RTE 141 Notebook 15

Jamie Jones
X-ray Production

Main breaker is where the AC current (AC current is when electrons

move first in one direction and then reverser and move in the opposite
direction) comes from to power the circuit.
The current flows to the autotransformer, this is where adjustments to
KVP are made. KVp controls the quality and quantity of electrons striking
the target.
The current then flows to the timer circuit this is where the circuit stops
and exposure or where mAs is set.
Next it flows to the step-up high voltage transformer where voltage is
increased and current is decreased it goes from volts to kilovolts. A
transformer is two coils placed near one another without electrical
connection; when current is supplied to one foil the lines of force that are
induced will pass through the other coil and induce a flow of electrons
The increased voltage is needed to create potential difference between
the anode and cathode.
Moving on to the four diode rectification circuit this changes the current
to flow in one direction using two rectifiers at a time. A diode is a
rectifying semiconductor made by sandwiching a p-type crystal with antype to form a p-n junction; one way valve; rectification is the process by
which alternating current is changed to pulsating direct current.
It then flows to the rotor stator this rotates the anode. Stator
electromagnets turn the rotor through electromagnetic induction. The
anode rotates during exposure presenting a longer area target the faster
the anode rotates the better heat dissipation.
When current flows from the main breaker some flows to the filament
circuit. The filament circuit had variable resistance this adjusts current
going to the filament also where mA is adjusted. Milliamperage (mA) will
cause the number of electrons and number of x-ray photons produced to
vary; diagnostic radiographic equipment utilizes mA units to regulate the
number of electrons available to produce x-ray photons.
The filament step-down transformer decreased voltage and increases
current to send to the x-ray tube. Current will continue to flow as long as
the exposure switch is closed. A switch is a device that opens and closes
the circuit.
The current flows from the filament wire to the focusing cup that houses
the filament. As more and more electrons build up in the area of the
filament their negative charges begin to oppose the emission of
additional electrons this is called the space charge effect, which produces
the thermionic cloud the heated electrons potential difference drives
them out towards the anode through the tube vacuum. The thermionic
cloud of electrons waits for the exposure switch to go.

The focal spot is the target area. This is the exact point where x-rays
photons are created. This is he point all tube to object and image
receptor distances are measured.
The anode is composed of several different metals, designed to
contribute to the overall function of the anode. The anodes function as
the source of x-ray photons and as the primary thermal conducting
device is enhanced by the use of rhenium alloyed tungsten as the target
focal track material. Tungsten is the metal of choice for the source of xray photons for three reasons. 1. Its high atomic number. 2. Its high
melting point 3. Its heat conducting ability.
The target area is the portion of the anode where the high voltage
electron stream will impact also called the target, focus the focal point,
focal spot, or the focal track. This is the precise point where the x-ray
photons are created.
The actual focal spot is the physical area of the focal track that is
impacted.
The effective focal spot is the area of the focal spot that is projected out
of the tube toward the object being radiographed.
The line focus principle is used to reduce the effective area of the focal
spot. This permits the best resolution of detail while permitting as large
an actual area as possible to increase thermal conductivity. The effective
focal spot size is controlled by the size of the actual focal spot which is
controlled by the length of the filament and the anode target angle (as
the actual focal spot size increases the effective focal spot size also
increases).
Because of the geometry of an angled anode target the radiation
intensity is greater on the cathode side. As electrons hit the target, x-ray
are produced and most are emitted at angles between 45 and 90 degrees
in the direction of the electron travel. These are absorbed by the anode
or by the tube housing. The photons that are emitted from the surface of
the target are emitted in all directions. The photons emitted toward the
anode end are more likely to be absorbed by the target material than
those emitted at the cathode end. This can cause 20% more photons at
the cathode end of the tube and 25% fewer at the anode end this is
called the Anode Heel Effect.
Incident Electrons are incoming electrons from the cathode to anode that
travel from zero to half the speed of light in 2cm
X-ray Photons are created when incident electrons strike the target and
transfer kinetic energy to the atoms of the target material. The greater
the mass or speed of incident electrons, the greater the quality (energy)
and quantity (number of photons produced
Target Interactions occur within 0.25 and 0.5mm of the surface of the
target there are three types of target interactions 1. Heat 2.
Bremsstrahlung and 3. Characteristic
Target Materials Tungsten and rhenium are used in an effort to provide
appropriate atomic number atoms and a maximum number of similar
electron shell binding energys
Bremsstrahlung Interactions when incident electron gets close to the
nucleus the nuclear force field is too great for the electron to penetrate
2

instead the force field causes the incident electron to slow down (or
brake) and it diverts the electrons course. As a result the electron loses
energy and changes direction
Bremsstrahlung Photons energy lost during Bremsstrahlung (or breaking)
is emitted as an x0ray photon called bremsstrahlung (brems) photons
their energy is exactly the difference between the entering and exiting
kinetic energy of the electron
Characteristic interactions occur when an incident electron interacts with
an inner K-shell electron it must have enough energy to knock an inner
shell electron from orbit ionizing the atom. The incident electron will
continue but in a slightly different direction
Characteristic Photons the hole created in the inner shell makes the tom
unstable an electron from another outer higher energy sate shell will
immediately drip into the hole a lower energy sate this results in the
energy difference between the two shells being emitted as an x-ray
photon called characteristic photon because their energy is exactly the
difference between binding energy of outer and inner shells from where
they were dropped
Characteristic Cascade when an outer shell electron has dropped to fill
the hole another electron will drop to fill the hole it left and so on until
only the outermost shell is missing an electron.
K-shell only electron drops into the K-shell will produce characteristic
photons within diagnostic x-ray range. Only K-shell characteristic photon
has enough energy to be a part of the useful beam. Characteristic
photons from the other shells have energies that are too low to be
significant in diagnostic radiology. Characteristic photons do not comprise
any of the useful beam until the kvp is above 70 because the ejection of
the K-shell electron from tungsten requires 69.5 kev. About 80-90 percent
of the primary beam is produced be Brems interactions and 10-20
percent by characteristic interactions
Characteristic Peak K-shell emissions from a characteristic peak at their
effective energy range of 69 kev a slight decrease that sets the tube
potential directly on the 69kev K-shell would greatly increase the tube
output instead of decrease it. When mA, time or mAs is changed all of
which control the quantity (number) of electrons striking the target the
result is a change is the amplitude
Emission Spectrum is affected by the quantity and composition of the
materials (filtration) it must pass through the exit the x-ray tube. As the
x-ray beam passes through the filtering materials some of the lower
photons are absorbed. This decreases the intensity of the beam but at
the same time increases the average photon energy increased filtration
decreases image receptor and vice versa