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Ling Xin

Chinese researchers have developed the world’s smallest CT scanner, a portable device designed to produce images of tiny fossils and archaeological relics.
Built by the Shandong province-based Rayim, the Xtomo-Cube is about the size of a desktop speaker and weighs just 6kg (13.2lbs).
“The device can be held in one hand and is the world’s smallest and lightest CT system, earning it the nickname ‘palm-sized CT scanner’,” Liu Baodong, a senior engineer at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and general manager of Rayim, told the Science and Technology Daily on Monday.
The machine had a spatial resolution of 80 micrometres, roughly the width of a human hair, and could analyse objects from snail shells to medicine capsules, Liu said.
It consumed only about 200 watts, which meant it could be powered by an ordinary portable power bank during fieldwork, he said.
Liu added that all the machine’s key components – including its X-ray source, rotating platform and detector – were developed and manufactured in China.


The previous record holder for smallest CT machine was a German-developed device that weighed 19kg, according to the Science and Technology Daily.
CT, short for computed tomography, uses X-rays taken from multiple angles to produce images of an object or organism’s internal structure. A computer then combines the images into a detailed 3D model.
In 1971, the first clinical CT scanner was used on a patient in London to reveal a brain tumour. Developed by British engineer Godfrey Hounsfield, the 3-metre-long (9.8 feet) machine could only scan a patient’s head and took about five minutes to generate a pair of two-dimensional images.
Today, hospitals around the world use CT scanners routinely to spot tumours, internal bleeding and other injuries or conditions. They are also used to peer inside fossils, archaeological finds and industrial components without damaging them.
Despite their expanding uses, CT scanners have remained big, heavy machines. A typical hospital scanner is roughly 2 metres tall and wide and weighs around two tonnes (2.2 tons), while some industrial systems are even larger and can weigh several tonnes.
“There are probably more types of CT scanners than cars – sports cars, trucks, you name it,” Liu said. “This one is the compact car of the CT world. It’s not meant to scan everything; it’s designed to look inside small things.”
He said the challenge was to squeeze the X-ray source, detector and rotating platform into a four-litre package while maintaining fine imaging detail.
Its small size and relatively low-energy X-rays could also make it useful in university classrooms and research labs. Unlike many commercial CT systems, its settings and raw imaging data were open to users, allowing students and researchers to experiment with how CT images are collected, reconstructed and improved, according to Liu.


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China

Compact and portable device can be used to analyse fossils and archaeological relics in the field, developer says


Compact and portable device can be used to analyse fossils and archaeological relics in the field, developer says.


Germany

Chinese scientists build world’s smallest CT scanner, weighing just 6kg

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Compact and portable device can be used to analyse fossils and archaeological relics in the field, developer says

Compact and portable device can be used to analyse fossils and archaeological relics in the field, developer says