Patent Application
20080063145
The disclosure will become more clearly understood from the following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the disclosure and is provided in the context of a patent application and its requirements. Various modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and the generic principles herein may be applied to other embodiments. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiment shown but is to be accorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.
Referring now to the drawings, and initially to
In the illustrated embodiment, the entire interior of radiator housing 110, except for the space accepting motor 190 and sealed by a suitable seal 210 and is filled with a fluid coolant 221, such as an electrically insulating oil.
As illustrated in
In use, X-ray tube 120 rotates along its longitudinal axis A-A. X-ray beams 270 are emitted through X-ray tube 120 and exits X-ray tube 120 through annular X-ray window 280. Annular X-ray window 280 is disposed around the periphery of X-ray tube 120 and allows X-ray beams 270 to pass therethrough.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, at least one filtration material 300 is disposed on X-ray tube 120. Filtration material 300 at least partially covers a portion of annular X-ray window 280, thus filtering X-ray beams 270 as they pass therethrough. As illustrated in
As shown in
It is envisioned that first filtration material 300a strongly absorbs X-ray beams 270 whose energy is in the lower half of the spectrum, which extends from 0 to the tube's operating kVp. Second filtration material 300b absorbs the lower part of the spectrum more weakly, while reducing the combined X-ray intensity to approximately the intensity level provided by first filtration material 300a.
It is envisioned that first filtration material 300a is made from a material whose K-Shell electron binding energy is outside the range of about 30 keV to about 120 keV, such as aluminum. It is further envisioned that second filtration material 300b is made from a material whose binding energy is within the range of about 30 keV to about 120 keV, such as an actinide, including uranium or thorium.
With reference to
In an embodiment of the disclosure, filtration material 300 may be made of at least one material including aluminum, thorium, uranium, titanium, gold, lead, tungsten, tin, copper, iron, for example. Filtration material 300 may also be made of at least one rare-earth material including, for example, erbium, samarium or neodymium.
With reference to
It is envisioned that filtration materials 300 are removably attached to X-ray tube 120 to enable use for dual-energy imaging (when filtration materials 300 are attached to X-ray tube 120) and for normal operation (when filtration materials 300 are removed from X-ray tube 120).
The present disclosure also relates to a method for rapidly switching the energy spectrum of X-ray beams 270, for example, diagnostic X-ray beams. The method includes providing an X-ray tomography apparatus 100, such as that described above. The method further includes rotating X-ray tube 120 to cause X-ray beams 270 to pass through a plurality of locations in annular X-ray window 280.
Other applications for use of the X-ray apparatus 100 include various X-ray imaging devices. Such devices include CT scanners (including medical CT scanners) and medical X-ray imaging devices (also including medical CT scanners). Additionally, an embodiment of the apparatus and/or method disclosed in the present application may be used in angiography and in conjunction with baggage screening machines (e.g., in airports).
Although the present disclosure has been described in accordance with the embodiments shown, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that there could be variations to the embodiment and these variations would be within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, many modifications may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
