JPH0690426B2 - Opening mechanism of cassette for image record carrier - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an opening mechanism for a cassette for an image record carrier, and more specifically, a cassette for holding an image record carrier in a light-tight manner and loading it in an image reading device or the like in the device. This is for automatically opening the lid and taking out the stored image record carrier. Especially, even if the cassettes have different sizes, the lid can always be opened stably, and the structure is simple and occupies the lid. The present invention relates to a lid opening mechanism for a cassette for an image record carrier, which can further reduce the size of the entire apparatus by reducing the operating range as much as possible.

Recently, a radiation image recording / reproducing system for obtaining a radiation image of a subject using a stimulable phosphor (stimulable phosphor) has been attracting attention. Here, the stimulable phosphor means radiation (X-ray, α
Rays, β rays, γ rays, electron rays, ultraviolet rays, etc.)
A phosphor that accumulates a part of this radiation energy and the like and then irradiates it with excitation light such as visible light to generate stimulated emission light according to the accumulated energy.

The above-mentioned radiation image recording / reproducing system uses this stimulable phosphor, and the radiation image information of a subject such as a human body is once provided with a sheet having a layer composed of the stimulable phosphor (hereinafter referred to as “accumulative phosphor sheet” or simply (Hereinafter referred to as "sheet"), the stimulable phosphor sheet is scanned with excitation light such as laser light to generate stimulated emission light, and the stimulated emission light is photoelectrically read to obtain an electric signal. Based on this electric signal, the radiation image of the subject is output as a visible image on a recording material such as a photographic photosensitive material or a display device such as a CRT.

Therefore, in such a radiation image recording / reproducing system, an image information reading device for reading the radiation image from the stimulable phosphor sheet on which the radiation image is stored and recorded specifically employs the following method.

That is, the stimulable phosphor sheet is two-dimensionally scanned with a light beam such as a laser beam, and the stimulated emission light emitted by this is detected in a time series by a photodetector such as a photomultiplier to detect image information. To get Then, the two-dimensional scanning of the light beam is usually performed by sub-scanning by mechanically transporting the stimulable phosphor sheet in one direction, and the light deflected in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the sheet is also used. This is achieved by irradiating a beam and performing main scanning.

In this case, the stimulable phosphor sheet irradiates the subject with radiation or the like while being stored in the cassette, whereby a radiation image of the subject is accumulated and recorded on the sheet. Then, the sheet is loaded into the image reading device through the cassette, taken out from the cassette through a sheet-fed mechanism including a suction plate, and then conveyed to a scanning position for scanning a light beam. To be done.

Therefore, FIG. 1 illustrates a general structure for taking out the stimulable phosphor sheet from such a cassette.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 indicates a cassette according to the related art, and the cassette 2 has a housing 6 defining a chamber 4 in which a stimulable phosphor sheet S is housed, and an end portion of the housing 6. It includes a lid 10 which is swingably mounted via a hinge 8.

The cassette 2 configured as described above is loaded in, for example, the image reading device 12, and the lid 10 is opened via a suction plate 14 provided inside the image reading device 12 to open the chamber 4 in the image reading device. Open within 12. Then, the stimulable phosphor sheets S stacked and housed in the housing 6 are adsorbed and held under the driving action of the single-wafer mechanism including the suction board 16 and sent out to the image scanning reading unit through a transport mechanism (not shown). Be done.

By the way, various stimulable phosphor sheets S of different sizes
When performing the reading operation of each of the stimulable phosphor sheets S
It is necessary to prepare a different size cassette 2 corresponding to. If the size of the cassette is different as described above, the size of the lid to be opened is naturally different.
Therefore, the lids of different sizes can be attached by the same suction plate 14.
When trying to open / close the lid 10, especially as shown by the one-dot chain line in FIG. 1, in the case of a small-sized lid body 10, the lid body 10 is oriented vertically and greatly tilted to open. As a result, it is covered, and as a result, the angle between the suction surface and the axial direction holding the suction disk 14 is largely deviated, and a sufficient suction effect cannot be achieved. For this reason, the suction plate is peeled off from the lid 10, and as a result, the lid 10 is dropped.

