Filmless Radiographic System for Field Use

A portable x-ray machine comprising a power pack and arm assembly has been developed for use in the field. Energy from a rechargeable NiCd battery is accumulated in an electrolytic capacitor to produce a short, powerful exposure. The arm assembly contains electronic circuits, x-ray tube head, and receptor assembly. The image receptor can be a conventional x-ray film-screen cassette, a new Polaroid cassette, or an eraseable electrophoretic image display, EPID, made by Philips Research Laboratories. A study was performed to determine a useful configuration of a filmless radiographic system based on stimulable x-ray phosphors and optical data cards. When exposed to x-rays, a phosphors plate will store a latent image until read by a laser beam. The image is digitized when read, transfered to a small computer, and displayed on a monitor for review. Optical digital data cards, which are credit card size and which store several MBytes of data similiar to music compact discs, will then permanently store up to 12 images and several pages of text. Advantages are a 100x reduction of volume of supplies, film and development chemicals are not needed, immunity to severe environments, and long storage times.