High Energy Particle Accelerator Tube Patents (Class 315/500)
  • Patent number: 8836247
    Abstract: A drift-tube linear accelerator that passes an injected particle beam through inside a plurality of cylindrical drift-tube electrodes arranged in a cylindrical cavity in a particle beam traveling direction and accelerates the particle beam by a radio-frequency electric field generated between the plurality of cylindrical drift-tube electrodes, wherein at least part of a focusing device for focusing the particle beam is disposed inside an end drift-tube electrode that is arranged nearest the injection side of the cylindrical cavity among the plurality of cylindrical drift-tube electrodes, with the focusing device being positionally adjustable independently of the end drift-tube electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuo Yamamoto, Hirofumi Tanaka, Hiromitsu Inoue, Sadahiro Kawasaki
  • Patent number: 8836248
    Abstract: An apparatus to monitor a condition of a solid state charge device (SSCD) useful in electrostatic printing includes a power supply and a frequency detector. The power supply provides current to the SSCD, and includes a resonant controller. The frequency detector senses a frequency associated with the current, and since the frequency is representative of the condition of the SSCD, the frequency detector thereby monitors the condition of the SSCD. A method of monitoring the condition of the SSCD includes providing current to the SSCD using a power supply, and sensing a frequency associated with the current. The power supply includes a resonant controller, and the frequency is representative of the condition of the SSCD, and thus the method thereby monitors the condition of the SSCD. A corresponding computer-readable medium is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventor: Hendrikus Adrianus Anthonius Verheijen
  • Patent number: 8836249
    Abstract: A method is described wherein a beam of charged particles is confined to an orbit within a compact region of space as it is accelerated across a wide range of energies. This confinement is achieved using a non-scaling magnetic field based on the Fixed Alternating Gradient principle where the field strength includes non-linear components. Examples of magnet configurations designed using this method are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Passport Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: William Bertozzi, Wilbur Franklin, Carol Johnstone, Robert J. Ledoux
  • Patent number: 8823291
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a dual-frequency resonant cavity (6) for cyclotron which includes a dee (10), a pillar (20), and a conducting enclosure (40) surrounding the pillar and the dee, an end of the pillar being connected to the base of the conducting enclosure and an opposite end of the pillar (20) supporting the dee (10). The conducting enclosure and the pillar form a transmission line comprising at least three portions (20a, 20b, 20c), each portion having a characteristic impedance (Zc1, Zc2, Zc3). The characteristic impedance Zc2 of the intermediate portion (20b) is substantially lower than the characteristic impedances Zc1 et Zc3 of the two other portions (20a, 20b), which makes it possible to have the cavity resonate according to two modes in order to produce two distinct frequencies, without having to make use of moving components such as for example sliding short-circuits or mobile plates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: Ion Beam Applications, S.A.
    Inventor: Michel Abs
  • Patent number: 8812068
    Abstract: A method of forming a delta niobium nitride ?-NbN layer on the surface of a niobium object including cleaning the surface of the niobium object; providing a treatment chamber; placing the niobium object in the treatment chamber; evacuating the chamber; passing pure nitrogen into the treatment chamber; focusing a laser spot on the niobium object; delivering laser fluences at the laser spot until the surface of the niobium object reaches above its boiling temperature; and rastering the laser spot over the surface of the niobium object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2014
    Assignee: Jefferson Science Associates, LLC.
