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.
Claims23
-12. (canceled)
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;
- and
- 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 a x-ray tube prior to a diagnostic scan.
(canceled)
-20. (canceled)
The system of 9, wherein the controller includes further instructions to:
- adjust a power delivered to the x-ray source during the conditioning of the x-ray source, via a closed loop control of a temperature of the x-ray source, based on the higher temperature immediately prior to the imaging scan and a predicted decrease in temperature in a time frame between an end of a warmup and a start of the imaging scan.
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.
A system for imaging system, comprising:
- an x-ray collimator including a first collimator blade and a second collimator blade;
- and
- a blocking plate coupled to a base of the first collimator blade, the blocking plate extending beyond a first edge of the base of the first collimator blade away from an aperture formed between the first collimator blade and the second collimator blade.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.