Patent ID: 8295433

Claim:
An apparatus for X-ray scanning of vehicles, comprising: a pulsed X-ray source generating X-rays; a collimator forming a fan-shaped beam from the X-rays; a detector detecting the fan-shaped beam after it passes through a vehicle; a speed sensor that measures a speed of the vehicle passing through the apparatus and providing an electrical output corresponding to the speed; an image formation module that converts an output of the detector into an image of the vehicle, based on the measured speed of the vehicle; wherein a cross-section of the fan-shaped beam is substantially similar to a width of the detector; wherein more than 50% of the X-rays comprise photons with maximum energy between 2.5 and 9 MeV; wherein a frequency of the pulses is adjusted based on the speed of the vehicle; and wherein prior to the scanning, the fan-shaped beam is aligned with the detector by adjusting position or orientation of the X-ray source and of the collimator to maximize an electrical output of the detector.