    Inventors: Michael J. Kelley, John Michael Klopf, Senthilaraja Singaravelu
  • Patent number: 8803453
    Abstract: A method for generating stabilized particle acceleration by a radio-frequency (RF) accelerator is described, comprising operating the accelerator in a warm-up mode during a warm-up time period, without injecting charged particles or without accelerating injected charged particles, and operating the accelerator in a beam-on mode during a beam-on time period after the warm-up time period, to accelerate charged particles injected by the charged particle source. Automatic frequency control to match an expected frequency of the accelerator during the beam-on time period, prior to the start of the beam-on time period, for stability, is also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Varian Medical Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Douglas W. Eaton, Gongyin Chen, Timothy R. Fox
  • Patent number: 8796614
    Abstract: Provided is an apparatus for generating a proton beam, which includes a laser system providing a laser pulse, a target generating a proton beam by using the laser pulse, and a phase conversion plate disposed between the laser system as a light source and the target to convert the laser pulse into a circularly polarized laser pulse having a spiral shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2014
    Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
    Inventors: Dong Hoon Song, Dong-Ho Shin, Hwang Woon Lee, Hyung Ju Park, Moon Youn Jung
  • Patent number: 8791656
    Abstract: An example particle accelerator includes a magnet to generate a magnetic field, where the magnet includes first superconducting coils to pass current in a first direction to thereby generate the first magnetic field, and where the first magnetic field is at least 4 Tesla (T). The example particle accelerator also includes an active return system including second superconducting coils. Each of the second superconducting coils surrounds, and is concentric with, a corresponding first superconducting coil. The second superconducting coils are for passing current in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction to thereby generate a second magnetic field having a magnetic field of at least 2.5 T. The second magnetic field has a polarity that is opposite to a polarity of the first magnetic field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2014
    Assignee: Mevion Medical Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Gerrit Townsend Zwart, James Cooley
  • Patent number: 8779697
    Abstract: An RF cavity includes a chamber, a conductive wall that encloses the chamber and has an inner side and an outer side, a switch arrangement comprising a plurality of solid-state switches arranged along a circumference of the wall around the chamber, wherein the solid-state switches are connected to the conductive wall such that RF currents are induced in the conductive wall when the switch arrangement is activated, as a result of which RF power is coupled into the chamber of the RF cavity, and a shielding device located on the outer side of the conductive wall, along a circumference of the RF cavity, the shielding device configured to increase the impedance of a propagation path of RF currents along the outer side of the wall such that the RF currents coupled into the wall are suppressed on the outer side of the wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Arnd Baurichter, Oliver Heid, Timothy Hughes
  • Patent number: 8771480
    Abstract: Biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) is processed to produce useful products, such as fuels. For example, systems can use feedstock materials, such as cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials and/or starchy materials, to produce ethanol and/or butanol, e.g., by fermentation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: Xyleco, Inc.
    Inventor: Marshall Medoff
  • Patent number: 8760055
    Abstract: An electron cyclotron resonance ion generator includes a vacuum-tight chamber configured to contain a plasma, a magnetic field generator configured to generate a magnetic field in the chamber, a waveguide configured to propagate a high-frequency wave inside the chamber, a first ionization stage located at one end of the chamber, the first stage including an ionization zone in which ions are generated, the magnetic field being approximately parallel to a longitudinal axis in the ionization zone, a second magnetic confinement stage for the ions generated in the ionization zone, the second stage using a first high-frequency wave being propagated in the chamber from the waveguide, the magnetic field being approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis between the ionization zone and the second confinement stage, such that the ions generated in the ionization zone migrate towards the second confinement stage and the first and second stages contain the same continuous plasma.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignees: Commissariat a l'energie atomique et aux energies alternatives, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
    Inventors: Jean-Yves Pacquet, Gabriel Gaubert
  • Patent number: 8760086
    Abstract: An accelerator for accelerating two beams of charged particles and for producing a collision of the beams includes: an apparatus for producing an electrostatic potential field such that the two beams are acceleratable or deceleratable by the electrostatic field, a reaction zone for collision of the charged particles; first and second acceleration distances for the first and second beams, each acceleration distance directed towards the reaction zone, wherein the reaction zone is arranged geometrically with respect to the potential field and to the acceleration distances such that the particles of the beams are acceleratable towards the reaction zone along the first and second acceleration distances and, after interaction in the reaction zone and passage through the reaction zone, are deceleratable in the potential field, such that energy used by the potential field apparatus for accelerating the beams towards the reaction zone can be at least partially recovered by the deceleration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Oliver Heid
  • Patent number: 8754596
    Abstract: A DC high voltage source may include a capacitor stack having a first electrode that can be brought to a first potential, a second electrode arranged concentrically with the first electrode and which can be brought to a second potential different from the first potential, at least one intermediate electrode arranged concentrically between the first and second electrodes and which can be brought to an intermediate potential between the first and second potentials, a switching device for charging the capacitor stack, to which switching device the electrodes of the capacitor stack are connected and which is configured such that upon operation of the switching device the electrodes of the capacitor stack arranged concentrically with respect to each other can be brought to increasing potential levels, wherein the switching device comprises electron tubes, e.g., controllable electron tubes. A particle accelerator comprising such a DC high voltage source is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Oliver Heid
  • Patent number: 8747624
    Abstract: Biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) is processed to produce useful products, such as fuels. For example, systems can use feedstock materials, such as cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials and/or starchy materials, to produce ethanol and/or butanol, e.g., by fermentation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2014
    Assignee: Xyleco, Inc.
