Disclosed herein is a method of determining the nature of a fault in a radiotherapy device comprising a linear accelerator. The radiotherapy device is configured to provide therapeutic radiation to a patient. The radiotherapy device comprises a vacuum tube comprising an electron gun, a waveguide configured to accelerate electrons emitted by the electron gun toward a target to produce said radiation, and a flight tube. The electron gun is located at a first end of the vacuum tube and the flight tube is located at a second end of the vacuum tube. The radiotherapy device further comprises a first and a second sensor. The first sensor is configured to provide signals indicative of pressure at a first region inside the vacuum tube and the second sensor is configured to provide signals indicative of pressure at a second region inside the vacuum tube. The first region is closer to the first end of the vacuum tube than the second region is. The method comprises processing a first value derived from signals from the first sensor and a second value derived from signals from the second sensor. The first value is indicative of pressure at the first region inside the vacuum tube, and the second value is indicative of pressure at the second region inside the vacuum tube. Processing the first and second value comprises comparing the first value with a first threshold and comparing the second value with a second threshold; and, based on the processing of the signals, determining that the nature of the fault is associated with the flight tube.

A gantry-less particle therapy system is provided. Charged particles are extracted from an ion source and accelerated in a beam transport system having an annular portion extending in a first plane and that circumscribes a volume, an arcuate portion extending in a second plane, and a transition portion that connects the annular portion and the arcuate portion. The arcuate portion terminates at a beam nozzle extending radially inward from the annular portion to deliver an ion beam to a treatment area contained in the volume circumscribed by the annular portion.

Disclosed is a knuckle boom crane for offshore application, wherein the crane includes a knuckle boom, carried by a support structure and equipped with an operating unit. The knuckle boom includes a main boom and a terminal boom. The operating unit of the knuckle boom include at least one downstream linear actuator, arranged between the main boom and the terminal boom, for the rotational operation of the terminal boom about a downstream articulation axis. And the at least one downstream linear actuator is fastened to one of the lateral faces of the main boom and to one of the lateral faces of the terminal boom, in order to provide an improved lever arm between the main boom and the terminal boom.

A device for concentrating ionizing radiation fluence is disclosed having a coupling structure linking the external radiotherapy device with linear accelerator to an external structure, whose central axis is hollow with an input window through which electrons enter attaching to the rotation device; a rotation system linking the coupling structure with a coupling flange rotating an inner structure; a deflection system in the inner structure, wherein the deflection system has first and second magnetic deflection devices; a system for controlling the focal point, which is in the electron deflection system, having an electronic control system controlling a set of motors that produce coordinated movements of the second magnetic deflection device, a correction element and a collimator, which change the position of the focal point; and at least two laser diodes on the edge of the collimator (25) pointing towards the focal point determining the position of the electron beam generated.

A time-of-fight measurement system for measuring energy of a pulsed hadron beam, wherein each pulse of the beam is structured into a series of bunches of charged particles, said bunches being repeated according to a repetition rate of the order of magnitude of radiofrequency. The system comprises a first detector, a second detector and a third detector arranged along a beam path, each of the detectors being configured to detect the passage of a bunch of charged particles and provide an output signal dependent on phase of the detected bunch, wherein the second detector is spaced apart from the first detector by a first distance and wherein the third detector is spaced apart from the second detector by a second distance, wherein the first distance is set out in such a way as that time of flight of the bunch from the first detector to the second detector is approximately equal to, or lower than a repetition period of the bunches, and wherein the second distance is set out in such a way as that time of flight of the bunch from the second detector to the third detector is greater than a multiple of the repetition period of the bunches, and a processing unit configured to a) calculate phase shifts between the output signals of the detectors, and b) calculate energy of the pulse based on the calculated phase shifts.

An accelerator includes: a plurality of ion sources 221, 222, and 233 that generate a plurality of different types of ions; an electromagnet 11 that generates a magnetic field; and a high frequency cavity 21 that generates a high frequency electric field. The center of an orbit of the ion is eccentric with acceleration, the magnetic field generated by the electromagnet 11 is a magnetic field distribution that decreases outward in a radial direction of the orbit, the high frequency cavity 21 accelerates the ion up to a predetermined energy by the high frequency electric field adjusted to an orbital frequency in response to a nuclide of the incident ion, and a frequency of the high frequency electric field changes following an energy of the ion. Accordingly, it is possible to provide an accelerator and a particle therapy system capable shortening an irradiation time with a small size.

In a circular accelerator that applies a radiofrequency wave in a main magnetic field to accelerate charged particle beam while increasing an orbit radius, another radiofrequency wave with a frequency different from the radiofrequency wave used for acceleration is applied to the charged particle beam in order to extract the charged particle beam. Thereby, in the circular accelerator that accelerates charged particle beam while increasing an orbit radius by applying a radiofrequency wave in a main magnetic field, the high precision control on extraction of the charged particle beam from the circular accelerator is achieved.

An acceleration radiofrequency acceleration system capable of frequency modulation and feeding an acceleration radiofrequency wave for accelerating a beam, a radiofrequency kicker 70 feeding an extraction radiofrequency wave different in frequency, from the acceleration radiofrequency wave for extracting a beam, a peeler magnetic field region 44 and a regenerator magnetic field region 45 for forming a disturbance magnetic field region including a high-order magnetic field that includes a magnetic field component having a number of poles of two poles or more and that includes at least a quadrupole magnetic field component, a shim of a magnetic material, and a septum magnet 43, 43A, 43B having an inner peripheral side septum coil conductor 5, an outer peripheral side septum coil conductor 6, a coil conductor connecting portion 7, and a coil lead-out portion 8 are provided.

A system (12) is proposed for the acceleration of ions to treat Atrial Fibrillation (AF), arteriovenous malformations (AVMS) and focal epileptic lesions; this system (12) includes a pulsed ion source (1), a pre-accelerator (3) and one or more linear accelerators or linacs (5, 6, 7) operating at frequencies above 1 GHz with a repetition rate between 1 Hz and 500 Hz. The particle beam coming out of the complex (12) can vary (i) in intensity, (ii) in deposition depth and (iii) transversally with respect to the central beam direction. The possibility of adjusting in a few milliseconds and in three orthogonal directions, the location of each energy deposition in the body of the patient makes that system of accelerators (12) perfectly suited to irradiation of a beating heart.

The invention relates to a drum assembly for a linear accelerator, the drum assembly comprising a drum having a front face including a front rim and a rear face including a rear rim, one or more support wheels supporting the drum, an arm extending from the front face of the drum and including a beam collimator through which a beam of radiation is emitted to form a radiation isocentre. One or more rear rim members are associated with the rear rim, the rear rim members adapted to substantially offset isocentre distortion due to unintended movement of the drum assembly. The invention also relates to variants thereto and combinations thereof.