appearing after the term includes the element or thing appearing before the term and its equivalents, but does not exclude other elements or things. Similar terms such as "connected" and "interconnected" are not limited to physical or mechanical connections, but may include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect.

[0034] In recent years, with the continuous development of accelerator technology, accelerator devices have become smaller and more compact, and the installation area of ​​the device itself is becoming smaller. The methods of extracting beams from accelerators and the arrangement of beamlines are also being devised to meet this trend.

[0035] As shown in Fig. 1a and 1b, the particle accelerator adopts a room temperature or superconducting method, and may be an accelerator such as a synchrotron, a cyclotron, a FFAG (Fixed-Field Alternating Gradient), a linear accelerator, etc. The beam in the particle accelerator may be extracted horizontally from inside or outside, and the extracted beam is deflected vertically downward through the beam transmission line 1 to the beam transmission line 2 and transmitted to the terminal, or deflected vertically upward through the beam transmission line 1 to the beam transmission line 2 and transmitted to the terminal. In the particle accelerator, the beam may be extracted vertically from outside or inside through a Lambertson (iron septum magnet) septum magnet.

[0036] The most time-consuming stage in radiation therapy is positioning before irradiation and waiting for dose attenuation after irradiation, so increasing the number of operation rooms is the key to improving treatment efficiency. In current radiation therapy terminals, a single beam corresponds to a single operation room, and the multi-angle of a single operation room is realized by multiple fixed beams or rotating gantry technology. According to this solution, the cost of increasing the number of operation rooms is huge because the treatment efficiency is improved. Adding an operation room based on the 3 to 5 operation rooms currently used internationally will lead to a significant increase in the cost of the treatment device, which is disadvantageous for large-scale popularization and application.

[0037] According to the present invention, a single rotating beamline can realize beam transport to multiple operation rooms. The rotating beamline can be a single-angle or a multi-angle composite beamline. The number of operation rooms in a single-angle rotating beamline can reach 8 or more, and based on this, a multi-angle composite rotating beamline can be constructed, which not only can expand the treatment angle, but also can further increase the number of operation rooms. Furthermore, based on the above, the rotating beamline can be a multi-stage composite structure, and each stage of the multi-angle rotating beamline can correspond to multiple operation rooms, so that the treatment efficiency is greatly improved.

[0038] The radiation irradiation terminal based on the composite rotating beamline provided by the present invention can extract the beam from any accelerator in any way and then deflect it vertically (upward or downward), thereby providing a multi-angle, multi-operation room, and single-room multi-angle terminal irradiation system, which can further reduce the installation area of ​​the equipment, reduce capital investment, and improve treatment efficiency.

[0039] The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0040] As shown in FIG. 2, the composite rotating beamline provided by the present invention includes a composite rotating beamline consisting of a rotating device beamline 1, a first horizontal beamline 2 consisting of a normal magnet, a superconducting magnet, a superconducting coil, or any combination thereof, a first vertical beamline 3, a 45 degree (or other angle) beamline 4, and a second vertical beamline 5, and a first rotating dynamic sealing device 6 and a second rotating dynamic sealing device 7 which connect the rotating device beamline 1 and the first vertical beamline 3 and maintain a vacuum during rotation.

[0041] 3 to 7 show a single composite rotating beamline terminal irradiation system (beamline is fixed to one rotating supporter), and the single composite rotating beamline can be arbitrarily combined according to the deflection magnet. In the present invention, only some typical embodiments are listed, and any remaining composite beamline is included in the present invention. The composite rotating beamline is fixed to the rotating supporter, and its rotation is realized by the driving mechanism 96. The operation room is also divided into two floors, upper and lower, with the upper floor being the horizontal operation room, and the lower floor being provided with the 45-degree operation room and the vertical operation room. As shown in FIG. 4, according to this embodiment, the beam in the accelerator is extracted by any method, and then deflected vertically, and after deflection once, the composite terminal beamline is formed. The remarkable advantage of this structure is that the height of the entire system can be lowered. The deflection magnet and the composite terminal beamline are fixed to the rotating supporter, and operation rooms with different irradiation angles are respectively arranged in the circumferential direction of the rotation. Similarly, preferably, 12 operation rooms may be provided, but of course, more operation rooms may be provided according to the treatment plan. The composite beamline may be designed as a symmetrical structure, as shown in Figure 7. In this case, all irradiation angles can be achieved by simply rotating the rotating supporter by 180 degrees or less, which can contribute to further shortening the waiting time for treatment and improving the treatment efficiency.

