Flexible Digital Radiography Detector for Pipeline Inspection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current x-ray inspection technologies, such as Computed Radiography (CR) screens and rigid flat panel digital radiography (DR) detectors, face challenges in efficiently imaging large, thick materials like pipelines due to geometry-related image artifacts and the need for field-deployable CR readers, which increase cycle time and require extensive x-ray exposure.
Innovation Solution
A flexible digital radiography detector assembly that can be manually bent to match the curvature of objects, featuring stiffening components to prevent bending in one axis and flexible components to allow bending in another, enabling precise imaging with reduced exposure times and improved image quality by minimizing secondary backscatter and geometry-related artifacts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If a rigid flat panel digital radiography detector is used, then structural stability is maintained, but the detector cannot conform to curved surfaces of objects like pipelines, causing geometry-related image artifacts
Solution Approach 1:
The detector housing is divided into flexible sidewalls and rigid sidewalls. The flexible sidewalls allow the detector to bend and conform to curved surfaces, while the rigid sidewalls maintain structural stability and protect internal components. This segmentation enables the detector to achieve both flexibility and stability simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the detector housing are assigned different mechanical properties. The flexible sidewalls are designed to be bendable to match object curvature, while the rigid sidewalls provide structural support. This local differentiation of material properties allows the detector to conform to surfaces while maintaining overall structural integrity.
2Ease of operation
If Computed Radiography screens and readers are used for pipeline inspection, then field deployment is enabled, but cycle time increases due to the need for CR readers and extensive x-ray exposure
Solution Approach 1:
The CR reader component is extracted from the field inspection process. The digital radiography detector directly captures and stores digital images without requiring a separate CR reader to scan and process CR screens. This eliminates the additional time required for CR reading while maintaining field deployability, as the detector itself performs both image capture and storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the CR screen analog imaging process with a digital copy of the imaging process. Instead of capturing images on CR screens that require physical scanning, the detector creates digital copies of radiographic images that can be immediately stored, transmitted, and processed, significantly reducing cycle time while enabling field deployment.
3Measurement precision
If x-ray exposure time is increased to image large, thick materials, then image quality improves, but productivity decreases due to extended exposure and processing time
Solution Approach 1:
The mechanical process of increasing exposure time to improve image quality is replaced with a digital imaging system that captures high-quality images more efficiently. The digital radiography detector with flexible sidewalls allows closer proximity to the object, reducing secondary backscatter and improving image quality without requiring extended exposure times, thus maintaining productivity.
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 flexible DR detector reduces cycle time and improves imaging efficiency by allowing closer proximity to the object, minimizing secondary x-ray scatter, and enabling wireless transmission of images, thus enhancing the detection of anomalies in large, thick materials like pipelines with reduced x-ray exposure.
Implementation Method 1
a flexible x-ray detector configured to be manually bent to precisely match a curvature of the object and to be secured to the object
Data Source
AI summary
A flexible DR detector assembly bendable along one axis and not bendable along a second axis is used with an x-ray source for radiographic imaging of a human anatomy, veterinary anatomy, or industrial equipment.