Further, in order to avoid the above-mentioned inconvenience, as shown in FIG. 2, an opening mechanism 20 having a multi-link mechanism 18 is also adopted. That is, according to this configuration, the rotary drive source 22
The first arm 23 is connected to the drive shaft of the
A second arm 25 that swings around a fulcrum 24 is connected to 23. A third arm 27 is connected to the tip of the second arm 25 via a shaft 26, and the third arm 27 is further connected to the shaft.
The fourth arm 29 is connected via 28. Suction board 14
Is pivotally attached to the fourth arm 29 and faces the lid 10.

Therefore, with such a configuration, the link mechanism 18 swings in the direction of arrow B around the fulcrum 24 by the rotation of the rotary drive source 22 in the direction of arrow A, and the lid 10 holding the suction disk 14 by suction.
Function to open.

Therefore, even if the cassettes of different sizes are loaded, the inclination angle of the suction cup 14 with respect to the lid 10 can be corrected by the third arm 27 and the fourth arm 29 regardless of the difference in the length of the lid. become.

However, as can be easily understood from the drawing, the link mechanism 18 has a large number of parts and further has an inconvenience that the opening / closing operation range of the lid 10 becomes extremely large.

The present invention has been made to overcome the above-mentioned inconveniences, and a suction pipe body connected to a suction disk in a through hole formed in the vicinity of the other end of a supporting member whose one end is swingably supported. The coil spring is wound so as to surround the tubular body, and the tubular body is displaced within the through hole even if the size of the lid differs due to the elastic holding action of the coil spring on the tubular body. To open the cassette for the image recording carrier, which has a small number of parts and is configured to perform the opening operation within a range as small as possible, allowing the sheet suction operation at a stable position at all times. The purpose is to provide a mechanism.

To achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a rotary drive source,
An arm member that swings under the rotating action of the rotary drive source,
A support member having one end rotatably pivotally supported and a hole formed at the other end, and a coil spring inserted through a tubular body surrounding the hole and connected to a suction device. , A suction plate fixed to the tip of a tube body that penetrates through the hole and is exposed to one side of a support member, and the suction plate is faced to a lid body that constitutes a cassette and rotated. It is characterized in that the arm member is swung under the action of a driving source to open the lid by suction.

Next, a preferred embodiment of the lid opening mechanism of the cassette for an image recording carrier according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 to 6, reference numeral 30 indicates an opening mechanism of the cassette for the image record carrier. As shown in the figure, the lid opening mechanism 30 includes a swinging mechanism section 32 and a suction section 34, and a bracket 36 forming the swinging mechanism section 32 stands at a predetermined position inside a radiation image information reading apparatus 100 described later. And the bracket 36 is fixed to a horizontally extending support shaft 38 by an L
One end of the side surface portion 44 of the support member 40 that bends in a letter shape is supported. Therefore, the support member 40 can swing around the support shaft 38.

Further, a rotary drive source 46 is mounted on the radiation image information reading apparatus 100, and a disk is provided at the tip of a rotary shaft 48 extending in the horizontal direction of the rotary drive source 46 and parallel to the support shaft 38.
The disk 50 is attached, and the shaft 52 is eccentrically mounted on the disk 50. An arm 54 is further rotatably supported on the shaft 52. One end of the arm 54 is engaged with the support member 40 by a shaft 56.

A through hole 60 is formed near the tip of the bottom surface portion 58 of the support member 40. This through hole 60 is substantially defined by an ellipse. Further, a substantially conical coil spring 62 is arranged so as to surround the through hole 60. The coil spring 62
Holds a hollow tubular body 64 which penetrates the through hole 60 and is directed substantially downward in the vertical direction at the apex of its substantially conical shape.
A suction plate 66 is attached to one end of the pipe 64, while a pipe 68 made of an elastic body is connected to the other end. The pipe 68 is connected to a suction device (not shown).

The lid opening mechanism 30 of the cassette for the image record carrier is basically configured as described above.Next, regarding the radiation image information reading device incorporating the lid opening mechanism 30 of the cassette for the image record carrier, A brief description will be given below.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 100 indicates a radiation image information reading device, and the lid opening mechanism 3 is provided at a substantially central portion of the reading device 100.
A cassette holding portion 102 is provided for removably mounting the cassette 2 including 0.

