CN214152843U

CN214152843U - X-ray generator

Info

Publication number: CN214152843U
Application number: CN202120518635.6U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘灿彬; 聂西鹏; 程如柏; 张振能
Original assignee: Siemens X Ray Vacuum Technology Ltd
Current assignee: Siemens X Ray Vacuum Technology Ltd
Priority date: 2021-03-11
Filing date: 2021-03-11
Publication date: 2021-09-07
Anticipated expiration: 2031-03-11

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an X-ray generator, comprising: a housing; an X-ray generating assembly comprising: an anode assembly housed inside the housing; a heat dissipation assembly comprising: a pump; an X-ray generating assembly including an anode assembly and a cathode assembly enclosed in a glass envelope and accommodated inside the case; and a heat dissipating component capable of being hermetically fitted integrally with the housing and including: the first oil pipe is used for guiding the cooling fluid pumped by the pump to be transported along a region between the inner wall of the shell and the outer wall of the X-ray generating assembly; and the second oil pipe enables the pump to pump cooling fluid from the shell through the second oil pipe so as to form a circulating passage, wherein the cooling fluid is conveyed to the pipe orifice of the second oil pipe along the area between the inner wall of the shell and the outer wall of the X-ray generating assembly, so that the modular installation of the heat dissipation assembly and the X-ray generator is realized, the working temperature of the X-ray generator is effectively reduced without changing the structure of the original X-ray generator, and the service life of the X-ray generator is prolonged.

Description

X-ray generator

Technical Field

The utility model relates to the technical field of medical equipment, in particular to a heat dissipation technology of an X-ray generator.

Background

The X-ray generator is a vacuum bulb that converts the power input into X-rays. The availability of controllable sources of X-rays led to the birth of a new imaging technique for radiology, a technique that images partially opaque objects by penetrating radiation. Unlike other sources of ionizing radiation, X-rays are only generated when the X-ray generator is energized. X-ray generators are widely used in the fields of Computed Tomography (CT) apparatuses, X-ray diffraction apparatuses, X-ray medical image imaging apparatuses, and industrial flaw detection. The development of high-performance medical X-ray generators is driven by the ever-increasing demand for high-performance CT scanning devices and angiographic systems.

A vacuum tube used in an X-ray generator includes a cathode (filament) for emitting electrons to a vacuum, and an anode for receiving the emitted electrons, thereby forming a stream of electrons called a beam in the X-ray generator. A high voltage power supply, referred to as the tube voltage, is connected between the anode and cathode filaments to accelerate the electrons. The tube voltage is typically between 30 and 200 kV.

In view of shortening the X-ray exposure time and obtaining a sharp image, an X-ray generator based on a rotating anode (target disk) is generally used. In order to obtain a clear image, the X-ray generator needs to generate X-rays with a high density in a very short time, and thus the power of the X-ray generator needs to be increased. In the X-ray generator based on the rotating anode, the bearing is utilized to drive the anode target disc to continuously rotate at high speed, so that high-speed electron beams bombard an annular track belt of the anode target disc, the generated heat is also distributed on the track belt, and the instantaneous power of the X-ray generator is greatly improved. However, about only 1% of the energy generated by the X-ray generator is converted into X-rays, and about 99% of the energy is converted into thermal energy dissipated in the anode target disk. Thus, the temperature of the anode and the entire X-ray generator assembly is also rapidly increased while the power of the X-ray generator is provided. If the heat is dissipated, the performance of the X-ray generator is affected, such as overheating of the anode (component), sparking of the (vacuum) bulb tube of the X-ray generator, and noise increase, and even the anode bearing fails or is stuck, and the service life and the overall performance of the X-ray generator component are seriously affected. Accordingly, there is a need to provide an X-ray generator assembly that can increase the thermal capacity to improve its performance.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

In view of the above, the present disclosure provides, in one aspect, an X-ray generator, including: a housing; an X-ray generating assembly including an anode assembly and a cathode assembly enclosed in a glass envelope and accommodated inside the case; and a heat dissipating assembly capable of being hermetically fitted integrally with the housing, wherein the heat dissipating assembly includes: a pump; the first oil pipe is connected with a liquid outlet of the pump and arranged to extend towards the interior of the shell when the heat dissipation assembly is in sealing fit with the shell so as to guide cooling fluid pumped by the pump to be transported along a region between the inner wall of the shell and the outer wall of the X-ray generation assembly; and the second oil pipe is connected with the liquid inlet of the pump and extends towards the inside of the shell when the heat dissipation assembly is in sealing fit with the shell, so that the pump is pumped out of the cooling fluid from the inside of the shell through the second oil pipe to form a circulating passage, wherein the cooling fluid is conveyed to the pipe orifice of the second oil pipe along the area between the inner wall of the shell and the outer wall of the glass shell.