    Inventor: Marshall Medoff
  • Patent number: 8742699
    Abstract: A charged particle beam generator, a charged particle irradiation system, a method for operating the charged particle beam generator and a method for operating the charged particle irradiation system, which allow a charged particle beam to be injected into a circular accelerator at an arbitrary timing and can reduce an irradiation time and a time for a therapy, are provided while maintaining the lower limit of an operation cycle of a linear accelerator. An accelerator control device controls an operation of a synchrotron on the basis of a beam extraction request signal transmitted from a beam utilization system control device. A control device generates a timing signal notifying the linear accelerator of an injection timing of a next operation cycle of the synchrotron after completion of an extraction process performed by the synchrotron, changes an operation timing of the linear accelerator so that the operation timing of the linear accelerator matches the injection timing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masumi Umezawa, Yoshifumi Hojo
  • Patent number: 8742700
    Abstract: An accelerator assembly includes a first chip and a second chip. An acceleration channel is formed into a surface of a first side of the first chip. The first side of the first chip is covalently bonded to a first side of the second chip such that the channel is a tubular void between the first and second chips. The channel has a tubular inside sidewall surface, substantially no portion of which is a metal surface. The channel has length-to-width ratio greater than five, and a channel width less than one micron. There are many substantially identical channels that extend in parallel between the first and second chips. In one specific example, the assembly is part of a Direct Write On Wafer (DWOW) printing system. The DWOW printing system is useful in semiconductor processing in that it can direct write an image onto a 300 mm diameter wafer in one minute.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Transmute, Inc.
    Inventors: Kim L. Hailey, Robert O. Conn
  • Patent number: 8736169
    Abstract: An apparatus for generating an electron beam is disclosed to reduce emittance of an electron beam. The apparatus includes: a housing including a rear portion where an electron beam is generated, a front portion having an electron beam discharge hole for discharging the electron beam to the exterior, and a side portion connecting the rear portion and the front portion, the side portion having a first hole and an opposite side portion, facing the first hole, having a second hole in order to reduce asymmetry of an electric field caused by the first hole; and a waveguide installed on the side portion to supply an electromagnetic wave to the interior of the housing through the first hole, wherein the electron beam is generated by laser incident to the interior of the housing and accelerated by the electromagnetic wave supplied to the interior of the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: Postech Academy-Industry Foundation
    Inventors: Yong Woon Park, Sung Ju Park, In Soo Ko, Chang Bum Kim, Ju Ho Hong, Sung Ik Moon
  • Patent number: 8736198
    Abstract: A circular accelerator comprises a target current value memory which stores a target current value of a beam current of charged particle which is extracted from an extracting device; and a frequency determination part in which a frequency change ratio is obtained by performing a feedback control based on an error signal between a detection signal of a beam current detector and a target current value which is stored in a target current value memory, and determines a subsequent frequency from the obtained frequency change ratio and a current frequency, wherein the subsequent frequency which is determined by the frequency determination part is stored in a frequency memory and a radio-frequency generator generates the subsequent radio-frequency of frequency which is determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Nobuyuki Haruna, Katsuhisa Yoshida, Masahiro Ikeda, Kengo Sugahara, Hirofumi Tanaka
  • Patent number: 8723452
    Abstract: A d. c. charged particle accelerator comprises accelerator electrodes separated by insulating spacers defining acceleration gaps between adjacent pairs of electrodes. Individually regulated gap voltages are applied across each adjacent pair of accelerator electrodes. In an embodiment, direct connections are provided to gap electrodes from the stage points of a multistage Cockcroft Walton type voltage multiplier circuit. The described embodiment enables an ion beam to be accelerated to high energies and high beam currents, with good accelerator stability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: GTAT Corporation
    Inventors: Geoffrey Ryding, Steven Richards, Paul Eide, Theodore H. Smick, Malcolm Barnett
  • Patent number: 8723451