In the vicinity of the cassette holding unit 102, for example, a sheet body transport mechanism 110 including a suction plate that performs a single-wafer operation by a drive source (not shown) is arranged.

A first conveying means 114 including a conveying belt 112 is arranged near the sheet conveying mechanism 110. As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of sheet accommodating portions 116 for accommodating the stimulable phosphor sheets S one by one are provided below the first conveying means 114, and the stimulable phosphor sheet taken out from the cassette 2 is provided. S
Is provided with a first stacker 118 for temporarily storing the. The first stacker 118 is configured to be movable in the direction of arrow D under the driving action of a motor or the like (not shown). The stimulable phosphor sheets S accommodated in the respective sheet accommodating portions 116 are placed on a bottom plate (not shown), and the sheets S are stored in the first stacker 118 by rotating the bottom plate downward. The sheet is sent out to the side of the conveyor belt 124 via the conveyor belt 122 and the like constituting the second conveyor means 120 provided below. In this case, the reading unit 126 is provided near the end of the conveyor belt 124.

The reading unit 126 includes a third transport unit 128 that transports the stimulable phosphor sheet S in the arrow E direction (sub-scanning direction) and a scanning unit 130. The scanning means 130 includes a laser light source 132, and a laser light 1 is provided on the laser light deriving side of the laser light source 132.
A mirror 136 for scanning 34 on the sheet S, a galvanometer mirror 138, and a converging reflection mirror 140 are provided. Further, a light guide 142 is arranged along the main scanning line at the scanning position of the laser light 134 on the sheet, and a photomultiplier 144 is mounted on the light guide 142.

On the other hand, a conveyor belt 148 is provided at an end portion of the conveyor belt 146 that constitutes the third conveyor means 128, and the conveyor belt 148 once extends in the horizontal direction and then extends largely upward in the vertical direction. Other conveyor belts in the part that extends in the vertical direction
The sliding contact of 150 forms the fourth conveying means 152. Above the conveyor belt 148 is a set of conveyor belts 1 that are in sliding contact with each other.
54a and 154b are provided, roller pairs 156 and 158 are provided above the conveyor belts 154a and 154b with a predetermined distance therebetween, and an erasing section 160 is provided between the roller pairs 156 and 158. It The erasing unit 160 includes an erasing light source 162 such as a sodium lamp, a tungsten lamp or a xenon lamp.
Is provided, and functions to completely erase the radiation image remaining on the stimulable phosphor sheet S from which the radiation image has been read by the reading unit 126 by the erasing light source 162.

Above the roller pair 158, there is further provided a conveyor belt 166 that constitutes the fifth conveyor means 164.
66 extends horizontally in the upper part thereof, and a short conveyor belt 168 is in sliding contact therewith. A sixth conveyance means 172 including the conveyance belt 170 is provided at the end of the conveyance belt 166, and the stimulable phosphor sheet S which is displaced by 180 ° in the traveling direction via the sixth conveyance means 172 is the second. Of the stacker 174.

The second stacker 174 is configured similarly to the first stacker 118 described above, and is provided with a plurality of sheet storage portions 176,
It is configured to be movable in the direction of arrow F under the driving action of a motor or the like (not shown). A pair of rollers 178 is disposed below the second stacker 174, and a seventh conveying unit 180 is provided in the vicinity of the pair of rollers 178. In this case, the seventh conveying means 180 conveys the stimulable phosphor sheet S supplied from the second stacker 174 to the auxiliary erasing section 182, and the auxiliary erasing section 182 is provided with the erasing light source 184. ing. Further, the stimulable phosphor sheet S passing through the auxiliary erasing section 182 is stored in the cassette 2 via the sheet body transport mechanism 110.

Therefore, the operation of taking out the sheets S contained in the cassette 2 will be described.

