Patent ID: 8483355

Claim:
A radiation inspection apparatus comprising: a sheet-like sample to be conveyed while its predetermined tension is maintained by a conveyance roller and a take-up roll; a radiation source and a line sensor which are disposed to be opposed to each other with the sheet-like sample sandwiched therebetween and measure a physical property of the sheet-like sample; a gas ejecting unit which is placed in close proximity to at least one side face of the line sensor and functions as air bearing, wherein the gas ejecting unit comprises a plurality of ejecting nozzles or ejecting holes which eject a gas and are arranged in a plurality of rows in a width direction of the sheet-like sample in order to reduce a vertical conveyance swinging produced by variation of the tension of the sheet-like sample, and comprises a plurality of suction units which are disposed along the plurality of ejecting nozzles or ejecting holes and have pressure by which the sheet-like sample is not in contact with the line sensor, and wherein the plurality of ejecting nozzles or ejecting holes of the gas ejecting unit are placed in a state that an ejecting direction of the gas from a portion of the plurality of ejecting nozzles or ejecting holes at an upstream side is set in a direction inclined against a flow of the sheet-like sample to produce a drag force, and an ejecting direction of the gas from a portion of the plurality of ejecting nozzles or ejecting holes at a downstream side is set in a direction opposite to the ejecting direction at the upstream side against the flow of the sheet-like sample to produce a thrust force.