Integration of the function generation synthesis into the design of a multi-leaf collimator

Throughout recent history, medical robots have gained a lot of popularity in robotic assisted radiotherapy. Integration of robot manipulators into the field of radiotherapy has improved the chances of patient recovery by increasing system precision, operation reliability and treatment efficiency. In order to prevent healthy tissues from radiation exposures during treatments, linear accelerators of radiotherapy robots have been enhanced by the implementation of active collimator designs. Addition of collimator mechanisms to these systems has also increased possibilities of treatments by allowing adjustable beam geometries on the targets. However, as the collimator leaves are additional obstacles on the path of the beam, beam scattering has become one of the most crucial issues waiting to be improved for these systems. In order to propose a solution for this problem, current paper tries to implement function generation synthesis into a multi-leaf active collimator design, where the individual collimator blocks are stacked vertically. This study demonstrates the proposed approach by utilizing two single degree of freedom planar systems positioned side by side for a point beam source. Throughout the study, kinematic synthesis approach was introduced to design these planar systems to adjust beam contour geometries on a single axis. At the end of the study, proposed procedure was verified by a numerical example and the results were used to design four degrees of freedom collimator that is able to adjust beam contour geometries on the plane. The prototype of the system was also modelled in order to ensure the realization of the collimator design for contour adjustments.