High voltage power supply and regulator circuit for an X-ray tube with transient voltage protection

Apparatus for supplying operating power to an X-ray generating source comprising:

• regulating means for receiving an input signal and regulating at least one of a duration and an amplitude of the input signal to produce a high-voltage regulated output signal for operating the X-ray generating source, said regulating means including a plurality of solid-state switching means arranged in series, and control means for controlling each of the switching means to produce the regulated output signal;
• protection means disposed between the regulating means and the X-ray generating source for limiting a rate of change of a transient voltage spike produced at the source to a predetermined value so as to protect the regulating means;
• a cable for connecting the regulating means to the X-ray generating source;
• and
• a discharge circuit for discharging any capacitive voltage on the cable, the discharge circuit comprising:
• a high-voltage portion and a low-voltage portion, electrically isolated from one another, and means for transmitting a trigger signal between the high and low-voltage portions, the high-voltage portion including resistor means and switch means activated by the trigger signal for coupling the resistor means to the cable, the high-voltage portion further including means for monitoring current in the resistor means and generating a fault signal for disabling the regulating means if the current goes above a predetermined magnitude, and the low-voltage portion including means for generating the trigger signal to activate the switch means and thereby couple the cable to the resistor means and discharge any capacitive voltage on the cable.

Apparatus for supplying operating power to an X-ray generating source comprising:

• regulating means for receiving an input signal and regulating at least one of a duration and an amplitude of the input signal to produce a high-voltage regulated output signal for operating the X-ray generating source, said regulating means including a plurality of solid-state switching means arranged in series, and control means for controlling each of the switching means to produce the regulated output signal;
• protection means disposed between the regulating means and the X-ray generating source for limiting a rate of change of a transient voltage spike produced at the source to a predetermined value so as to protect the regulating means and wherein the regulated output signal is sent on output anode and cathode lines to the X-ray generating source and further comprising:
• means for measuring current on the anode or cathode lines, the current measuring means comprising:
• a high-voltage portion and a low-voltage portion electrically isolated from one another;
• `the high-voltage portion including means for connecting the high-voltage portion to one of the anode or cathode lines, means for generating an electric pulse signal having a frequency representative of the magnitude of current, and means responsive to the electric pulse signal for generating a transfer signal for transmission to the low-voltage portion;
• and
• the low-voltage portion including means for receiving the transfer signal and generating an output signal representative of the current.