X-RAY GENERATORS

PRESENTED BY DR OSAWE AUSTINE RADIOLOGY DEPT. AKTH TH JAN 2011 12

OUTLINE
Introduction Components of x-ray generator x-ray circuit design Types of x-ray generators

INTRODUCTION
X-ray generators deliver the power to the x-ray tube necessary to produce x-rays in a defined and predictable manner. It also provides mechanisms to select techniques appropriate for a given examination via kv and ma selectors. It possesses mechanisms to protect the x-ray tube and patient from possible overload and over exposure situations respectively via exposure control devices

Why need x-ray generator ?

Its necessity becomes glaring, considering the very high voltage (20150kv) requirements of x-ray equipments for proper operation which cannot be catered for by the 240volts mains supply from our power substations.

X-RAY GENERATOR COMPONENTS

Basic components of x-ray generators include; 1. TRANSFORMERS 2. RECTIFIERS

What are transformers? Why need them?

Transformers perform the task of transforming an input voltage into an output voltage. They employ the principle of electromagnetic induction (E.M) in their operation. Their importance lie in the fact that they serve as means of easy transmission of electricity from point of production to site of utilization and ease of conversion from one form to another.

E.M induction principle

E.M induction is an effect that occurs with changing magnetic fields and alternating electric current. This principle is very well illustrated by moving a bar magnet towards a stationary loop of wire capable of electrical conduction. Current driven by an electromotive force is induced in the wire loop following motion of the bar magnet as a result of changing magnetic field

 As the magnet moves in the opposite direction, away from the loops of wire, the induced current flows in the opposite direction. The magnitude of the induced voltage is proportional to the magnetic field strength. Electromagnetic induction is a reciprocal process in which electric current (flow of electrons) produces a magnetic field whose magnitude and polarity are proportional to the magnitude and direction of the current

Diagram illustrating how changing magnetic field induces electron flow

BASIC TRANSFORMER

 The windings of wire connected to available energy source as shown in diagram above is called the primary windings while the loop of wire from which the modified electrical energy is derived is called the secondary windings. The primary and secondary windings are electrically (but not magnetically) separated by insulated wire. When current flows through the primary coil, it creates a magnetic field within the core which induces current in the secondary coil.

 Current only flows through the secondary windings with changing magnetic field, hence the need for an alternating current to produce this required changing magnetic field with subsequent continuous current flow through the secondary coil.

Laws of transformer
2 simple laws govern the behavior of transformers The voltages in both the primary and secondary circuits are proportional to the number of turns in the 2 coils. i.e. Np = Vp Ns Vs A transformer with more number of secondary windings increases the voltage in the secondary circuit and is appropriately referred to as a step up transformer, while one with fewer turns in the secondary windings with respect to the primary decreases the voltage and is referred to as a step down transformer.

 The second law is simply a restatement of the law of conservation of energy. A transformer cannot create energy. An increase in voltage must be accompanied by a corresponding decrease in current. VpIp = VsIs But the expression VI = power. Thus, power in primary turn equals power in secondary turn. The wire in the transformer must be large enough to carry the current without overheating. As a result, high voltage transformers are both large and heavy.

The Autotransformer
The voltage supplied to the X-ray room connects to the XRG through an autotransformer in most cases. Its main function is providing voltage to both filament and high voltage circuits. It consists of a single coil of wire wrapped around an iron core. It has fixed number of turns, two lines on the input side and has lines on the output side. The primary and secondary turns are the number of coil turns between the taps of the input and output lines respectively.

Autotransformer
The autotransformer operates on the principle of self induction, whereas the standard transformer operates on the principle of mutual induction. Keeping in mind that voltage is proportional to the number of turns, selecting (counting) the number of turns enables one to tap the appropriate voltage to different circuits. e.g. an autotransformer with 115 turns and 230V as incoming power supply
 selecting 55 turns  selecting 60 turns

110V 120V

Autotransformer

RECTIFIERS
Important components of XRG Mainly used to achieve rectification, which is the process of changing alternating into direct current. Rectifiers are incorporated into the X-ray circuit in series with the X-ray tube. High voltage rectifiers can be of the vacuum tube type (often called thermionic diode tube) or they can be of solid state composition.

Rectifiers
Solid state rectifiers are preferred because they are smaller, more reliable, and have a longer life. Conversion to direct current is important because if an alternating voltage were applied directly to the X-ray tube, electron back-propagation could occur during the portion of the cycle when the cathode is positive with respect to the anode. Such electrons would further heat the filament and reduce its lifespan.

(a) Solid State Rectifiers

The heart of a solid state rectifier is a semiconductor (which is usually a piece of crystalline silicon). Semiconductor is a material whose electrical conductivity is less than that of a metallic conductor but greater than that of an insulator. The crystal in the diode is doped with trace amounts of impurity, which serves to increase (forward bias) and reduce it to a very low level when the voltage is applied in the opposite polarity (reverse bias). The direction of electron flow is opposite that of current flow in an electric current.

electrons vs current flow

(b) Vacuum Tube Diode

Diodes (having two electrodes i.e. cathode and anode) are devices that allow current flow in only one direction and hence can be used as rectifiers. A pertinent example is x-ray tube itself in which electrons flow from the heated filament (cathode) to the positive anode. No X-ray production is achieved if the polarity of the voltage reverses.

