RADIATION SHIELDED RIGID WALL SHELTER

The US Army Deployable Medical System (DEPMEDS) facility is a part of the US Army Combat Support Hospital (CSH), which consists of various shelters providing critical surgical and intensive care services to the injured soldiers in the combat field. The DEPMEDS employs Army Standard Family (ASF) Expandable ISO Shelters to house their CT scanner equipment. The walls of these shelters do not provide any radiation shielding capability. The unshielded, scattered radiation from the CT scanners pose safety hazard to the people that may be present in the vicinity outside the shelter. The lack of radiation shielding requires the CT scanner shelter to be located some distance away from the main CSH shelters. Consequently, the patient has to be transported back and forth between the CSH and the CT scanner shelter. This is undesirable for the patient care of the soldiers.  NexGen Composites has developed lightweight composite radiation shielding panels which can provide effective shielding against the secondary X-ray radiation that are generated during the operation of the CT scanners. In Phase I, NexGen demonstrated the technical feasibility of using the composite panels to provide the required level of radiation shielding while meeting other design parameters including thickness, weight and cost. In Phase II, NexGen optimized the materials formulation and scaled up the panel manufacturing and quality control processes. In Phase II sequential, NexGen will modify an Army Standard Family Expandable 20 ft. ISO shelter with composite shielding panels, install a portable CT scanner and conduct testing to qualify and demonstrate the required level of radiation shielding while maintaining full functionality of the ISO CT scanner shelter.