192 Eyes to Catch X-Ray
Achieving Low Price & High Quality
Arraying as many CCD cameras as possible to acquire a clear and vivid image. Even if technicians came up with this idea, few of them would try to draw out an actual plan. It is because they can easily imagine the difficulty of having all cameras to work simultaneously without any delay or misalignment. Therefore, technicians would change their minds to figure out different ways to acquire a clear image.
However, the reason why our technicians have been fixated on this idea was to make a reasonably priced “true” digital x-ray sensor possible. By applying CCD cameras that are widely used in many other applications, we succeeded to develop the digital x-ray sensor that acquires x-ray images with high resolution at the lowest production cost possible.
NAOMI is the Aggregation of Small CCD Cameras.
The mechanism of capturing a photo is fundamentally same for digital and analog cameras. A camera gathers the light through lens and records the image as a picture. The same mechanism applies to capturing an x-ray image. Digital X-Ray Sensor, NAOMI, uses a scintillator to convert x-ray into a visible yellow-greenish light (550nm) and captures the light with CCD cameras.
Achieving Higher Resolution with Multiple-CCD Sensors
Resolution indicates how clear and vivid the image is. Digital X-Ray Sensor, NAOMI's resolution is so high that it is capable of acquiring a high resolution image. The image is clear enough to show the details even when the image is magnified on a computer monitor.
It acquires a uniformed clear image by stitching all together based on the overlaps without having any space or misalignment.
The image resolution increases by closely arraying CCD sensors together. It is the distinctive feature of Multi-CCD Detector Method.
| NAOMI-70μm Type (Left) | |
|---|---|
| Pixel pitch | 70μm |
| Capturing area | 44.0(H) × 33.0(V) mm |
| Physical area | 36.0(H) × 22.0(V) mm |
| NAOMI-33μm Type (Right) | |
| Pixel pitch | 33μm |
| Capturing area | 31.0(H) × 23.0(V) mm |
| Physical area | 17.0(H) × 17.0(V) mm |
Pixel pitch: Distance between pixels. The smaller pixel pitch is, the clearer image can be captured.
Efficient and Comprehensive Maintenance
The most important part of a digital x-ray sensor is the panel that captures the light. Generally, one big board–type panel is used, and the entire panel needs to be replaced even if a portion of the panel breaks. In case of NAOMI, however, the panel is composed by multiple units of CCD sensors, and it is possible to replace only damaged unit. Therefore, the maintenance cost is reduced at minimum.
Applications of Multi-CCD Detector Method
By increasing or decreasing the numbers of units applied, Multi-CCD Detector Method enables to change the sensor size for different kinds of purposes. If the units are sterically combined, it will be able to take a three-dimensional x-ray image.