Rectification
Process of changing AC into DC. Mainly divided into half wave and full wave rectification. Half wave rectification: Solid state (semiconductor) diodes or vacuum tube diode used for rectification allow the current to flow only during half cycles. Thus, only half of the electric wave is used to produce X-rays. The wave form is called half wave rectification. When the x-ray tube itself serves as a rectifier, the circuit is called self rectified.

Rectification
Self rectification has two disadvantages:
Half of the available electrical cycle is wasted, so

exposure times must to twice as long as they would be if the whole cycle were utilized. Repeated or prolonged exposures heat the anode, it may become hot enough to emit electrons and produce current during the inverse half cycle which will bombard and destroy the filament.

Rectification.

Rectification
Full Wave Rectification: Modern XRG employ full-wave rectification, which utilizes the full potential of the electrical supply. Both halves of the alternating voltages are used to produce xrays, so the x-ray output per unit time is twice as large as it is with half rectification.

XRG CIRCUIT DESIGNS

(a) Filament circuit The filament circuit regulates current flow through the filament of the x-ray tube. The filament is a coiled tungsten wire that emits electrons when it is heated by this current flow (thermionic emission). The power needed to heat this filament to the necessary high temperature is not much, a current flow of 3 to 5A with an applied voltage of about 10V are typical values. The power to heat this filament is provided by a small step-down transformer called the filament transformer.

Filament circuit
The filament is connected directly to the secondary winding of this transformer. The primary winding of the filament transformer obtains its voltage by tapping off an appropriate number of turns from the autotransformer. This voltage will be around 100-220V across the primary winding. To reduce this to the desired 10V range, the step-down transformer in the filament circuit has approximately 10 to 20 times as many turns of wire in the primary as in the secondary coil. The x-ray tube, of course, has a very high voltage across it. This makes it necessary to provide high voltage insulation b/w the secondary and primary windings of the filament transformer.

Filament circuit
Precise control of filament current is critical because a small variation in filament current results in a large variation in x-ray tube current. e.g. a change in filament voltage of about 5% will result in a 20-30% change in x-ray tube current. Addition of resistors connected in series allows the control of the filament current by stabilizing the voltage.

HIGH VOLTAGE CIRCUIT

The kilovoltage applied across an x-ray tube determines the maximum energy and hence the penetrating power of the x-ray photon. The circuit has 2 transformers, an autotransformer and a step-up transformer. The autotransformer is actually the Kvp selector and is located on the control panel. The voltage across the primary coil of the step up transformer can be varied by selecting the appropriate number of turns in the auto transformer. The step-up (high voltage) transformer has many more turns in the in the secondary than primary windings and increases voltage by a factor of about 600. This necessitates maximum insulation by immersion in oil in the transformer assembly.

TYPES of XRG
Single phase XRG Three phase XRG Constant potential XRG High-frequency inverter XRG

Single phase XRG

A single phase x-ray generator utilizes a single phase AC supply as input. These generators employ full wave rectification, which utilizes the full potential of the electrical supply. Hence, the x-ray output per unit time is twice as large as that of HWR. The system uses a minimum of four rectifiers arranged in a specific orientation to allow the flow of electrons from the cathode to the anode of the x-ray tube throughout the AC cycle.

FULL WAVE RECTIFIED CIRCUIT

Single phase
Thus, the four rectifiers produce pulsating DC through the x-ray tube. The voltage across the tube fluctuates from zero to maximum. Most of the x-ray pulse are generated during the peak value of the applied voltage. Low energy x-ray are produced in between the pulses which have low penetrating power and raise patient dose. Hence, there is a need of a constant potential circuits, which can give better x-ray output with more penetration. To achieve this, a more complex circuit design are used.

Three phase XRG

This use a phase AC line source-three voltage sources, each with a single-phase AC wave form oriented one-third of a cycle (120 degrees) apart from the other two (i.e. at 0,120, and 240 degrees).

3 PHASE XRG.
Three separate high-voltage transformers are wired in a delta configuration. A bridge rectifier on the high voltage side in each circuit produces two pulse per cycle for each line, resulting in six pulse per cycle for a threephase six-pulse generator.

Delta configuration

3-phase
Adding another group of three transformers in a wye configuration with additional bridge rectifiers provide a doubling of the number of pulses, or 12 pulse per cycle in the threephase 12-pulse generator. They deliver a more constant voltage to the xray tube and can produce very short exposure times. They are however, more expensive than single-phase systems, are more difficult to install, have a large amount of bulky hardware and electronics and occupy significant floor space.

