Patent ID: 7231013

Claim:
An x-ray inspection system, comprising: an imaging chain, comprising a single x-ray source and a planar array of linear sensors, the long axes of the linear sensors being aligned in parallel, the linear sensors being configured to receive x-rays from the x-ray source, the x-ray source and the linear sensors remaining stationary with respect to each other; a relative motion mechanism configured to alter the position of an article to be inspected relative to the imaging chain by passing the article between the x-ray source and the array of linear sensors in a series of passes, parallel to the array of linear sensors and substantially perpendicular to the long axes of the linear sensors, each pass displaced from the prior pass in a direction along the long axes of the sensors; an interpreter configured to capture a transmission image of the article for each of the linear sensors and combine the transmission images in order to generate a layer image for each separate layer of the article; and a controller configured to coordinate and control the relative motion mechanism, the imaging chain, and the interpreter.