Patent ID: 7151817

Claim:
An X-ray inspection system for inspecting articles, comprising: a shielded housing including entrance and exit ports so as to define a tunnel passageway between the entrance and exit ports, and an X-ray inspection station (a) defining a X-, Y- and Z-axis coordinate system, (b) disposed between the entrance and exit ports and (c) including a source of X-rays and a detection system for generating X-ray images of the articles when each is located in the inspection station, wherein the X-rays emanate from a plurality of loci during operation of the X-ray inspection station; a conveyor assembly for conveying articles to and from the X-ray inspection station through the tunnel passageway along the Z-axis of the coordinate system through the entrance and exit ports; and a plurality of flexible, X-ray attenuating, spaced-apart, hanging strips distributed within the shielded housing between the X-ray inspection station and each of the entrance and exit ports across the entire tunnel passageway, wherein the spaced-apart strips are distributed so as to provide uniform attenuation of X-rays emanating from each of said loci toward the entrance and exit ports so as to minimize leakage radiation through the entrance and exit ports while allowing each article to displace strips as it passes through the shielded housing with low resistance.