Mobile Medical Imaging Gantry Translation and Rotation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional medical imaging devices, such as CT and MRI machines, are typically immovable or difficult to transport due to their size and design, limiting their mobility within hospitals and restricting their use to standard diagnostic imaging procedures.
Innovation Solution
A mobile medical imaging device with a gantry that can translate, rotate, and tilt, allowing for imaging in multiple orientations and facilitating easy transport and storage. The device includes a base with wheels, a gimbal support, and a gantry ring that can rotate between imaging and transport positions, enabling it to fit through standard doorways and hallways.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional CT and MR imaging devices are designed with fixed gantries and separate imaging tables, then imaging stability and precision are improved, but device mobility and ease of transport deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into separable components: a mobile base unit with imaging gantry and a separate patient support table. This segmentation allows the imaging system to be transported independently of the support table, improving mobility while maintaining imaging stability when components are assembled for use.
Solution Approach 2:
The patient support table is designed with dynamic positioning capabilities, allowing it to translate into and out of the imaging device during procedures. This dynamic adjustment enables the system to maintain stable imaging positions when needed while facilitating easy patient access and device mobility when the table is retracted.
2Ease of operation
If imaging devices are designed to fit through standard doorways, then ease of transport through hallways is improved, but imaging table functionality and versatility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patient support table is designed as a multi-functional unit that can serve both as a transport platform for moving the imaging device through doorways and hallways, and as a procedural support surface for patient positioning during imaging and interventions. This universal design maintains versatility while enabling compact transport configuration.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the gantry is designed to translate and rotate with respect to the support base, then imaging versatility in multiple orientations is improved, but device complexity and mechanical precision requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The gantry is designed with dynamic positioning mechanisms that allow it to translate along the patient axis and rotate to various angles relative to the support base. These controlled mechanical movements enable imaging from multiple orientations (supine, seated, prone, lateral) while using standardized imaging components, managing complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The system achieves imaging versatility by changing positional parameters of the gantry relative to the patient support rather than redesigning the entire imaging system for each orientation. The gantry's ability to translate and rotate allows the same imaging device to adapt to different imaging geometries and patient positions.
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 mobile medical imaging device allows for efficient transportation and setup in various locations, enabling imaging in multiple orientations and positions, such as seated or prone, thereby expanding its practical applications beyond standard diagnostic imaging.
Implementation Method 1
The gantry ring includes an image collection apparatus, such as an x-ray source and an x-ray detector array, for obtaining image data from an object located within the bore of the gantry ring
Data Source
AI summary
A mobile medical imaging device that allows for multiple support structures, such as a tabletop or a seat, to be attached, and in which the imaging gantry is indexed to the patient by translating up and down the patient axis. In one embodiment, the imaging gantry can translate, rotate and/or tilt with respect to a support base, enabling imaging in multiple orientations, and can also rotate in-line with the support base to facilitate easy transport and/or storage of the device. The imaging device can be used in, for example, x-ray computed tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications.