Adjustable Beam Shaper for IGRT Maintenance Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
The large and heavy combined medical imaging and radiation therapy devices pose significant challenges for maintenance and repair due to their cumbersome size, making it difficult for engineers to access and service critical components like the beam shaper within the gantry.
Innovation Solution
An image-guided radiation therapy apparatus with an adjustable beam shaper that can be moved between a treatment position and a service position, using an adjustment arm and linkage system for easy access, allowing for manual or mechanical actuation to position the beam shaper outside the gantry for maintenance, and incorporating magnetic shielding to minimize magnetic interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the beam shaper is positioned within the gantry for treatment, then treatment precision is improved, but maintenance accessibility deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The beam shaper is made dynamically repositionable between a treatment position (within the gantry) and a service position (outside the gantry). This dynamic positioning capability allows the system to optimize for treatment precision when needed while providing easy maintenance accessibility when required, resolving the contradiction between these two opposing requirements.
2Area of stationary object
If the combined device size is large for treatment coverage, then treatment capability is improved, but maintenance difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The beam shaper is segmented from the main gantry structure as a separate, movable component. This segmentation allows the large combined device to maintain its treatment coverage capability while enabling the beam shaper to be independently positioned outside the gantry for maintenance, thus resolving the contradiction between large treatment coverage and maintenance difficulty.
3Measurement precision
If the beam shaper is fixed in position for stability, then alignment precision is improved, but serviceability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The beam shaper employs a dynamic positioning system that provides stable, precise alignment when in the treatment position while allowing easy movement to a service position for maintenance. This dynamic capability resolves the contradiction between fixed-position stability and serviceability by providing both states as needed.
Data Source
AI summary
An IGRT apparatus comprising a medical imaging device (1) integrated with a linear accelerator (3, 4), the linear accelerator (3, 4) configured for emitting a radiation beam which is shaped by a beam shaper (8, 17), wherein the position of the beam shaper (8, 17) is adjustable between a first position and a second position, wherein the first position is a treatment position and the second position is a non-treatment position and wherein the IGRT apparatus comprises a gantry (2) and wherein the first position is within the gantry (2) and the second position is removed from the gantry (2).