Optionally, the heat dissipation assembly of the X-ray generator comprises: the pump can be fixed on the base, a first hole and a second hole which allow the first oil pipe and the second oil pipe to correspondingly penetrate are respectively formed in the base, so that the first oil pipe and the second oil pipe extend into the shell, and the heat dissipation assembly can be integrally assembled with the shell in a sealing mode through the base.

Optionally, the heat dissipation assembly of the X-ray generator further comprises: a heat sink disposed in heat exchange coupling with the first oil pipe or the second oil pipe.

Optionally, the orifice of the second oil pipe of the X-ray generator forms a funnel shape.

Optionally, the X-ray generator further comprises: a sensor arranged to sense the temperature and/or pressure of the cooling fluid in the circulation path; and the controller is arranged to receive the temperature and/or pressure information fed back by the sensor so as to control the pumping flow of the pump.

One advantage of the X-ray generator provided by the present disclosure is that the heat dissipation assembly can be detachably and hermetically assembled with the housing of the X-ray generator, so as to implement a modular design of the heat dissipation assembly and perform heat dissipation and cooling operations on the X-ray generation part of the X-ray generator without changing the structure of the X-ray generator.

Another advantage of the present disclosure is that cooling the anode assembly through a cooling circulation path disposed within the X-ray generator effectively reduces the operating temperature of the X-ray generator, increasing the life of the X-ray generator.

Another advantage of the present disclosure is that the output flow of the pump is dynamically adjusted by feeding back parameters such as temperature and/or pressure of the cooling fluid through the sensors, optimizing heat dissipation efficiency.

Drawings

The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by describing in detail embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of an X-ray generator having a heat sink assembly according to one exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a pump control block diagram illustrating an X-ray generator according to one exemplary embodiment.

Wherein the reference numbers are as follows:

100X-ray generator

102 shell

103X-ray generating assembly

104 anode assembly

1042 anode target disc

1044 rotor

1046 stator

105 cathode assembly

106 glass bulb

108 heat sink assembly

1081 base

1082 pump

1084 first oil pipe

1086 second oil pipe

1088 Heat sink

110 controller

112 sensor

114 exit window

FL cooling fluid

Detailed Description

In order to clearly understand the technical features, objects, and effects of the present invention, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts in the drawings.

"exemplary" means "serving as an example, instance, or illustration" herein, and any illustration, embodiment, or steps described as "exemplary" herein should not be construed as a preferred or advantageous alternative.

For the sake of simplicity, only the parts relevant to the present invention are schematically shown in the drawings, and they do not represent the actual structure as a product. In addition, in order to make the drawings concise and understandable, components having the same structure or function in some of the drawings are only schematically illustrated or only labeled.

In this document, "one" means not only "only one" but also a case of "more than one". In this document, "first", "second", and the like are used only for distinguishing one from another, and do not indicate the degree of importance and order thereof, and the premise that each other exists, and the like.

Some heat dissipation technologies of the existing X-ray generator include, for example, using a heat dissipation structure on the outer wall of the housing, or installing a fan to increase the convection of air to cool down, or spraying a coating with high thermal emissivity on the housing.

The present disclosure provides a cooling cycle-based heat dissipation technique to effectively reduce the operating temperature of an X-ray generator, and can adaptively adjust the flow rate of the cooling cycle, and in addition, can further optimize the operating temperature of the X-ray generator by using a variety of heat dissipation techniques without changing the internal and external structures of the X-ray generator. The X-ray generator according to the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of an X-ray generator having a heat dissipation assembly according to an exemplary embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, an X-ray generator 100 according to one illustrated embodiment includes: a housing 102; an X-ray generation assembly 103 including an anode assembly 104 and a cathode assembly 105 enclosed in a glass envelope 106 and accommodated inside the case 102; and a heat dissipating assembly 108 capable of being hermetically fitted integrally with the housing 102, wherein the heat dissipating assembly 108 includes: a pump 1082; a first oil pipe 1084, configured to be connected to an outlet of the pump 1082 and arranged to extend toward the inside of the housing 102 when the heat dissipation assembly 108 is hermetically assembled with the housing 102, so as to guide the cooling fluid FL pumped by the pump 1082 to be transported along a region between an inner wall of the housing 102 and an outer wall of the X-ray generation assembly 103, for example, an outer wall of the envelope 106; and a second oil pipe 1086, which is configured to be connected to an inlet of the pump 1082 and extend toward the inside of the housing 102 when the heat dissipation assembly 108 is hermetically assembled with the housing 102, such that the pump 1082 pumps the cooling fluid FL out of the housing 102 through the second oil pipe 1086 to form a circulation path, wherein the cooling fluid FL is transported to a pipe opening of the second oil pipe 1086 along an area between an inner wall of the housing 102 and an outer wall of the X-ray generator assembly 103, such as an outer wall of the glass envelope 106, so as to be pumped out of the housing 102 to circulate into the pump 1082. Here, the cooling fluid FL may be insulating oil, cooling oil, or any fluid suitable for cooling and heat exchange, and the embodiment is not limited thereto.