[0042] Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the operation room of the radiation irradiation terminal fixed to one rotating supporter based on the composite rotating beamline provided by the present invention is divided into two floors, upper and lower, and the upper floor is a horizontal operation room arranged in the horizontal circumferential direction in which the first horizontal beamline 2 rotates. Obviously, the irradiation preparation room 38 on the first floor can also be a horizontal operation room, so that eight horizontal operation rooms can be evenly arranged. On the lower floor, four 45-degree (or other angle) operation rooms are arranged in the horizontal circumferential direction in which the 45-degree (or other angle) beamline 4 rotates. Four vertical operation rooms are arranged in the circumferential direction in which the second vertical beamline 5 rotates. Preferably, the vertical operation rooms and the 45-degree operation rooms are arranged with a shift. According to this composite rotating beamline, preferably, 16 operation rooms can be arranged.

[0043] In reality, a single treatment of a tumor patient often requires multiple-angle irradiation to reduce damage to normal cells on the beam path. According to the present invention, a multiple-angle irradiation treatment can be realized in one operation room by rotating the beam line in multiple stages. For example, a double-angle irradiation of 45 degrees and horizontal, vertical and horizontal can be realized by two-stage rotation. In this way, a tumor patient can receive the required multiple-angle irradiation in one operation room, and there is no need to move between single-angle operation rooms, which can reduce the travel time and preparation time. In addition, a combination of such multiple-stage rotation can realize multiple multi-angle operation rooms at low cost, which can further significantly improve the treatment efficiency.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 9, two composite rotating beam lines are fixed to a first rotating supporter 8 and a second rotating supporter 9 that are vertically and coaxially arranged. The first rotating supporter 8 includes two "gantry-type" main beams arranged in parallel and two end beams arranged in the gaps between both ends of the two main beams to mechanically connect the two main beams. The second rotating supporter 9 includes two "human-shaped" main beams 91 arranged in parallel and two end beams 92 arranged in the gaps between both ends of the two main beams 91 to mechanically connect the two main beams 91. The main beams 91 distribute the gravity of the composite rotating beam line to the end beams 92. A motion assembly 94 is provided at the bottom of the end beams 92. The motion assembly 94 includes sliders connected to each other and a connecting member that is transmission-connected to a drive mechanism 96. The slider is slidably connected to an annular rail 95 that guides and restrains the slider. The connecting shaft 93 connects the vertical beam and horizontal beam of the two main beams 91. The connecting plate 97 is welded to the main beam 91 to form a box girder bridge structure, which is lightweight, has excellent bending strength in the vertical section, and has a large load-bearing capacity. The four drive mechanisms 96 are capable of synchronous transmission and are attached to the end beams 92. By friction transmission with the annular rail 95, the composite rotating beam line and the rotating supporter can rotate from 0 to 360 degrees in the horizontal plane to form two composite rotating terminal beam lines.

[0045] As shown in Figs. 9-10 and 12-15, the present invention provides several cross-sectional views of a composite rotating beamline fixed to two rotating supports. Specifically, as shown in Fig. 9, a first rotating supporter 8 and a second rotating supporter 9 are vertically and coaxially provided, and the second rotating supporter 9 is located below the first rotating supporter 8, and the composite rotating beamline on the first rotating supporter 8 can form a horizontal beamline, a vertical beamline, a 45-degree beamline, or a beamline of any other angle by arbitrary branching. In order to simultaneously irradiate a patient or a sample at two angles in one operation room, the beam extracted from the first vertical beamline 3 passes through a deflection dipole magnet to become a second horizontal beamline 15, and the second horizontal beamline 15 is fixed to the second rotating supporter 9. 12 and 13, the second horizontal beam line 15 is vacuum connected to the first vertical beam line 3 via a third rotary dynamic sealing device 14, thereby ensuring vacuum maintenance during relative rotation. The first vertical beam line 3 is connected to the first rotary supporter 8 via a thrust bearing 10, and is kept stationary by the thrust bearing 10 under the action of gravity when the first rotary supporter 8 rotates.