    Abstract: An accelerator for charged particle may include: a capacitor stack which includes a first electrode that can be brought to a first potential, a second electrode that is concentric to the first electrode and can be brought to a second potential differing from the first potential, and at least one intermediate electrode that is concentrically arranged between the first electrode and the second electrode and can be brought to an intermediate potential lying between the first potential and the second potential; a switching device to which the electrodes of the capacitor stack are connected and which is designed such that the concentric electrodes of the capacitor stack can be brought to increasing potential stages during operation of the switching device; a first and a second acceleration channel formed by first and second openings in the electrodes of the capacitor stack such that charged particles can be accelerated along the first and second acceleration channel by means of the electrodes; and a device which c
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Oliver Heid
  • Patent number: 8716958
    Abstract: A microwave device for accelerating electrons includes an electron gun providing an electron beam along an axis in a microwave structure for accelerating the electrons of the beam, an input for the electron beam, an output for accelerated electrons, and a series of coupled cavities along said axis, of central resonant frequency, an input for a microwave signal for excitation of the microwave structure by one of the cavities, a radiofrequency generator providing the excitation microwave signal to the acceleration microwave structure, and a central unit controlling the variation of energy of the electrons at the output of the microwave structure. The radiofrequency generator comprises a frequency control input for changing the frequency of the excitation microwave signal around the central resonant frequency, the change producing a variation of the energy of the accelerated electrons of the beam at the output of the microwave structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2014
    Assignee: Thales
    Inventor: Serge Sierra
  • Patent number: 8698429
    Abstract: There is provided a radiotherapy system comprising a linear accelerator, beam control circuitry for the linear accelerator, an electronic control apparatus for the control circuitry arranged to adjust properties thereof, and a monitor for detecting properties of the radiation beam produced by the linear accelerator, wherein the control apparatus is adapted to retain a set of beam properties and periodically activate the accelerator, measure the current beam properties via the monitor, compare the measured beam properties to the retained beam properties, and potentially adjust the control circuitry properties to align the beam properties towards the retained beam properties. The beam properties that are measured may include beam flatness and beam width. The retained beam properties can be the properties of the beam produced by the linear accelerator when new, or the properties of a standard beam. There is also provided a method for operating the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Elekta AB (publ)
    Inventors: Philip Sadler, David Harrison, Neil McCann
  • Patent number: 8680792
    Abstract: An accelerator assembly includes a first chip and a second chip. An acceleration channel is formed into a surface of a first side of the first chip. The first side of the first chip is covalently bonded to a first side of the second chip such that the channel is a tubular void between the first and second chips. The channel has a tubular inside sidewall surface, substantially no portion of which is a metal surface. The channel has length-to-width ratio greater than five, and a channel width less than one micron. There are many substantially identical channels that extend in parallel between the first and second chips. In one specific example, the assembly is part of a Direct Write On Wafer (DWOW) printing system. The DWOW printing system is useful in semiconductor processing in that it can direct write an image onto a 300 mm diameter wafer in one minute.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Transmute, Inc.
    Inventors: Kim L. Hailey, Robert O. Conn
  • Patent number: 8674630
    Abstract: An on-axis rf power coupler for a superconducting particle accelerator includes a coaxial coupler tube that passes through a rf waveguide stub connected to a rf power source. The coupler tube is movable in translation along the axis of the beam path by a piezoelectric drive to permit variation of the coupling between the rf power source and the resonant signal in the accelerator. A tubular rf window extending through the waveguide stub, together with a vacuum bellows assembly connected to the coupler tube, isolate the vacuum inside the accelerator cavity from the vacuum in the rf waveguide and stub. A choke joint in the wall of the waveguide selectively passes unwanted HOM signals out of the waveguide stub and away from the accelerator cavity, where they are dissipated by ferrite tiles on the coupler tube. The upstream end of the coupler tube and a tubular extension of the accelerator cavity form a coaxial line for introducing rf power into the accelerator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Inventor: Wayne Douglas Cornelius
  • Publication number: 20140070732
    Abstract: A laser-driven dielectric electron accelerator is composed of a dielectric photonic crystal accelerator structure having an electron beam channel and buried grating whose elements are arranged linearly parallel to the electron beam channel. The accelerator structure preferably has a thin film material coating. The grating may have an asymmetric structure. The accelerator and undulator structures may be integrated with on-chip optical and electronic devices such as waveguide devices and control circuits so that multiple devices can be fabricated on the same chip.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2013
