Method and Apparatus for Heating Current Control of a Pulsed X-Ray Tube

An apparatus for controlling a heating current flowing through an emitter of a pulsed X-ray tube during pulse pauses, the apparatus comprising:

• a heating current control unit configured to control the heating current by comparing a measured actual value of the heating current with a predefinable desired value;
• a first low-pass filter unit that is connected upstream of the heating current control unit and comprises a time constant equal to a thermal time constant of the emitter, wherein the first low-pass filter is configured to filter the measured actual value of the heating current before the comparison;
• and
• a first correction unit configured to:
• alter the measured actual value of the heating current before the low-pass filtering by a first correction value K1;
• and
• determine the first correction value such that a tube current control during the pulses is not compensated for by the heating current control unit in the pulse pauses.

An X-ray generator comprising:

• an apparatus for controlling a heating current flowing through an emitter of a pulsed X-ray tube during pulse pauses, the apparatus comprising:
• a heating current control unit configured to control the heating current by comparing a measured actual value of the heating current with a predefinable desired value;
• a first low-pass filter unit that is connected upstream of the heating current control unit and comprises a time constant equal to a thermal time constant of the emitter, wherein the first low-pass filter is configured to filter the measured actual value of the heating current before the comparison;
• and
• a first correction unit configured to:
• alter the measured actual value of the heating current before the low-pass filtering by a first correction value K1;
• and
• determine the first correction value such that a tube current control during the pulses is not compensated for by the heating current control unit in the pulse pauses.