CT Scanner Tripod Base for Unlevel Floor Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing CT scanners with fixed wheels are unstable on unlevel floors, leading to rocking and reduced image quality, necessitating additional scans and increased x-ray exposure for patients.
Innovation Solution
A CT scanner with a tripod base that includes a rocking beam with elastic bumpers, allowing wheels to adjust vertically to maintain contact with the floor, ensuring stability on unlevel surfaces by balancing on three points while maintaining four points of contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If fixed wheels are used on the CT scanner base, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the stability on unlevel floors deteriorates causing rocking and movement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the wheel positions adjustable through a tripod base mechanism. The base allows the CT scanner to dynamically adapt its wheel positions to accommodate unlevel floors, transforming the static fixed-wheel design into a dynamic system that can self-adjust to maintain stability on various floor conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements parameter changes by allowing the vertical position of wheels to vary. The tripod base mechanism enables the wheels to move vertically to different heights, changing the geometric parameters of the wheel-base configuration to match the floor's levelness, thereby maintaining contact with the floor surface on unlevel terrain.
2Device complexity
If the CT scanner uses a fixed wheel configuration, then the device complexity is low, but the reliability of image quality deteriorates due to rocking and movement during scanning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by introducing a movable tripod base mechanism that allows the wheel positions to be adjusted. This dynamic adjustment capability enables the CT scanner to maintain stable contact with the floor on unlevel surfaces, ensuring reliable image quality without requiring excessive complexity in the overall device structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter changes by allowing the vertical positions of the wheels to vary through the tripod base mechanism. This enables the system to adapt the geometric parameters of wheel placement to match the floor conditions, maintaining reliability of scanning operations on unlevel floors while keeping the overall device complexity manageable.
3Measurement precision
If additional scans are performed due to rocking on unlevel floors, then the image quality can be improved, but the patient exposure to x-rays increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by preventing the rocking and movement problem before it occurs during scanning. The tripod base mechanism proactively adjusts the wheel positions to ensure stable contact with the floor at the start of the scanning process, eliminating the need for additional corrective scans and thereby preventing unnecessary patient exposure to x-rays while ensuring image quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter changes by adjusting the wheel vertical positions through the tripod base mechanism to prevent rocking before scanning begins. This preliminary adjustment ensures that the CT scanner remains stable throughout the scanning process, eliminating the need for repeat scans and reducing patient radiation exposure while maintaining image quality.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides increased stability and prevents rocking on unlevel floors, ensuring accurate three-dimensional CT images without the need for additional scans, thereby reducing patient exposure to x-rays.
Implementation Method 1
Two bumpers made of an elastic material are positioned between a flange and an upper surface of the rocking beam. As the rocking beam rotates about the axis, the wheels attached to the rocking beam can raise or lower in a generally vertical direction relative to the base.
Data Source
AI summary
A CT scanner includes a base, two fixed portions extending transversely from the base, and a rocking beam pivotally attached to the base about an axis. The CT scanner includes four wheels that allow the CT scanner to move over a floor. A wheel is attached to each fixed portion, and a wheel is attached to each end of the rocking beam. If the CT scanner is positioned on a floor with an unlevel portion, the rocking beam rotates about the axis. One wheel attached to the rocking beam raises in a generally vertical direction, and the other beam attached to the rocking beam lowers in a generally vertical direction so all four wheels contact the floor, stabilizing the CT scanner and preventing rocking.