First, the cassette 2 is loaded in the reading device 100 in a light-tight state. Then, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5a and 5b,
When the rotary drive source 46 of the lid opening mechanism 30 is driven, and the disk 50 is gently rotated in the direction of arrow C via the rotary shaft 48, the arm 54 pivotally supported by the shaft 52 is vertically moved downward by the link motion. The support member 40 is rotated to the support shaft 38.
Rotate around as a fulcrum. As a result, the suction plate 66 comes into pressure contact with the lid 10 of the cassette 2. Here, the suction plate 66 supported through the coil spring 62 is connected to a suction device (not shown) by the pipe body 64 and the pipe 68, and therefore,
If the suction device is energized, the suction plate 66 is sucked onto the upper surface of the lid 10 of the cassette 2. Next, when the rotary drive source 46 is driven again, the suction disc 66 opens the lid 10 under its suction action. That is, the cassette 2 is opened in the reading device 100.

As described above, the mechanism for performing the lid-opening operation can favorably cope with the case where cassettes of different sizes are loaded. This is shown in FIG. That is, the inclination angle of the lid body 10 of the cassette 2 in FIG.
It is larger than the inclination angle of the lid 10 in FIG.
Since the support member 40 and the lid body 10 have different turning radii, the support member 40 and the lid body 10 are parallel to each other, unlike the case of FIGS. 5A and 5B. However, in this case, since the coil spring 62 is deformed and the difference is absorbed, the suction plate 66 is
Follows the inclination of the lid body 10, and extends in the extending direction of the support member 40 and the pipe body.
The angle formed by the axes of 64 remains almost orthogonal, and the suction cup 66 is a lid.
10 can be surely adsorbed and held. At this time, the tube body 64 is in the through hole 60 and can be freely displaced.

Next, the sheet conveying mechanism 110 is driven. As shown in FIG. 4, the suction plate communicating with the suction device (not shown) is driven in the direction of the arrow H by a drive device (not shown) and further descends vertically downward to suck and hold the sheet S, and subsequently, together with the sheet S. , Vertically upward and in the direction of arrow I. Then, the sheet S is dropped by stopping the suction device, and the sheet S is supplied to the first transport unit 114.

Then, the stimulable phosphor sheet S is transferred by the first conveying means 114.
The sheet is conveyed by being directed downward in the vertical direction via the sheet, and is supplied into the sheet storage unit 116 that constitutes the first stacker 118. Therefore, the stimulable phosphor sheet S that has been conveyed or the stimulable phosphor sheet S that has been accommodated in the other sheet accommodating portion 116 is delivered to the side of the second conveyor means 120, and the second conveyor means 120 and the conveyor. The reading unit 126 via the belts 122 and 124
Be transported to.

The stimulable phosphor sheet S that has reached the reading unit 126 is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction (arrow E direction) via the conveyor belt 146 that constitutes the third conveying unit 128, and the scanning unit 130 is driven. That is, the laser beam 134 emitted from the laser light source 132 is reflected by the mirror 136 and is reflected by the galvanometer mirror.
Then, the laser beam 134 is caused to scan on the sheet S under the swinging action of the galvanometer mirror 138. As a result, the stimulated emission light emitted from the sheet S is reflected directly or by the reflection mirror 140 to guide the light.
The photomultiplier 144 converts the electric signal into an electric signal and sends the electric signal to, for example, an image recording device or the like.

In this way, the stimulable phosphor sheet S, which has finished reading the radiation image, passes through the conveyor belt 148, the fourth conveyor means 152 including the conveyor belt 150 slidably contacting the conveyor belt 148, and the conveyor belts 154a and 154b. To the erasing section 160 after passing through the roller pair 156. In the erasing unit 160, a plurality of erasing light sources 162 are turned on,
The irradiation light completely erases the radiation image remaining on the stimulable phosphor sheet S. The stimulable phosphor sheet S from which the radiation image has been erased by passing through the erasing unit 160 is the fifth conveying means.
After being conveyed upward in the vertical direction via the conveying belts 166 and 168 constituting the unit 164, the conveying direction is shifted in the horizontal direction and reaches the sixth conveying means 172. The stimulable phosphor sheet S, which is displaced by 180 ° in the conveying direction by the sixth conveying means 172, is stored in a desired sheet storage portion 176 of the second stacker 174.

On the other hand, after the stimulable phosphor sheet S is taken out from the cassette, if the stimulable phosphor sheet S previously stored in the sheet storage portion 176 is sent out from the roller pair 178 to the seventh conveying means 180, the stimulable phosphor sheet S is discharged. The body sheet S is subjected to secondary erasing via the erasing light source 184 of the auxiliary erasing unit 182, and is delivered to the sheet body transport mechanism 110 side. Subsequently, the sheet S is sucked and held by the suction plate being lowered, and subsequently, together with the suction plate, it is conveyed in the direction of the arrow H and completely stored in the cassette 2.

