Non-destructive x-ray imaging detector utilizing artificial intelligence to optimize system efficiency
A high-energy x-ray camera with radiation-hardened fiber optic faceplate to protect its sensor chip from radiation damage, a field-replaceable scintillator which degrades under radiation. A signal and SNR monitoring system and method to optimize the scintillator replacement schedule.
1 . A non-destructive x-ray imaging detection system, comprising:
an x-ray source;
an x-ray sensor;
a fiber optic faceplate (FOP) to protect the sensor; and
a field-replaceable scintillator; and
a data collection and storage device that monitors an open-air signal of the imaging detection system and a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the imaging detection system at multiple times; wherein;
a first one of the open-air signals of the imaging detection system and a first one of the SNR of the imaging detection system are compared to successive ones of the open-air signals and SNR to indicate degradation of the field-replaceable scintillator as compared to the x-ray source, thereby providing the user of the imaging detection system an indicator of which element of the system, the field-replaceable scintillator or the x-ray source, needs to be replaced.
2 . The detection system of claim 1 , wherein:
a threshold level to replace the scintillator is established based on one or more of:
a signal slope calculated from successive measurements of the open-air signal, conversion gain, and
shot noise correlation.
3 . The detection system of claim 1 , wherein:
the x-ray sensor is a time-delay integration (TDI) sensor.
4 . The detection system of claim 1 , wherein:
the x-ray sensor is a charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor.
5 . The detection system of claim 1 , wherein:
the FOP is radiation hardened to mitigate formation of browning centers.
6 . The detection system of claim 1 , wherein:
the FOP is off-axis relative to the x-ray source.
7 . The detection system of claim 1 , wherein:
the scintillator is a columnar CsI scintillator.
8 . The detection system of claim 7 , wherein:
the scintillator is a low afterglow CsI scintillator.
9 . The detection system of claim 1 , wherein:
a plurality of scintillators are provided on a movable plate, the plate being moved to expose a new one of the scintillators when an original one of the scintillators is determined to be degraded to a point exceeding a preset threshold.
10 . The detection system of claim 1 , wherein:
scintillator material is formed onto a thin, flexible scintillator film, the scintillator film being wound onto a first supply reel and then fed to a second take-up reel, such that the scintillator film is advanced in stages across the FOP.