[0046] As shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, the second horizontal beam line 15 is attached to the second rotating supporter 9 and realizes rotation of 0 to 360 degrees together with the second rotating supporter 9. The second rotating supporter 9 and the first rotating supporter 8 rotate on the same axis, and the two may rotate individually or synchronously. The second horizontal irradiation head 16 is attached to the first to fourth vertical + horizontal operation rooms 34 to 37 on the second floor through the mounting holes 25, and forms two irradiation angles in the same operation room together with the vertical irradiation head 11 (the vertical irradiation head 11 is a vertical irradiation head provided corresponding to the vertical beam line branched from the 45-degree beam line fixed to the first rotating supporter 8). The 45-degree operation room 30 and the vertical operation room 34 on the second floor are arranged offset from each other. In this way, the third horizontal irradiation head 17 which forms two irradiation angles in the same operation room as the 45 degree irradiation head 12 can be installed in the first to fourth 45 degree+horizontal operation rooms 30-33 on the second floor.

[0047] As shown in Figs. 9-10 and 12-15, reference numerals 11-13 and 16-17 denote separate irradiation heads with different angles, which are fixedly attached in the operation room through a mounting hole 25 in the operation room. The rotating supporter supplies power through a circular trolley wire 24, and realizes 0-360 degree rotation of the composite rotating beam line under the action of a driving mechanism 96. Between the composite rotating beam line and the irradiation heads 11-13 and 16-17 attached at fixed angles, a first vacuum membrane window 20 and a second vacuum membrane window 21 are used to realize vacuum sealing and physical space isolation. As shown in Fig. 16, the ion beam can pass from the composite rotating beam line through the first vacuum membrane window 20, the atmosphere, and the second vacuum membrane window 21 in order without loss before reaching the irradiation head. Compared with the terminal treatment system with a fixed beamline, the terminal treatment system in which the composite rotating beamline of the present invention is fixed to two rotating supporters can arrange many operation rooms, preferably up to 12, the length of the beamline is only about 10% of the conventional beamline, the treatment angle covers all the treatment angles of the conventional beamline arrangement, and eight double angle operation rooms can be provided. Of course, the irradiation head and the terminal beamline in the present invention may be fixedly connected, that is, it is also possible to realize the arrangement of multiple operation rooms in the terminal treatment system without providing a vacuum membrane window between the irradiation heads 11-13, 16-17 and the terminal beamline.

[0048] Specifically, as shown in Figures 8-15, several multi-composite rotating beamline terminal irradiation systems (beamlines are fixed on two rotating supporters) are provided. Of course, any other combination of beamlines that can achieve this irradiation effect is also possible, and detailed description is omitted here. This multi-composite rotating beamline terminal irradiation system can provide four 45 degree + horizontal irradiation angles, four vertical + horizontal irradiation angles, and four horizontal irradiation angles, so that tumor patients can complete the required multiple irradiation angles at one time in one operation room, further improving the treatment efficiency. More of the above operation rooms may be installed according to the layout of the operation room and the demand for treatment.

[0049] In addition, based on the composite rotating beamline, more single composite rotating beamlines or multiple composite rotating beamlines may be provided to form a rotating beamline group. Multiple composite rotating beamlines are arranged coaxially, and the multiple rotating beamlines may rotate individually or synchronously. These rotating beamlines can not only expand the number and irradiation angles of the operation rooms, but also be overlapped with each other to form a layout with multiple irradiation angles in one operation room.

