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US 8,385,506 B2Granted
X-ray cathode and method of manufacture thereof
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsSergio Lemaitre, Julin Wan, Sergiy Zalyubovsky, Andrey Ivanovich Meshkov
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Abstract
The disclosed embodiments include embodiments such as an X-ray tube cathode filament system. The X-ray tube cathode filament system includes a substrate and a coating disposed on the substrate. In this cathode filament system, an electron beam is emitted from the coating but not from the substrate. The electron beam is produced through the use of the thermionic effect.
Claims17
An X-ray tube cathode assembly system comprising:
- a substrate comprising a flat slab, wherein the entirety of the substrate is disposed on the same geometric plane when in use;
- and,
- a coating disposed on a limited portion of the substrate such that a remainder portion of the substrate is uncoated by the coating;
- wherein an electron beam is emitted from the coating and not from the substrate through a thermonic effect at a first temperature, wherein the electron beam is emitted from the coating and from the substrate a second temperature higher than the first temperature.
1 more element
An X-ray tube system comprising:
- a cathode filament comprising a coating disposed on a limited portion of a substrate comprising a flat slab, wherein the entirety of the substrate is disposed on the same geometric plane when in use, and wherein a remainder portion of the substrate is uncoated by the coating;
- and,
- a target anode positioned a cathode-target distance away from and facing the cathode filament, wherein a first stream of electrons is emitted from the cathode filament coating and not from the substrate through a thermionic effect at a first temperature and accelerated into a first focal spot on the target anode to produce X-rays, wherein the limited portion of the substrate that is coated faces the target anode, and wherein a second stream of electrons is emitted from the uncoated portion of the substrate at a second temperature higher than the first temperature, and wherein the first and the second streams of electrons are accelerated into a second focal spot to produce X-rays.
A method for manufacturing an X-ray tube cathode system comprising:
- manufacturing a filament substrate comprising a flat slab so that the entirety of the filament substrate is disposed on the same geometric plane when in use;
- disposing a coating on a limited portion of the filament substrate such that a remainder portion of the filament substrate remains uncoated;
- and
- placing the filament substrate in a cathode assembly;
- wherein the coating has a lower work function than the filament substrate and wherein, in operation, a first stream of electrons is emitted from the coating at a first temperature and second stream of electrons is emitted and from the filament substrate at a second temperature greater than the first temperature.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.