Rotatable Flat-Panel Detector for Full-Face Dental CT Imaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current dental CT systems require multiple scans and increased radiation doses to capture full-face images due to the limited height of existing detector panels, which are costly and inefficient for orthodontic and orthognathic surgery applications.
Innovation Solution
A rotatable gantry system with a rectangular flat-panel detector that can adjust its orientation from landscape to portrait, allowing for a longer panel length to accommodate full-face imaging while maintaining high resolution, reducing the need for multiple scans and minimizing radiation exposure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a larger detector panel (25 cm x 25 cm) is used to enable full-face scans, then full-face imaging capability is achieved, but the cost of the detector panel increases disproportionately
Solution Approach 1:
The detector panel is made rotatable between landscape and portrait orientations. This dynamic reconfiguration allows the same physical panel to provide different effective fields of view, enabling full-face imaging capability without requiring a permanently larger and more expensive detector panel.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution adds the dimension of rotation to the detector panel configuration. By rotating the panel between orientations, the system accesses different spatial dimensions of the detector's capability, effectively providing both standard dental imaging and full-face imaging modes from a single panel.
2Length of moving object
If the detector panel height is increased to capture full-face images, then full-face imaging is enabled, but the detector panel cost increases disproportionately to the size
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of permanently increasing the detector panel height, the system dynamically reorients an existing rectangular panel (25 cm x 20 cm) between landscape and portrait modes. This allows the effective imaging height to be doubled for full-face scans without manufacturing a taller panel.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameters by rotating the detector panel orientation. This parameter change (orientation angle) allows the same physical detector to provide different effective dimensions, achieving full-face imaging height without increasing the actual panel dimensions.
3Area of stationary object
If multiple overlapping scans are conducted to produce full-face images, then full-face coverage is achieved, but the radiation dose to the patient increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable detector panel allows the system to capture full-face images in a single scan by reorienting the detector to portrait mode, eliminating the need for multiple sequential scans and thereby reducing cumulative radiation exposure to the patient.
Solution Approach 2:
By enabling single-scan full-face imaging through detector rotation, the system maintains continuous useful action during one exposure, rather than requiring interruption for repositioning and additional exposures, thus reducing total radiation dose.
4Area of stationary object
If multiple scans are performed to cover full-face area, then complete imaging coverage is achieved, but the time taken to reposition the gantry or patient between scans increases total scan time
Solution Approach 1:
The dynamic rotation of the detector panel between orientations eliminates the need for time-consuming gantry repositioning or patient movement between scans. The entire full-face image can be captured in a single continuous scan by simply rotating the detector to portrait mode.
Solution Approach 2:
The detector panel is pre-configured in portrait orientation for full-face imaging, eliminating the need for time-consuming repositioning actions between scans. The system is prepared in advance with the correct orientation to capture the complete field of view in one exposure.
5Area of stationary object
If the gantry is repositioned or patient is moved between scans, then different imaging levels are captured, but patient movement during repositioning makes seamless image merging difficult
Solution Approach 1:
By rotating the detector panel in place rather than moving the gantry or patient, the system maintains fixed spatial relationships between the patient and imaging system. This eliminates patient movement artifacts and enables seamless image merging when combining data from different orientations.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotatable detector panel acts as an intermediary that changes orientation without requiring movement of the patient or gantry. This intermediate rotation mechanism preserves the stability of the imaging geometry, enabling precise image alignment and merging.
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
Enables single-scan, high-resolution imaging of the entire face for 98% of adults, reducing radiation dose and operational costs by optimizing detector panel orientation and position, while maintaining acceptable image quality for various surgical applications.
Implementation Method 1
a flat-panel detector for the radiation... each of which converts incoming x-rays over a defined pixel area in a defined time to an electric charge
Data Source
AI summary
For dental and facial imaging, a source of x-rays (14) or other penetrating radiation and a detector (20) are mounted opposite one another on a rotatable gantry (28), so that the head of the patient can be positioned between the source (14) and the detector (20), with the axis of rotation (36) of the gantry passing through the patient's head. The detector is longer in one direction than in the perpendicular direction, generally rectangular, and is rotatable between a position in which the long axis is transverse to the axis of rotation of the gantry and a position in which the long axis is generally parallel to the axis of rotation of the gantry. The length of the detector along the long axis is sufficient for fully detailed computed CT when the long axis is transverse, and for full-face CT when the long axis is parallel.