Notebook 15

X-Ray Production
1. Main Breaker- Usually in an electrical box, this allows the current to flow through the circuit
2. Line Compensator- Monitors incoming electric power for medical devices and adjusts for voltage
fluctuations
3. Auto Transformer- Where you choose your voltage and it modifies the incoming-line voltage in
anticipation of the kilovoltage that will be produced by the step-up transformer
4. Timer Circuit- This is intended to end the exposure at an accurately measured preset time
5. Step Up transformer- Steps up the incoming volts to kilovolts
6. Four Diode Rectifier - Controls the flow of the current and changes the current from AC to DC.
7. Filament Circuit Variable Resistance- Alter incoming line power to create thermionic emission
and it is where your mA control is.
8. Step- Down Transformer- Takes amperages down to milliamperes and steps down voltage which
increases amperage to the filament.
9. X-Ray tube- Holds Cathode (-) and Anode (+). Electrons go from cathode to anode and create
photons to produce an x-ray
10. Rotor Stator- Electric Coils that produce a very strong magnetic field outside of the glass
envelope that turns the copper rotor
11. mA Meter shuts off after the desired amount of milliamperes has been met
12. Exposure Switch- Activates the rotating anode of the x-ray tube
13. kVp Meter Shuts off after the desired kilovoltage has been reached. It is a measuring tool to
make sure that the correct voltage has been met.
Steps:
The current will come through the main breaker
It then goes through the line compensator which is monitoring the incoming electric power.
The current will then go two paths.
Primary Circuit
The first path will go through the primary, low voltage side
It will pass through an autotransformer that modifies incoming line voltage in
anticipation of the kilovoltage that will be produced by the step up transformer and
where voltage is chosen
Next it goes through the step up transformer. Volts - kilovolts
And goes to the four diode rectifier. This is where alternating current (AC) is converted to
direct current (DC)
Current travels through the diode and goes to the cathode in the electric tube
Stator/rotor located outside of the x-ray tube, must be activated prior to the exposure. A
switch labeled rotor sends current to the stator which then causes the rotor to turn
the anode
Exposure button is pressed and electrons go through filament and hit the target on the
anode, creating x-ray photons
It passes a timer circuit - This ends the exposure once the correct amount of radiation
has been produced

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The electrons that dont get created into x-ray photons continue throughout the circuit
and repeat the steps all over again until they are used to produce x-ray photons.
Filament Circuit
From the line compensator, the current flows down through the filament circuit where it
will first go through a Filament Circuit Variable Resistor, this is where you control your
mA.
The current then travels through a step down transformer, lowering voltage and
increasing amperage
From here the current travels to the filaments in the cathode. The filament is located in
a negatively charged focusing cup within the cathode. The focusing cup is where all of
the electrons pile up until the exposure switch is pressed. The focusing cup is negatively
charged repelling the negatively charged electrons keeping them in one area.
Once the exposure switch is pressed, electrons either get used to produce x-ray photons
or to travel back through the circuit and do the process all over again

Filament Circuit
1. Main Breaker - Usually in an electrical box, this allows the current to flow through the circuit
2. Line compensator - Monitors incoming electric power for medical devices and adjusts for voltage
fluctuation
3. Current goes down the the filament circuit where it first passes through the Filament Circuit
Variable Resistance (7) that alters incoming line power to create thermionic emission, and it is
also where you control mA.
4. Current then passes through the step - down transformer (8), this is where amperage goes down
to milliamperage and steps down voltage which increases amperage to go to the filament.
5. The current then travels to the filaments in the cathode where electrons build up. The electrons
are then sent over to the anode target once the exposure button is pushed. Most electrons then
get created into photons while the electrons that dont get used continue through the circuit.

Target interactions
When the electrons from the cathode hit the tungsten target on the anode, x-ray photons are
produced.
The electrons that strike the target are called incident electrons.
When these incident electrons strike the tungsten target, they transfer their large amount of
kinetic energy to the atoms of the target material and this interaction is what produces x-ray
photons. The greater the mass or speed of of the incident electrons, the greater the quality
(energy) and quantity (number) of photons produced. This process occurs through two very
different target interactions.
After the electrons give up their energy to the target atoms, they slow down enough to be
conducted through the anode and through the high voltage circuit.
There are three interactions that happen at the target, Heat Production, Bremsstrahlung
Interactions, and Characteristic Interactions. Target interactions that produce x-ray photons

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consist of less than 1% of the total kinetic energy of the incident electrons, and over 99.8% of
the kinetic energy of the incident electrons is converted to heat.
Heat Production In heat production, incident electrons transfer just enough energy to excite the outer shell electrons of the target atoms which in turn emit infrared heat. After this they will
then return to their normal state, where they will be re excited again and again, always
emitting infrared heat.
Bremsstrahlung Interaction This interaction only happens when the incident electron interacts with the force field of
the nucleus. The incident electron has a negative charge while the nucleus of the atom
has a positive charged, so naturally they have a mutual attraction to each other. So to
create an x-ray photon, the incident electron penetrates through the orbital shell and
gets as possible as it can to the nucleus. There is a very strong force field around the
nucleus that keeps the incident electron from actually coming into contact with the
nucleus. So as the incident electron approaches the atom, the force field around the
nucleus forces the incident electron to slow down or brake and then it diverts the
electrons course. The electron then loses energy as it changes direction. The lost energy
is then emitted as an x-ray photon.
Characteristic Interaction This interaction occurs only when the incident electron interacts with an inner - shell
electron. The incident electron must have enough energy to penetrate the orbital shells
and knock an electron out of orbit. This creates a hole in the shells and naturally an
outer shell electron will want to fill that hole. As the electrons are moving in and filling in
the new holes, this is emitting x-ray photons. The filling of an inner - shell hole is called
characteristic cascade. The electron that was knocked out of the shell will go and find
another atom to be apart of.
These x-ray photons then travel down to the patient creating an x-ray!
Inherent Filtration - In the x-ray tube, there are several things that inherently filter unwanted,
low energy photons from hitting the patient. These include the collimator and the glass window.
These are devices that are already in the x-ray tube that allow radiographers to decrease patient
dose.

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