    Publication date: March 13, 2014
    Inventors: Olav Solgaard, Chia Ming Chang
  • Patent number: 8659243
    Abstract: In a charged particle accelerator, voltage of several tens of kV is applied between accelerating electrodes. In such a case, electric discharge is sometimes generated between the accelerating electrodes. In the charged particle accelerator, part or entirety of the accelerating electrodes is coated with an electric discharge suppressing layer made of ceramics or alloy having a high melting point as compared with metal. When impurity fine particles are accelerated by an electric field and collide with the electrodes, the electric discharge suppressing layer made of ceramics or alloy prevents metal vapor from being easily generated from the electrodes and an ionized plasma from being easily produced, thus suppressing electric discharge between the electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2014
    Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Morita, Ryozo Takeuchi, Toshiyuki Yokosuka
  • Patent number: 8653473
    Abstract: A charged particle beam irradiation device includes a particle accelerator that accelerates charged particles and ejects a charged particle beam, a cylindrical outer shell part that is capable of rotating around a rotating axis, an irradiation unit that is capable of irradiating an irradiation target with the charged particle beam, the irradiation direction of which changes in accordance with the rotation of the outer shell part, and a beam transport line that transports the charged particle beam ejected from the particle accelerator to the irradiation unit. The particle accelerator and the beam transport line may be at least partially housed within the outer shell part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Satoru Yajima
  • Patent number: 8653761
    Abstract: A cascade accelerator (1), with two sets (2, 4) of capacitors (26, 28) which are each connected in series, interconnected by diodes (24, 30) in the form of a Greinacher cascade (20), is to have in a compact construction a particularly high attainable particle energy. Therefore, the cascade accelerator has an acceleration channel (8) which is formed through openings in the electrodes of the capacitors of a set (2), directed to a particle source (6) arranged in the region of the electrode with the highest voltage (12), wherein the electrodes are insulated to each other apart from the acceleration channel (8) with a solid or liquid insulation material (14).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Oliver Heid
  • Patent number: 8653762
    Abstract: A particle accelerator including an electrical field system and a magnetic field system that are configured to direct charged particles along a desired path within an acceleration chamber. The particle accelerator also includes a mechanical device that is located within the acceleration chamber. The mechanical device is configured to be selectively moved to different positions within the acceleration chamber. The particle accelerator also includes an electromechanical (EM) motor having a connector component and piezoelectric elements that are operatively coupled to the connector component. The connector component is operatively attached to the mechanical device. The EM motor drives the connector component when the piezoelectric elements are activated thereby moving the mechanical device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Tomas Eriksson, Bert Holmgren
  • Publication number: 20140037065
    Abstract: Borehole tools and methods for analyzing earth formations are disclosed herein. An example borehole tool disclosed herein includes an RF particle accelerator. The particle accelerator includes an accelerator waveguide for accelerating electrons. The borehole tool also includes a power amplification circuit that is based on a wide bandgap semiconductor material, such as a combination of gallium nitride (GaN) and aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN). The power amplification circuit amplifies an initial input RF signal and provides a driving RF output signal to drive acceleration of the electrons within the accelerator waveguide.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2012
    Publication date: February 6, 2014
    Applicant: SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventor: TANCREDI BOTTO
  • Publication number: 20140035588
    Abstract: Borehole tools and methods for analyzing earth formations are disclosed herein. An example borehole tool disclosed herein includes an RF particle accelerator. The particle accelerator includes at least one accelerator waveguide for accelerating electrons. The accelerator waveguide is a dielectric lined accelerator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2012
    Publication date: February 6, 2014
    Applicant: SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventor: TANCREDI BOTTO
  • Patent number: 8643313
