Method and apparatus for mounting and aligning detectors of a medical imaging apparatus

Abstract

Detector heads in a gantry of a medical imaging apparatus are pivotally-coupled to mounting rails oriented axially about the gantry's axial centerline. Radial alignment blocks facilitate alignment and fixation of detector faces circumferentially transverse and normal to a radius projecting from the gantry's axial centerline. A column of detector heads on a common rail are separated by axial stop blocks, for precise axial separation. Abutting detector heads on a common mounting rail are slaved to another previously transverse-aligned detector through a common, shared radial alignment block. Plural, stacked gantry backplanes are fabricated simultaneously, assuring common circumferential and radial co-registration of plural mounting rails relative to the axial centerline of the gantry. Adjustable orientation of the detector heads compensates for tolerance stack up during final assembly of the gantry, so that the detector heads are mutually aligned in a uniform grid of axial columns and circumferential rows.