COMPUTED RADIOGRAPHY

Computed Radiography (CR) is the digital replacement of convetional X-ray film radiography and offers enormous advantages for inspection tasks - the use of consumables is virtually eliminated ad the time to produce an image is drastically shortened.

• Image plates are reusable
• No darkroom or chemical needed
• Reduction in exposure and processing time
• Software-based evaluation and reporting
• Simple digital data exchange and archiving

HOW EXACTLY DOES CR TECHNOLOGY WORK? In computed radiography, when imaging plates are exposed to X-rays or gamma rays, the energy of the incoming radiation is stored in a special phosphor layer. A specialized machine known as a scanner is then used to read out the latent image from the plate by stimulating it with a very finely focused laser beam. When stimulated, the plate emits blue light with intensity proportional to the amount of radiation received during the exposure. The light is then detected by a highly sensitive analog device known as a photomultiplier (PMT) and converted to a digital signal using an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The generated digital X-ray image can then be viewed on a computer monitor and evaluated. After an imaging plate is read, it is erased by a high intensity light source and can immediately be re-used - imaging plates can typically be used up to 1000 times or more depending on the application.