    Abstract: An actuator assembly for use within the vacuum field of a cyclotron, one embodiment of which comprises an interactor which is moveable between a first position and a second position, at least one support structure for supporting the interactor in the first and second positions, a shape memory alloy (SMA) element connected to the interactor and/or support structure and being adapted to exert a force on the interactor and/or support structure so as to urge the interactor from the first position to the second position, an electromagnetic activator operatively associated with the SMA element for causing the element to exert the force when the electromagnetic activator is selectably activated, and a return mechanism operatively connected to the interactor, the support structure and/or the SMA element so as to urge the interactor from the second position to the first position when the electromagnetic activator is deactivated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Johan Larsson
  • Patent number: 8643314
    Abstract: A particle accelerator that is a synchrocyclotron accelerating charged particles and which includes an acceleration electrode that accelerates the charged particles; a high frequency power source that supplies the electric power to the acceleration electrode; a control unit that adjusts the frequency of the electric power supplied from the high frequency power source based on energy of the charged particle which is accelerated; and a matching circuit that has a coil and a capacitor, and performing impedance matching between the acceleration electrode and the high frequency power source, wherein the matching circuit has an inductance adjustment unit electrically adjusting the inductance of the coil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Yutaka Touchi
  • Patent number: 8629633
    Abstract: A DC high voltage source may include: (a) a capacitor stack having a first electrode which can be brought to a first potential, a second electrode concentric with the first electrode and which can be brought to a second potential different from the first potential, and a plurality of intermediate electrodes concentric with respect to each other and concentrically between the first and second electrodes and which can be brought to a sequence of increasing potential levels between the first and second potentials, and (b) a switching device to which the electrodes of the capacitor stack are connected and which is configured such that, during operation of the switching device, the electrodes of the capacitor stack can be brought to the increasing potential levels, wherein the distance of the electrodes of the capacitor stack decreases toward the central electrode. An accelerator comprising such a DC high voltage source is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Oliver Heid, Timothy Hughes
  • Patent number: 8624528
    Abstract: The invention relates generally to treatment of solid cancers. More particularly, the invention relates to enhancing synchrotron acceleration cycle usage efficiency by adjusting the synchrotron's acceleration cycle to correlate with a patient's respiration rate where efficiency refers to the duty cycle or the percentage of acceleration cycles used to deliver charged particles to the tumor. The system senses patient respiration and controls timing of negative ion beam formation, injection of charged particles into a synchrotron, acceleration of the charged particles, and extraction to yield delivery of the particles to the tumor at a predetermine period of the patient's respiration cycle. Independent control of charged particle energy and intensity is maintained during the timed irradiation therapy. Multi-field irradiation ensures efficient delivery of Bragg peak energy to the tumor while spreading ingress energy about the tumor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Inventor: Vladimir Balakin
  • Patent number: 8610380
    Abstract: An accelerator pack, specifically for linear accelerator modules cascade-connected to a proton-emitting cyclotron, specially adapted for use in cancer therapies. Such a technique is named PT. The pack displays an accelerating cavity of improved efficiency in virtue of its shape, which provides for making a portion of accelerating cavity on both faces of the pack. Furthermore, the pack also contains a coupling cavity portion. In such a manner, the volume of the accelerating cavity is increased as compared to that of the packs of the known accelerator modules.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Inventor: Vittorio Giorgio Vaccaro
  • Patent number: 8604722
    Abstract: This discloses a device called a particle refrigerator that will reduce the emittance of a charged particle beam. The particle refrigerator device is particularly well-suited for beams of particles created by interactions or decays of other particles, such as anti-protons, pions, ions, and muons, which are inherently created with very large emittances. It is a compact and inexpensive device compared to other systems for the emittance reduction of such beams. This device works by injecting beam particles backwards into the device, using the particle turn-around to match an incoming beam into a frictional cooling channel; this increases the acceptance of that channel by perhaps a thousandfold, making it practical to produce beams of high intensity and brightness. The frictional cooling is very effective, and simulations of its operation and performance give emittance reduction factors exceeding 30,000, with transmissions as high as 70%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Muons, Inc.
