Floating Cradle CT Patient Table for Multi-Modality Imaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional CT patient tables are bulky, complex, and inflexible, limiting room size requirements, complicating installation and maintenance, and preventing integration with other imaging devices due to long beam structures, which also affect image quality and increase costs.
Innovation Solution
A patient table with a floating cradle that moves bi-directionally relative to a fixed base, supported by rollers, allowing it to extend beyond the fixed structure without guide rails, enabling compact design and integration with multiple imaging modalities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If long stationary beam structures with linear motion guide rails are used, then the patient table provides stable support and guidance, but the room size requirements increase and installation becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the linear motion guide rails from the system, extracting the constraint mechanism that required long stationary beam structures. The floating cradle is allowed to move freely along the longitudinal axis without traditional guide rails, eliminating the need for extensive stationary support structures while maintaining operational stability through alternative means.
Solution Approach 2:
The patient table is divided into a fixed base structure and a separate floating cradle assembly. This segmentation allows the cradle to operate independently with reduced structural requirements, enabling compact room installation while maintaining support and guidance functions through the roller mechanism and self-guiding features.
2Strength
If long stationary beam structures are used, then the patient table structure is robust, but packaging, transportation, and installation become complex
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the floating cradle from the fixed base structure, the system becomes modular and easier to manufacture, package, and transport. Each component can be optimized independently, reducing overall complexity while maintaining structural robustness through precise interface design and roller support mechanisms.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the CT patient table structure is extended to enable other imaging devices, then multi-modality imaging is enabled, but the table length increases by 80 percent causing increased cradle deflection
Solution Approach 1:
The floating cradle design with extended travel capability allows a single patient table to serve multiple imaging modalities including CT, fluoroscopy, and interventional procedures. The bi-directional movement along the longitudinal axis enables compatibility with both CT scan ranges and other imaging device requirements without requiring separate specialized tables.
Solution Approach 2:
The floating cradle effectively creates a virtual extension of the support structure through its ability to move freely along the longitudinal axis, providing the functional equivalent of a longer table without the physical extension that would cause deflection. This allows multi-modality imaging capability while maintaining precise positioning and minimal deflection.
4Adaptability or versatility
If floor mounted linear motion guide rails are added for CT gantry, then multi-modality imaging is enabled, but the table structure becomes so complex and bulky that it increases cradle deflection
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the floor-mounted linear motion guide rails and their associated complex support structures, extracting the mechanism that would have increased device complexity and cradle deflection. Instead, the floating cradle uses a simplified roller-based system that achieves multi-modality capability without the bulky infrastructure.
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
Reduces room size requirements, simplifies installation and maintenance, facilitates integration with various imaging devices, and enhances image quality while reducing costs by eliminating long beam structures.
Implementation Method 1
A patient table with a floating cradle that moves bi-directionally relative to a fixed base, supported by rollers
Data Source
AI summary
A patient table for a computed tomography (CT) imaging system is provided. The patient table includes a base. The patient table also includes a floating cradle configured to support a subject to be imaged and to move bi-directionally relative to the base. The patient table further includes a fixed structure coupled to the base. The patient table further includes a plurality of rollers mounted to the fixed structure. The plurality of rollers is configured both to guide and to support the floating cradle. The floating cradle is configured to guide itself when extend beyond the fixed structure.