In this way, the stimulable phosphor sheet S is placed in the cassette 2.
After storing the sheet, the suction device is stopped, the sheet S is separated, and the suction plate is raised and moved in the arrow I direction. Subsequently, the support member 40 of the lid opening mechanism 30 is rotated and lowered under the action of the rotary drive source 46, and the suction action of the suction plate 66 is stopped, so that the lid body 10 is closed. After that, the cassette 2 may be taken out from the cassette holder 102, and a new cassette 2 accommodating the stimulable phosphor sheet S in which image information is accumulated and recorded may be loaded into the cassette holder 102 as required.

According to the present invention, it is possible to reliably open cassettes of different sizes and lids selected to have arbitrary lengths as described above, and avoid accidents such as dropping of lids due to suction failure. You can do it.

Further, the lid opening mechanism 30 supports the tube body and the suction disk only by using a coil spring which is extremely inexpensive as compared with the conventional lid opening mechanism using a mechanism with a large number of parts as shown in FIG. Therefore, it is possible to achieve simplification of the lid opening mechanism and cost reduction during manufacturing.

Further, the lid body 10 can be selected to have a length sufficient to take out the sheet S, and as shown in FIG. 4, on the other hand, as shown in FIG. The size of the sheet S can be increased, and the size of the reading device 100 itself can be reduced.

As described above, according to the present invention, in the opening mechanism of the cassette for the image recording carrier, the suction plate for adsorbing to the surface of the lid of the cassette for the image recording carrier to open the lid has one end swingable. It is displaceably supported by a spring member attached so as to surround a through hole formed near the other end of the supported support member. Therefore, when opening cassettes of different sizes or lids selected to have an arbitrary length, the spring member that supports the suction plate deforms when opening the small lid, and the supporting member and the lid are opened. The suction disc follows the lid in order to absorb the difference in the tilt angle, and therefore, the lid can be securely sucked and held.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment,
Needless to say, various improvements and design changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention, for example, the present invention can be applied to a lid opening mechanism of a usual X-ray film cassette.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a cassette for an image recording carrier according to the related art, FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of a lid opening mechanism of the cassette for an image recording carrier according to the related art, and FIG. 3 is an image recording according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a lid opening mechanism of a carrier cassette, FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory view of a radiographic image information reading apparatus including a lid opening mechanism of an image recording carrier cassette according to the present invention, and FIG. 5a is an image relating to the present invention. FIG. 5b is a schematic side view of a closed state in the opening mechanism of the cassette for a record carrier, FIG. 5b is a schematic side view of the opened state in the opening mechanism of the cassette for an image record carrier according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of the lid for the image recording carrier cassette according to FIG. 30 …… Opening mechanism, 32 …… Swing mechanism 34 …… Suction part, 40 …… Supporting member 46 …… Rotation drive source, 50 …… Disk 60 …… Through hole, 62 …… Coil spring 64 …… Tube, 66 ... Suction board 100 ... Radiation image information reading device 102 ... Cassette holding section 110 ... Sheet body transport mechanism 116 ... Sheet storage section, 126 ... Reading section 130 ... Scanning means, 160 ... Eraser 182 …… Auxiliary eraser

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A rotary drive source, an arm member swinging under the rotating action of the rotary drive source, a support member having one end rotatably supported and a hole formed at the other end. A coil spring, which is disposed so as to surround the hole and is connected to the suction device, and a coil spring, and which is fixed to the tip of the tube that penetrates the hole and is exposed to one side of the support member. The suction cup is made to face the lid constituting the cassette loaded with the suction cup, and the arm member is swung under the action of the rotational drive source to open the lid by suction. An opening mechanism for a cassette for an image recording carrier, which is characterized in that: 2. A mechanism for opening a cassette for an image recording carrier according to claim 1, wherein the hole portion is substantially oval. 3. The mechanism for opening a cassette for an image recording carrier according to claim 1, wherein the coil spring is a conical body whose diameter decreases as it is directed upward.