[0050] As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 17, the rotating device beamline 1 of the present invention is connected to the first rotating supporter 8 or the second rotating supporter 9 via a rotating structure 39. The rotating structure 39 includes a rotating cylinder 391 for mounting and fixing a plurality of quadrupole magnets on the rotating device beamline 1, a gear 392 connected to the rotating cylinder 391 via a first bolt 398, a gear shaft 393 meshing with the gear 392, and a positioning shaft 394 fastened and connected to the first rotating supporter 8 or the second rotating supporter 9 by a second bolt 399, and the gear 392 and the positioning shaft 394 are connected via a transition flange 3910 and a bearing 397. Some quadrupole magnets on the rotating device beamline 1 are fixedly mounted in the rotating cylinder 391 via a fixed supporter 396. The rotating cylinder 391, the positioning shaft 394, and the rotating supporter are all provided with a through hole through which the rotating device beamline 1 passes. A motor 395 drives a gear shaft 393 to drive a gear 392, which in turn drives a rotating cylinder 391 to rotate the multiple quadrupole magnets on the rotating device beamline 1. The rotating structure 39 and the rotating device beamline 1 form a rotor that eliminates the effect of beamline rotation on the terminal beam spot. The rotating device rotates in the same direction as the terminal beamline, and the rotation angle is 1 / 2 the rotation angle of the terminal beamline. The multiple quadrupole magnets in the rotating device adopt a mirror-symmetric optical design.

[0051] The present invention proposes a compact optical design to realize a compound rotating beamline, which includes a rotator beamline 1 and multiple terminal beamlines. The rotator beamline 1 is a common beamline for all terminal beamlines (terminal beamlines include the first horizontal beamline 2, the 45 degree beamline 4, the first vertical beamline 3, the second vertical beamline 5, etc.).

[0052] The rotator beamline 1 is a key component for realizing a composite rotating beamline, and it eliminates the effect of the beamline rotation on the terminal beam spot. In one specific embodiment of the present invention, the rotator beamline 1 is composed of seven quadrupole magnets 40, as shown in FIG. 18. During the rotation process, the rotator beamline 1 rotates in the same direction as the terminal beamline, and the rotation angle is 1 / 2 of the rotation angle of the terminal beamline. The rotator beamline 1 adopts a mirror symmetric optical design. That is, the seven quadrupole magnets are arranged in mirror symmetry with the remaining six quadrupole magnets 40 centered on the fourth quadrupole magnet 40, and the x-direction α function and the y-direction α function of the beam at the intermediate position (the position of the fourth quadrupole magnet) are both zero. The biggest feature of this part of the beamline is that the phase shift in the x direction is 2π, the phase shift in the y direction is π, and the optical parameters (twiss parameters) of the entrance and exit are mirror symmetric. In order to shorten the length of the rotator beamline 1, preferably, all the quadrupole magnets 40 are superconducting magnets, with a normalized integrated gradient of 2-20 / m, and a total length of only 2.5 m. A room temperature magnet design may also be adopted, with a total length of 10-20 m accordingly. The quadrupole magnets 40 can also be realized in combination of 5-10 magnets. Another distinct advantage of this rotator optical design is that it can accommodate any angle terminal beamline, such as the horizontal, vertical and 45 degree compound rotating beamline of the present invention, while maintaining a small beam spot size over the entire line, and at the same time, it can realize that the optical parameters of multiple arbitrary angle terminal beamlines are kept constant during rotation.

[0053] The terminal beamlines (terminal beamlines include the first horizontal beamline 2, the 45 degree beamline 4, the first vertical beamline 3, the second vertical beamline 5, etc.) distribute the beams transmitted from the rotating device beamline 1 to different terminals and match them according to the target size and scanning area required by the terminals.