    Inventor: Thomas J. Roberts
  • Patent number: 8604723
    Abstract: Multi-energy radiation sources comprising charged particle accelerators driven by power generators providing different RF powers to the accelerator, capable of interlaced operation, are disclosed. Automatic frequency control techniques are provided to match the frequency of RF power provided to the accelerator with the accelerator resonance frequency. In one example where the power generator is a mechanically tunable magnetron, an automatic frequency controller is provided to match the frequency of RF power pulses at one power to the accelerator resonance frequency when those RF power pulses are provided, and the magnetron is operated such that frequency shift in the magnetron at the other power at least partially matches the resonance frequency shift in the accelerator when those RF power pulses are provided. In other examples, when the power generator is a klystron or electrically tunable magnetron, separate automatic frequency controllers are provided for each RF power pulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Varian Medical Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Gongyin Chen, John Turner, Douglas W. Eaton
  • Patent number: 8598814
    Abstract: A method for pulsed operation of a linear accelerator includes generating pulses of charged particles. The generating includes emitting particles by a particle source and accelerating the particles in an accelerator device that includes a plurality of linked cavity resonators. The accelerator device is supplied with energy by an energy supply unit. Particle energy is changed solely by varying a number of particles emitted by the particle source per pulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Marvin Möller, Sven Müller, Stefan Setzer
  • Patent number: 8587202
    Abstract: The invention relates to an ion accelerator arrangement comprising an electrostatic acceleration field between a cathode to which a frame potential is applied and an anode to which a high-voltage potential is applied. The ion accelerator arrangement further comprises a gas supply system into which a gas-permeable, open porous insulator member is introduced. Also described is a high-voltage insulator arrangement that comprises such an insulator member and is suitable, inter alia, for such an ion accelerator arrangement and for the corona-resistant insulation of other components to which a high voltage is applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2013
    Assignee: Thales Electronic Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Hans-Peter Harmann, Norbert Koch, Guenter Kornfeld
  • Patent number: 8581525
    Abstract: A plurality of magnetic extraction bumps are incorporated into a cyclotron that further includes (a) a pair of magnetic coils encircling a central axis and positioned on opposite sides of a median acceleration plane and (b) a magnetic yoke encircling the central axis and including a return yoke that crosses the median acceleration plane and a first and second pole on opposite sides of the median acceleration plane. The magnetic extraction bumps extend in series radially from the central axis on opposite sides of the median acceleration plane and can be used to extract an orbiting accelerated ion from the cyclotron.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Timothy A. Antaya, Jun Feng, Alexey Radovinsky, Stanislaw P. Sobczynski
  • Patent number: 8575867
    Abstract: A charged particle accelerator having a curvilinear beam trajectory maintained solely by a laterally directed, constant electric field; requiring no magnetic field. A method for controlling the trajectory of a charged particle in an accelerator by applying only a constant electric field for beam trajectory control. Curvilinear steering electrodes held at a constant potential create the beam path. A method for making a chip-scale charged particle accelerator involves integrated circuit-based processes and materials. A particle accelerator that can generate 110 KeV may a footprint less than about 1 cm2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Cornell University
    Inventors: Amit Lal, Shi Yue
  • Patent number: 8575563
    Abstract: A gantry for administering proton beam therapy with improvements which reduce the size, weight, costs and radiation beam loss associated with proton beam therapy systems currently commercially available. The gantry utilizes achromatic superconducting multi-function electromagnet systems wherein the magnets can include dipoles and quadrupoles. The achromatic properties of the rampable magnet systems allow for ease of transmission of the beam whose energy is rapidly changed through a large range of different energies without changing of the strength of the magnetic fields or dipole settings. The magnets may be made with either low or high temperature superconductors. The gantry design further integrates beam scanning but keeps the gantry isocentric. A much greater fraction of the beam can be transmitted through the gantry than with current art, thereby reducing radiation shielding requirements and the demand put on the accelerator to produce large quantities of proton beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: ProCure Treatment Centers, Inc.
    Inventors: John M. Cameron, Vladimir Anferov, Timothy A. Antaya
  • Patent number: 8564224
    Abstract: An electron injector including an electron source and a conducting grid situated close to the electron source, one or more RF accelerating/bunching cavities operating at the same fundamental RF frequency; a DC voltage source configured to bias the cathode at a small positive voltage with respect to the grid; a first RF drive configured to apply an RF signal between the cathode and grid at the fundamental and third harmonic RF frequencies; and a second RF drive configured to apply an RF drive signal to the accelerating/bunching cavities. Electrons are emitted by the cathode and travel through the grid to the accelerating/bunching cavities for input into an RF linac.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: Phillip A. Sprangle, Steven H. Gold, Antonio C. Ting, Joseph R. Penano, Daniel F. Gordon, Bahman Hafizi
  • Patent number: 8564225
    Abstract: An accelerator assembly includes an acceleration channel that passes in a straight line through a plurality of accelerator cells. Each cell includes an acceleration region and a drift region. The drift region includes a high voltage plate and a grid electrode, where the grid electrode is disposed between the high voltage plate and the channel. In each cell, a large DC voltage is present on the high voltage plate. A voltage on the grid electrode is controlled such that at a first time an ion in the channel is attracted toward the high voltage plate, and such that at a second time the ion is shielded and is not attracted toward the high voltage plate. In one specific example, the assembly is part of a Direct Write On Wafer (DWOW) printing system that can direct write an image onto a 300 mm diameter wafer in one minute.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Transmute, Inc.
