Method of determining sensitivity of radiation detector

1. Method of detecting the sensitivity of radiation detectors participating in a detector inventory test, the method comprising the steps of

subjecting each of the detectors to a substantially identical flat field radiation exposure to generate a radiation image in the detector,

measuring by means of a dose meter for each of the radiation images the corresponding radiation dose to which the detector was exposed,

generating for each of the detectors a number of signals (ROI signals) representing the radiation image at a predefined number of regions of interest (ROI's), the ROI signals being corrected for the non-uniform characteristics of the flat field exposure over a detector surface,

calculating for each detector, a detector signal by means of the corrected ROI signals,

correcting the detector signals for shot-to-shot radiation output variability of the exposure equipment reflected by differences of the measured radiation dose,

calculating for the inventory an inventory average signal by averaging the corrected detector signals, and

determining a relative detector sensitivity as the deviation of the corrected detector signal from the inventory average signal.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein an acceptance criterion for the relative detector sensitivity is defined and wherein an evaluation is made whether the relative detector sensitivity meets the acceptance criterion.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein a detector inventory average sensitivity is determined by

calculating the on-axis inventory average dose at the detector-plane based on the dose measurement data collected during radiation exposure of the detectors participating in the inventory test,

dividing the on-axis inventory average dose by the inventory average signal.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein the ROI signals are corrected for the shot-to-shot exposure variability by

calculating an average dose value for the inventory by calculating the average of a number of the measured dose values,

calculating for each detector a dose compensation factor by taking into account the deviation of the effectively measured dose for that detector from the inventory average dose value,

multiplying the dose compensation factor with a detector signal, the detector signal being obtained by averaging the non-uniform exposure corrected ROI signals per detector as calculated by dividing the ROI signals by their corresponding inventory median ROI signal ratios.

5. A method according to claim 4 wherein the average dose value is obtained by

sorting dose values detected for each of the detectors,

considering a number of dose values around the median of the sorted dose values,

calculating the average value of the considered values, the average value representing the inventory average dose value,

calculating for each detector the deviation of the effectively measured dose for irradiation of the detector from the inventory average dose,

calculating on the basis of this deviation for each detector a dose compensation factor.

6. A method according to claim 1 wherein additional ROI signal data are generated by rotating the detectors by a predefined angle, exposing the detectors to the substantially identical flat field exposure and detecting ROI signals at the same locations of the regions of interests.

7. A method according to claim 1 wherein the regions of interest are located in the center of a radiation detector as well as at the center of each of the quadrants.

8. Method of detecting the sensitivity of radiation detectors participating in a detector inventory test, the method comprising the steps of

subjecting each of the detectors to a substantially identical flat field radiation exposure to generate a radiation image in the detector,

measuring by means of a dose meter for each of the radiation images the corresponding radiation dose to which the detector was exposed,

generating for each of the detectors a number of signals (ROI signals) representing the radiation image at a predefined number of regions of interest (ROI's), the ROI signals being corrected for the non-uniform characteristics of the flat field exposure over a detector surface,

calculating for each detector, a detector signal by means of the corrected ROI signals,

correcting the detector signals for shot-to-shot radiation output variability of the exposure equipment reflected by differences of the measured radiation dose,

calculating for the inventory an inventory average signal by averaging the corrected detector signals, and

determining a detector inventory average sensitivity by calculating the on-axis inventory average dose at the detector-plane based on the dose measurement data collected during radiation exposure of the detectors participating in the inventory test and dividing the on-axis inventory average dose by the inventory average signal.