[0054] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, the optical design of the first horizontal beamline 2 includes two 45 degree bipolar magnets 41 as shown by black blocks symmetrically arranged on the horizontal axis (abscissa) in the figure, and five quadrupole magnets 40 as shown by black blocks distributed on both sides of the horizontal axis (abscissa) in the figure, where the black blocks above the horizontal axis represent converging quadrupole magnets, and the black blocks below the horizontal axis represent diverging quadrupole magnets, as shown in Figure 18. The two 45 degree bipolar magnets 41 deflect the beam horizontally and form a de-dispersion structure with the quadrupole magnet 40 (the first quadrupole magnet from left to right on the abscissa), and the second to fifth quadrupole magnets 40 are used for aligning the terminal beam spot, and the normalized integrated gradient of the quadrupole magnets 40 is 0.5 to 5 / m. The first horizontal beamline 2 employs a compact design with a total length of less than 15 m and a beam envelope as shown in Figure 23, with a lateral beam size of less than ±15 mm over the entire line.

[0055] The dotted curve in the upper half of the first horizontal beamline 2 in FIG. 18 represents the y-direction β function, and the solid curve represents the x-direction β function, respectively, which represent the relationship between the size in the x direction and the y direction when the beam is stably transmitted through the first horizontal beamline 2. The dotted curve in the lower half represents the y-direction dispersion function, which represents the fluctuation of the y-direction motion trajectory in which the beam is superimposed under the influence of the momentum dispersion. In the embodiment of the present invention, the directional dispersion function in the x direction of the first horizontal beamline 2 is always zero. From the optical diagram, it can be determined that the transition of the β function is smooth and the stability of the optical structure is guaranteed. From the optical diagrams of FIGS. 19 to 22, a conclusion similar to that of FIG. 18 can be obtained.

[0056] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, the optical design of the 45 degree beamline 4 includes one 45 degree dipole magnet 41 to deflect the beam in the 45 degree direction, and seven quadrupole magnets 40 for aligning the terminal beam spot and reducing the terminal dispersion to zero, as shown in FIG. 19, and the normalized integrated gradient of the quadrupole magnets 40 is 0.5-5 / m. The terminal beamline adopts a compact design with a total length of less than 20 m, a beam envelope as shown in FIG. 24, and a lateral size of the beam (in x and y directions) of less than ±15 mm over the entire line.

[0057] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, the optical design of the second vertical beamline 5 includes two 45 degree dipole magnets 41 and five quadrupole magnets 40 as shown in FIG. 20, where the two 45 degree dipole magnets 41 with opposite deflection directions deflect the beam vertically, and the quadrupole magnets 40 form a de-dispersion structure with the 45 degree dipole magnets 41 and are used for aligning the terminal beam spot, and the normalized integrated gradient of the quadrupole magnets 40 is 0.5-5 / m. The terminal beamline adopts a compact design with a total length of less than 18m and a beam envelope as shown in FIG. 25, with a lateral size of the beam less than ±15mm over the entire line.

[0058] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, the optical design of the second horizontal beamline 15 includes four quadrupole magnets 40 of the first vertical beamline 3 for beam alignment with the second horizontal beamline 15, two 45 degree dipole magnets 41 and one quadrupole magnet 40 of the second horizontal beamline 15 for forming a de-dispersion structure, and a drift segment second horizontal illumination head 16 for beam alignment, as shown in Figure 21. The normalized integrated gradient of the quadrupole magnets 40 is 0.5-5 / m, and the terminal beamline adopts a compact design with a total length of less than 20m, with a beam envelope as shown in Figure 26, and the lateral size of the beam over the entire line is less than ±16mm.

[0059] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, the optical design of the third horizontal beamline includes beamlines 1, 3, 15 common to the second horizontal beamline 15, and a third horizontal illumination head 17, which includes three quadrupole magnets 40 for target beam alignment, as shown in Figure 22. The normalized integrated gradient of the quadrupole magnets 40 is 0.5-5 / m, and the terminal beamline adopts a compact design with a total length of less than 25m, a beam envelope as shown in Figure 27, and a lateral size of the beam less than ±15mm over the entire line.

