X-RAY EQUIPMENT

Exposure switching
• A switch is the device that turns the high voltage applied to the x-ray tube on and
off.
• Switching presents design engineers with interesting problems. These problems
arise from switching off the currents in the circuits very rapidly and removing all
the energy that is stored in the voltage-smoothing networks.
• If the current is turned off improperly, high-voltage spikes may be introduced
that can damage the equipment.
• If the voltages in the smoothing circuits are not removed, the voltage across the
x-ray tube cannot go to zero.
• There are two categories of switching for modern generators. Switching may take
place in the primary circuit of the highvoltage transformer where there are high
currents and low voltage.
• Switching may also take place in the secondary circuit where there are low
currents and high voltage
• In most general purpose three-phase units, switching occurs in the primary circuit
and is called primary switching.
• Switching in the secondary circuit is generally used in units designed for rapid,
repetitive exposures or where extremely short exposure times are needed, and is
called secondary switching.
Primary switching
• There are three types of primary switches: electromechanical contractors, thyratrons,
and solid-state silicon-controlled rectifiers.
• Electromechanical switches and thyratrons are being phased out.
• Silicon-Controlled Rectifiers.
• The primary switching found in most modern generators uses solid-state
semiconductors called silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCRs) or thyristers.
• SCRs may be thought of as solid-state thyratrons. Other control rectifiers may come
into common use, but we will talk only about the SCR.
• A control rectifier is a rectifier that can be turned on and off by a logic signal (which in
reality is just a small voltage pulse).
• This thyrister consists of a cathode (negative end), an anode (positive end), a gate, and
three junctions.
• Notice that this is similar to a series of diodes in that there are NP and PN junctions.
• If the cathode is made negative and the anode positive, current can flow through
• the two NP junctions (they are forward biased), but no current can flow through the
one PN junction (it is reversed biased).
• Remember, electrons in a diode will flow freely from N-type material to P-type material,
but will not flow freely from P to N material
• If a small positive voltage (about 1 V) is applied to the
gate, the reverse bias at the PN junction will be
overcome and electrons will flow through the thyrister.
• This is the way a thyrister functions: a small positive
pulse (the logic signal) to the gate causes a large
current to flow through the thyrister.
• The response of the gate is almost instantaneous,
making the thyrister useful when very fast switching is
necessary. Notice that a thyrister is also a rectifier (this
is the "R" part of the SCR).
• Electrons will not flow from anode to cathode because
there are two PN junctions that prevent electron flow.
We will leave the way SCRs are put into circuits to the
engineers.
Application
• Almost all general purpose generators use primary
switching.
• In today's technology and pricing mechanisms, it is
easier and cheaper to put switching into the
primary circuit.
• Primary switching can produce exposures as short
as 1 or 2 milliseconds (ms), but it cannot produce
these exposures at a high repetitive rate as well as
secondary switching can.
Secondary switching
• Secondary switching takes place on the high voltage side of the
transformer or at
• the x-ray tube itself.
• Remember that switches in the high-voltage circuit must prevent
high-voltage breakdown, so they must be insulated to withstand
high voltage. Two types of secondary switching are used today:
• Triode vacuum tubes
• Grid-controlled x-ray tubes

• It is currently possible, but not yet practical, to replace triode

vacuum tubes by stacking rectifying devices in a manner similar
to silicon-controlled rectifiers.
Application
• Secondary Switching. Secondary switching is used in special-
purpose generators, such as those needed for angiography
and cinefluorography.
• This technology makes it easier, compared to primary
switching, to have sharp, crisp exposures with rapid on-and-
off rates with many repeated exposures.
• Triode tubes will allow exposures as short as 0.5 ms at an
exposure rate of up to 80 per second and a power output of
up to 150 kW.
• The main application of grid-controlled x-ray tubes is in
cinefluorography with maximum rnA of about 400 to 600
rnA. Exposure rates as high as 500 per second are possible