Methods and systems for x-ray tube conditioning
AssigneeGE Precision Healthcare LLC
InventorsJean-Baptiste Thibault, Jiang Hsieh, Gary Strong
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various methods and systems are provided for x-ray tube conditioning for a computed tomography imaging method. In one embodiment, x-ray may be generated in an x-ray tube of a radiation source prior to a diagnostic scan to warmup the x-ray tube to a desired temperature for the diagnostic scan. The power delivered to the x-ray tube during warmup may be adjusted in a closed loop system based on an initial temperature of the x-ray tube and the desired temperature for the diagnostic scan. During tube warmup, by placing a blocking plate coupled to a collimator blade in a path of the x-ray beam, the x-ray beam may be blocked from exiting a collimator.
Claims19
An imaging system, comprising:
- an x-ray collimator including a first collimator blade and a second collimator blade separated by an adjustable gap, the adjustable gap forming an aperture of the collimator;
- a first blocking plate coupled to the first collimator blade, the first blocking plate configured to be positioned in a path of an x-ray beam to block the x-ray beam from exiting the collimator during x-ray generation to condition an x-ray tube prior to a diagnostic scan;
- and
- a second blocking plate coupled to a base of the second collimator blade, the second blocking plate not extending beyond an edge of the base of the second collimator blade.
An imaging system, comprising:
- a x-ray collimator including a first collimator blade and a second collimator blade separated by an aperture;
- a first blocking plate coupled to a base of the first collimator blade, the first blocking plate extending beyond a first edge of the base of the first collimator blade away from the second collimator blade;
- and
- a second blocking plate coupled to a base of the second collimator blade, the second blocking plate not extending beyond an edge of the base of the second collimator blade.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.