[0060] Furthermore, the lateral size of the beam is less than ±16 mm throughout the horizontal + vertical double irradiation angle beamline consisting of the first vertical beamline 3 and the second horizontal beamline 15, the horizontal + 45 degree double irradiation angle beamline consisting of the 45 degree beamline 4 and the third horizontal beamline, and the other lines. This allows the size and manufacturing cost of the magnet elements to be significantly reduced, and the prices of the corresponding power supplies and associated auxiliary equipment to be significantly reduced.

[0061] The upper half of FIG. 23 shows the change in the x-direction size of the beam in the first horizontal beamline 2, and the lower half shows the change in the y-direction size of the beam in the first horizontal beamline 2. The beam size determines the size of the magnet elements and vacuum elements, and therefore the manufacturing cost of the hardware system. The first horizontal beamline 2 adopts a compact design scheme, and the x-direction and y-direction sizes of the beam are both less than ±15 mm, which is significantly reduced compared to the conventional beam size of ±30 mm, significantly reducing the manufacturing cost of the hardware system. Similar conclusions to those in FIG. 23 can be obtained from the optical diagrams in FIGS. 24 to 27.

[0062] The second aspect of the present invention further provides a method of operating a radiation delivery terminal comprising the steps of:

[0063] When it is necessary to irradiate a tumor patient or a sample, the rotating device beamline 1 is rotated by driving the motor 395, which affects the deflection direction of the beam and distributes the beam to different beamline terminals, and the driving mechanism 13 rotates the composite rotating beamline around the rotation axis 22 so that the axis 22 of the rotating membrane window coincides with the axis 23 of the irradiation head membrane window.

[0064] After the patient or sample is positioned, the required ion beam passes through the rotation device beamline 1, the horizontal beamline 2 and the tilted beamline in sequence, then passes through the first vacuum membrane window 20 and the second vacuum membrane window 21, and finally the irradiation head receives the ion beam and irradiates the patient or sample.

[0065] When irradiating using the first vertical beamline 3, the ion beam is transported directly to the corresponding vertical treatment (radiation irradiation) head without passing through the vacuum membrane window, and when irradiating using the 45 degree (or other angle) beamline 4 or the second vertical beamline 5 or the horizontal beamline 2, the required ion beam passes through the rotating device beamline 1 and reaches the terminal beamline fixed to the rotating system through the first rotating dynamic sealing device 6, and the axis 22 of the rotating membrane window and the axis 23 of the irradiation head membrane window are aligned by the rotation of the rotating supporter, and the ion beam passes through the vacuum membrane window between them to reach the treatment (radiation irradiation) head and is irradiated.

[0066] A third aspect of the invention relates to the use of the above-mentioned radiation irradiation terminal in radiation therapy and industrial radiation irradiation.

[0067] The above examples are used only to explain the case where the accelerator is pulled out vertically downward or pulled out horizontally and then deflected vertically downward in any of the accelerators of the present invention, and it is clear that all of the structures of the present invention are also applicable to the case where the accelerator is pulled out vertically upward or pulled out horizontally and then deflected vertically upward in any of the accelerators, and both of these cases are all included within the scope of the present invention.

[0068] Finally, the above embodiments are used only to explain, not to limit the technical means of the present invention. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the above embodiments, it should be understood that those skilled in the art can modify the technical means described in each of the above embodiments or replace some of the technical features equivalently, and these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical means to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical means of each embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A complex rotating beamline based irradiation terminal, comprising: a composite rotating beamline fixed to a first rotating supporter and including a rotator beamline and a terminal beamline, the terminal beamline including a horizontal beamline and an inclined beamline that forms a certain angle with the ground, the horizontal beamline and the inclined beamline being branches of the rotator beamline; The first rotation supporter includes two main beams arranged in parallel, and two end beams arranged in the gaps between both ends of the two main beams and connecting the two main beams; a plurality of first operation rooms arranged evenly in a circumferential direction in which the horizontal beam line rotates to form a working room on a first floor, the plurality of first operation rooms each having a mounting hole in a wall; a plurality of second operation rooms arranged evenly in a circumferential direction in which the inclined beam line rotates to form a working room on a second floor, the plurality of second operation rooms each having a mounting hole in a wall; a plurality of irradiation heads that are installed in one-to-one correspondence with the first operation chamber and the second operation chamber, respectively, and receive the ion beam transmitted by the composite rotating beam line through the mounting hole and irradiate a patient or a sample; a drive mechanism that is operatively connected to the first rotating supporter and drives the first rotating supporter to rotate 0 to 360 degrees along a circular rail, thereby making the composite rotating beamline a beamline that can rotate 0 to 360 degrees; A radiation delivery terminal based on a complex rotating beamline, including:

2. 2. The radiation irradiation terminal of claim 1, wherein the terminal beamline further comprises a first vertical beamline and a second vertical beamline, both of which are branches of the rotator beamline.

3. a first vacuum membrane window is attached to the flanges of the ion beam output ends of the horizontal beam line, the inclined beam line and the second vertical beam line, and a second vacuum membrane window is attached to the receiving end flange of the irradiation head, and the first vacuum membrane window and the second vacuum membrane window realize a vacuum seal between the composite rotating beam line and the irradiation head; The radiation irradiation terminal according to claim 2 .

4. The size of the gap between the first vacuum membrane window and the second vacuum membrane window is 5 to 200 mm; The radiation irradiation terminal according to claim 3.

5. The first vertical beam line is mechanically coupled to the first rotating supporter via a thrust bearing. The radiation irradiation terminal according to claim 2 .

6. the main beam includes a vertical beam, a horizontal beam, and two inclined beams connecting the vertical beam and the horizontal beam, the horizontal beams of the two main beams are connected to each other by a connecting shaft and a connecting plate, and the composite rotating beam line is attached in a cavity formed by the two main beams; The radiation irradiation terminal according to claim 1 .

7. the radiation irradiation terminal further comprises a motion assembly including an interconnected slider and a coupling member, the slider being slidably coupled to the annular rail, and the coupling member being transmission-coupled to the drive mechanism; The radiation irradiation terminal according to claim 1 .

8. The rotating device beamline realizes rotation by a rotating structure including a rotating cylinder, a gear, a gear shaft, and a positioning shaft, the gear shaft and the positioning shaft are each fastened and connected to the rotating supporter, the gear is connected to the positioning shaft via a transition flange and a bearing, meshes with the gear shaft, and is fastened and connected to the rotating cylinder, the rotating cylinder fixes the rotating beamline, and the rotating cylinder, the positioning shaft, and the rotating supporter are all provided with a through hole through which the rotating beamline passes. The radiation irradiation terminal according to claim 1 .

9. the rotator beamline rotates in the same direction as the terminal beamline, the rotation angle is 1 / 2 of the rotation angle of the terminal beamline, and the phase shift of the rotator beamline in the x direction is an even multiple of π and the phase shift in the y direction is an odd multiple of π, so that the terminal beamline does not optically fluctuate during rotation; The radiation irradiation terminal according to claim 1 .

10. When the number of the rotating supporters is at least one, and when the number of the rotating supporters is two, the two rotating supporters are a first rotating supporter and a second rotating supporter arranged coaxially, the first vertical beam line passes through a deflection dipole magnet to become a second horizontal beam line, the second horizontal beam line is fixed to the second rotating supporter, the irradiation head of the second horizontal beam line and the irradiation head of the second vertical beam line are in the same operation room, and vertical and horizontal double angle irradiation is formed. The radiation irradiation terminal according to claim 2 .

11. The number of the rotating supporters is at least one, and when the number of the rotating supporters is two, the two rotating supporters are a first rotating supporter and a second rotating supporter arranged coaxially, the first vertical beam line passes through a deflection dipole magnet to become a second horizontal beam line, the second horizontal beam line is fixed to the second rotating supporter, the irradiation head of the tilted beam line and a third horizontal irradiation head of the second horizontal beam line are in the same operation room, forming tilted and horizontal double angle irradiation. The radiation irradiation terminal according to claim 2 .

12. The irradiation head and the composite rotating beam line are designed as one or separate entities; The radiation irradiation terminal according to claim 1 .

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