    Inventors: Kim L. Hailey, Robert O. Conn
  • Patent number: 8558485
    Abstract: A compact, cold, superconducting isochronous cyclotron can include at least two superconducting coils on opposite sides of a median acceleration plane. A magnetic yoke surrounds the coils and a portion of a beam chamber in which ions are accelerated. A cryogenic refrigerator is thermally coupled both with the superconducting coils and with the magnetic yoke. The superconducting isochronous cyclotron also includes sector pole tips that provide strong focusing; the sector pole tips can have a spiral configuration and can be formed of a rare earth magnet. The sector pole tips can also be separated from the rest of the yoke by a non-magnetic material. In other embodiments, the sector pole tips can include a superconducting material. The spiral pole tips can also include cut-outs on a back side of the sector pole tips remote from the median acceleration plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2013
    Assignee: Ionetix Corporation
    Inventor: Timothy A. Antaya
  • Patent number: 8552667
    Abstract: The present invention provides a linear accelerator in which a rotatable conductive vane is employed to vary the electromagnetic coupling between adjacent accelerating cells. The vane is sealed off from the rest of the linear accelerator by an insulating partition, so the pressure around the vane can be higher than in the rest of the accelerator. This greatly simplifies the mechanisms which may be used to control the rotation of the vane, allowing a higher bakeout temperature in manufacture and a higher rate of rotation in use.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Elekta AB (Publ)
    Inventors: John Allen, Terry Arthur Large
  • Patent number: 8525448
    Abstract: The circular accelerator comprises: a bending electromagnet that generates a bending magnetic field; a radio-frequency power source that generates a radio-frequency electric field in accordance with an orbital frequency of charged particles; a radio-frequency electromagnetic field coupling part connected to the radio-frequency power source; an acceleration electrode connected to the radio-frequency electromagnetic field coupling part; and an acceleration-electrode-opposing ground plate provided to form an acceleration gap between the plate itself and the acceleration electrode, for generating the radio-frequency electromagnetic field in an orbiting direction of the charged particles; wherein the bending electromagnet generates the bending magnetic field varying in such a way that the orbital frequency of the charged particles varies in a variation range of 0.7% to 24.7% with respect to an orbital frequency at the charged-particles' extraction portion, during a time of injection to extraction of the particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Hirofumi Tanaka, Kazuo Yamamoto, Nobuyuki Haruna, Yuehu Pu, Kanji Shinkawa, Takayuki Kashima
  • Patent number: 8519644
    Abstract: An accelerator assembly includes a first chip and a second chip. An acceleration channel is formed into a surface of a first side of the first chip. The first side of the first chip is covalently bonded to a first side of the second chip such that the channel is a tubular void between the first and second chips. The channel has a tubular inside sidewall surface, substantially no portion of which is a metal surface. The channel has length-to-width ratio greater than five, and a channel width less than one micron. There are many substantially identical channels that extend in parallel between the first and second chips. In one specific example, the assembly is part of a Direct Write On Wafer (DWOW) printing system. The DWOW printing system is useful in semiconductor processing in that it can direct write an image onto a 300 mm diameter wafer in one minute.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2013
    Assignee: Transmute, Inc.
    Inventors: Kim L. Hailey, Robert O. Conn
  • Patent number: 8508158
    Abstract: A dc accelerator system able to accelerate high currents of proton beams at high energies is provided. The accelerator system includes a dc high-voltage, high-current power supply, an evacuated ion accelerating tube, a proton ion source, a dipole analyzing magnet and a vacuum pump located in the high-voltage terminal. The high-current, high-energy dc proton beam can be directed to a number of targets depending on the applications such as boron neutron capture therapy BNCT applications, NRA applications, and silicon cleaving.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2013
    Assignee: Ion Beam Applications S.A.
    Inventors: Marshall R. Cleland, Richard A. Galloway, Leonard DeSanto, Yves Jongen