Constant potential XRG

A constant potential generator provides a nearly constant voltage to the x-ray tube. It uses a 3-phase AC voltage as input, connected to the high voltage transformer. Vacuum tubes such as triodes or tetrodes are used to control the KV and exposure time, on the high voltage side of the transformer. These vacuum tubes provide extremely fast KV regulation and exposure timing, so that fast output waveform is obtained. This generator also gives higher average x-ray energy, with shortest exposure time (1ms). But these generators are bulky, high cost and involve inefficient power consumption.

High Frequency Inverter Generator

This is the contemporary state of the art choice for diagnostic x-ray system and has replaced the others in most demanding radiologic applications e.g. interventional angiography. Its name describes its function, whereby a high frequency alternating waveform (up to 50,000Hz) is used for efficient transformation of low to high voltage. Subsequent rectification and voltage smoothing produce a nearly constant output voltage The basic principle involved is that, in a transformer, the voltage induced in the secondary coil is proportional to the rate of change of current in the primary coil.

High freq
For a given transformer, V & FnA
 Where   A

f is the frequency n is the number of turns is the area of the core

. If the frequency is increased, then the n or A must be decreased in order to maintain a constant voltage. . It follows that such generators can exist in a very small size, convenient for portable units.

High freq
The function of this generator has the following steps:
  

 

the incoming power supply is standard 60Hz current the current is rectified and smoothed this direct current is then fed to a device called inverter (often called a chopper), which converts the smoothed DC into a chopped DC with a frequency of about 6500Hz. This 6500Hz chopped DC supplies the primary of a step-up transformer which steps-up the voltage. The high-voltage 6500Hz output of the transformer is rectified to produce 13,000 high voltage pulses per second, and then smoothed by filters before being applied to the x-ray tube.

This arrangement ensures constant, nearly ripplefree voltage to the x-ray tube regardless of the input power.

Voltage ripple
This is defined as the difference between the peak voltage and the minimum voltage, divided by the peak voltage and multiplied by 100 % voltage ripple = Vmax-Vmin x 100 Vmax With a single-phase circuit the ripple factor is 100% because the voltage goes from zero to a maximum value with each cycle.

Ripple
Three phase 6 pulse and 12-phase generators have a voltage ripple of 3% to 25%. Constant potential generators have an extremely low ripple (approximately 2%), which is essentially considered DC voltage. High frequency generators have a ripple that is kVp and mA dependant, typically similar to a three-phase generator ranging from 4% to 15%.

Transformer rating
The rating of a transformer states the maximum safe output of its secondary winding. If the rating is exceeded, the transformer may overheat and burn out its insulation and windings. The rating is expressed as the maximum safe output of its secondary winding in kilowatts. For 3-phase generators, kilowatt rating is given by kW = kV * mA. Rating of a 3-phase generator operating at 100kV and 500mA is 50kW.This would then be termed a 50kW generator.

FUSES & SWITCHES

The purpose of a fuse is to safeguard electrical equipment from the effect of abnormally high current. Excessive current is damaging to any equipment, which is not designed to carry it. When current passes through a resistor, heat is produced, which may be enough to melt the resistor and thus break the circuit. It is on this principle that a fuse operates. A fuse is simply a metal resistor or wire connected in series with the equipment. When the current in the circuit exceeds the rated value of the fuse, the temperature of the wire become high enough to melt it and fuse burns out and opens the circuit. Fuse ratings are expressed in amperes and it is available with wire of different thickness.

Switches and Circuit Breakers

Switch is a device, which allows, electric current to flow in a circuit or prevent current from flowing.
There are many categories of switches: The main supply switch The on/off switch for the generator Selector switches on the control table The exposure switch

EXPOSURE TIMERS
They control the length of an x-ray exposure. There are four basic types namely; Mechanical Electronic Phototimers Pulse counting timers.

Mechanical Timers
Are mainly used in single phase generator circuits. In this a timer circuit energizes an electromagnet, which is connected to the contactors. These contactors close the circuit on the low voltage side of the transformer. When the selected time is over, the electromagnet is deenergized so that the contactors will turn off the applied voltage to the x-ray tube. The accuracy and reproducibility of these timers are poor and are rarely used today.

Electronic Timers
The length of the x-ray exposure is determined by the time required to charge a capacitor through a resistor. The principle of operation is that, when the exposure button starts exposure, it also starts charging a capacitor. The exposure time is terminated when the capacitor is charged to a specific value necessary to turn on associated electronic circuit. It is also subject to human errors.

Pulse counting timers

They use the technology of voltage pulse counting to control the time of short exposure techniques. In this, high frequencies are generated by the oscillation in a quartz crystal. The frequency of oscillation is determined by the size, orientation and mode of oscillation of the crystal. Then the voltage pulse of high frequency is counted to measure time.

Photo Timers (Automatic Exposure Control)

They terminate exposure when the voltage receptor )file/screed) has received a pre selected x-ray exposure., They use radiation detectors that measure the radiation reaching the receptor. In the event of photo timer detector or circuit failure, a back-up timer safety device terminates x-ray exposure after preset time.

The End