In addition, the anode assembly 104 includes at least: a cathode target 1042 for receiving high energy electron beam generated from cathode assembly 105, such as cathode filament, and bombarding at high speed, thereby generating X-ray which can pass through glass envelope 106 with light permeability and exit through exit window 114; and a rotor 1044 and a stator 1046 to drive the high speed rotation of the anode target disk 1042.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the X-ray generator 100, in order to ensure the sealing properties of the housing 102 of the X-ray generator 100 and to be able to detachably seal-fit the heat sink 108 in the form of a single piece with the housing 102 as a modular design, the heat sink 108 comprises: the base 1081 and the pump 1082 can be fixed to the base 1081, and the base 1081 is respectively configured with a first hole and a second hole for allowing the first oil pipe 1084 and the second oil pipe 1086 to pass through, so that the first oil pipe 1084 and the second oil pipe 1086 extend into the housing 102. In addition, the bottom surface of the base 1081 is configured to match the cross-section of the housing 102, such that the heat sink assembly 108 is removably and integrally sealed with the housing 102 via the base 1081, for example, by pushing the base 1081 along the bottom of the housing 102, thereby sealing the housing 102 from the bottom and integrally mounting the heat sink assembly 108 with the housing 102.

According to an X-ray generator 100 of an illustrated embodiment, the heat sink assembly 108 further comprises: the fins 1088 are provided in heat-exchange coupling with the first oil pipe 1084 or the second oil pipe 1086, that is, heat dissipation is accelerated by heat exchange when the cooling fluid FL flows through the position where the fins 1088 are present.

According to the X-ray generator 100 of an illustrated embodiment, the orifice of the second oil tube 1086 is configured as a funnel to enlarge the collection of the cooling fluid FL from within the housing 102.

As shown in FIG. 2, an X-ray generator 100 according to an illustrative embodiment includes: a sensor 112 arranged to sense the temperature and/or pressure of the cooling fluid FL in the circulation passage; and a controller 110 configured to receive temperature and/or pressure information fed back by the sensor 112 to adaptively control the flow rate pumped by the pump 1082 according to, for example, the temperature of the insulating oil used for cooling.

In the embodiments provided in the present disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed technology can be implemented in other ways. The above-described embodiments of the apparatus are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units or modules is only one logical division, and there may be other divisions when the actual implementation is performed, for example, a plurality of units or modules or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not executed.

The foregoing is merely a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, and it should be noted that modifications and embellishments could be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the principle of the present disclosure, and these should also be considered as the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An X-ray generator (100), comprising:

a housing (102);

an X-ray generating assembly (103) including an anode assembly (104) and a cathode assembly (105) enclosed in a glass envelope (106) and housed inside the case (102); and

a heat dissipating assembly (108) capable of being integrally seal-fitted with the housing (102),

wherein the heat sink assembly (108) comprises: a pump (1082);

a first oil pipe (1084) configured to be connected to an outlet of the pump (1082) and arranged to extend inwardly of the housing (102) when the heat dissipation assembly (108) is in sealing engagement with the housing (102) so as to guide the cooling Fluid (FL) pumped by the pump (1082) to be transported along a region between an inner wall of the housing (102) and an outer wall of the X-ray generation assembly (103); and

a second oil pipe (1086) connected to the liquid inlet of the pump (1082) and extending towards the interior of the housing (102) when the heat dissipation assembly (108) is in sealing engagement with the housing (102), such that the pump (1082) draws the cooling Fluid (FL) from the interior of the housing (102) through the second oil pipe (1086) to form a circulation path, wherein the cooling Fluid (FL) is transported to the orifice of the second oil pipe (1086) along an area between the inner wall of the housing (102) and the outer wall of the X-ray generation assembly (103).

2. The X-ray generator (100) of claim 1, wherein the heat sink assembly (108) comprises: a base (1081), the pump (1082) can be fixed to the base (1081), and the base (1081) is respectively provided with a first hole and a second hole for allowing the first oil pipe (1084) and the second oil pipe (1086) to correspondingly pass through, so that the first oil pipe (1084) and the second oil pipe (1086) extend into the interior of the housing (102), and the heat dissipation assembly (108) can be integrally and hermetically assembled with the housing (102) through the base (1081).

3. The X-ray generator (100) of claim 1, wherein the heat sink assembly (108) further comprises: a heat sink (1088) configured to be heat-exchange coupled with the first oil pipe (1084) or the second oil pipe (1086).

4. The X-ray generator (100) of claim 1, wherein the orifice of the second oil tube (1086) forms a funnel shape.

5. The X-ray generator (100) of claim 1, further comprising: a sensor (112) arranged to sense a temperature and/or a pressure of the cooling Fluid (FL) in the circulation path; and

a controller (110) configured to receive temperature and/or pressure information fed back by the sensor (112) to control the flow rate pumped by the pump (1082).