QUALITY

CONTROL OF
IMAGE
EQUIPMENTS
 Production of X-rays
* Overview
* A current is passed through the tungsten filament and heats it up.
* As it is heated up the increased energy enables electrons to be
released from the filament through thermionic emission.
* The electrons are attracted towards the positively charged anode
and hit the tungsten target with a maximum energy determined by
the tube potential (voltage).
* As the electrons bombard the target they interact via Bremsstrahlung
and characteristic interactions which result in the conversion of
energy into heat (99%) and x-ray photons (1%).
* The x-ray photons are released in a beam with a range of energies (x-
ray spectrum) out of the window of the tube and form the basis for x-
ray image formation.
Equipment
 Cathode
 Filament
* Made of thin (0.2 mm) tungsten wire because tungsten:
* has a high atomic number (A 184, Z 74)
* is a good thermionic emitter (good at emitting electrons)
* can be manufactured into a thin wire
* has a very high melting temperature (3422°c)
* The size of the filament relates to the size of the focal spot. Some cathodes have two filaments
for broad and fine focusing
 Focusing cup
* Made of molybdenum as:
* high melting point
* poor thermionic emitter so electrons aren't released to interfere
with electron beam from filament
* Negatively charged to focus the electrons towards the anode and
stop spatial spreading
 Anode
* Target made of tungsten for same reasons as for filament
* Rhenium added to tungsten to prevent cracking of anode at high temperatures
and usage
* Set into an anode disk of molybdenum with stem
* Positively charged to attract electrons
* Set at angle to direct x-ray photon beam down towards patient. Usual angle is
5º - 15º
 Definitions
Target, focus, focal point, focal spot: where electrons hit the
anode
Actual focal spot: physical area of the focal track that is impacted
Focal track: portion of the anode the electrons bombard. On a
rotating anode this is a circular path
Effective focal spot: the area of the focal spot that is projected
out of a tube
 Rotating anode: used in most radiography,
Stationary anode: these including mobile sets and fluoroscopy. Consists of

are generally limited to a disc with a thin bevelled rim of tungsten around
the circumference that rotates at 50 Hz. Because it
dental radiology and rotates it overcomes heating by having different
areas exposed to the electron stream over time. It
radiotherapy systems. consists of:
* Molybdenum disk with thin tungsten target
Consists of an anode fixed around the circumference
* Molybdenum stem, which is a poor conductor
in position with the of heat to prevent heat transmission to the

electron beam constantly *

metal bearings
Silver lubricated bearings between the stem
streaming onto one small and rotor that have no effect on heat transfer
but allow very fast rotation at low resistances
area. * Blackened rotor to ease heat transfer
 Heating of the anode
 this is the major limitation of x-ray production.
Heat (J) = kVe x mAs
or
Heat (J) = w x kVp x mAs
 key:
kVe = effective kV
w = waveform of the voltage through the x-ray tube. The more uniform the
waveform the lower the heat production
kVp = peak kV
mAs = current exposure time product
 Heat is normally removed from the anode by radiation through the vacuum
and into the conducting oil outside the glass envelope. The molybdenum stem
conducts very little heat to prevent damage to the metal bearings.
 Heat capacity
 A higher heat capacity means the temperature of the material rises only
a small amount with a large increase in heat input.
Temperature rise = energy applied / heat capacity
 Tube rating
 Each machine has a different capacity for dissipating heat before damage is
caused. The capacity for each focal spot on a machine is given in tube rating
graphs provided by the manufacturer. These display the maximum power (kV
and mA) that can be used for a given exposure time before the system overloads.
The maximum allowable power decreases with:
• Lengthening exposure time
• Decreasing effective focal spot size (heat is spread over a smaller area)
• Larger target angles for a given effective focal spot size (for a given effective focal
spot size the actual focal spot track is smaller with larger anode angles. This
means the heat is spread over a smaller area and the rate of heat dissipation is
reduced)
• Decreasing disk diameter (heat spread over smaller circumference and area)
• Decreasing speed of disk rotation
 Other factors to take into consideration are:
 By using a higher mA the maximum kV is reduced and vice versa.
 A very short examination may require a higher power to produce an
adequate image. This must be taken into consideration as the tube
may not be able to cope with that amount of heat production over
such a short period of time.
 Anode cooling chart
 As well as withstanding high temperatures an anode must be able to
release the heat quickly too. This ability is represented in the anode
cooling chart. It shows how long it takes for the anode to cool down
from its maximum level of heat and is used to prevent damage to the
anode by giving sufficient time to cool between exposures
 Anode heel effect
An x-ray beam gets attenuated on the way out by the target material itself
causing a decrease in intensity gradually from the cathode to anode direction as
there is more of the target material to travel through. Therefore, the cathode side
should be placed over the area of greatest density as this is the side with the most
penetrating beam. Decreasing the anode angle gives a smaller effective focal spot
size, which is useful in imaging, but a larger anode heel effect. This results in a less
uniform and more attenuated beam.

** smaller angle = smaller focal spot size but larger anode heel effect **
 Others
 Window: made of beryllium with aluminium or copper to filter out the soft x-
rays. Softer (lower energy) x-ray photons contribute to patient dose but not to
the image production as they do not have enough energy to pass through the
patient to the detector. To reduce this redundant radiation dose to the patient
these x-ray photons are removed.
 Glass envelope: contains vacuum so that electrons do not collide with anything
other than target.
 Insulating oil: carries heat produced by the anode away via conduction.
 Filter: Total filtration must be >2.5 mm aluminium equivalent (meaning that the
material provides the same amount of filtration as a >2.5 mm thickness of
aluminium) for a >110 kV generator
 Total filtration = inherent filtration + additional filtration (removable filter)
 Producing an x-ray beam
1. Electrons produced: thermionic emission

A current is applied through the cathode filament, which heats up and releases
electrons via thermionic emission.
The electrons are accelerated towards the positive anode by a tube voltage
applied across the tube.
Atthe anode, 99% of energy from the electrons is converted into heat and only
1% is converted into x-ray photons.
 Accelerating potential

 The accelerating potential is the voltage applied across the tube to create the
negative to positive gradient across the tube and accelerate the electrons across
the anode. It is normally 50-150 kV for radiography, 25-40 kV for mammography
and 40-110 kV for fluoroscopy. UK mains supply is 230 V and 50 Hz of alternating
current. When the charge is negative the accelerating potential is reversed (the
cathode becomes positive and the anode becomes negative). This means that the
electrons are not accelerated towards the anode to produce an x-ray beam. The
ideal waveform for imaging is a positive constant square wave so that the
electron flow is continuously towards the anode.
 We can convert the standard sinusoidal wave into a square wave
by rectification.

Full wave rectification: the use of a rectification circuit to convert negative into positive
voltage. However, there are still points at which the voltage is zero and most of the time it is
less than the maximum kV (kVp). This would lead to a lot of lower energy photons. There are
two rectification mechanisms that prevent too many lower energy photons:
1. Three phase supply: three electrical supplies are used, each applied at a different time. The
"ripple" (difference between maximum and minimum current) is about 15% of the kVp.
2. High frequency generator: this can supply an almost constant potential. The supply is
switched on and off rapidly (14kHz) which can then be rectified. They are much more
compact than three phase supply and more commonly used.
 Effect of rectification on spectrum
 Increased mean photon energy - fewer photons of lower energy
 Increased x-ray output - stays closer to the maximum for longer
 Shorter exposure - as output higher, can run exposure for shorter time to get
same output
 Lower patient dose - increased mean energy means fewer low energy photons
that contribute to patient dose but do not contribute to the final image
 Filament current
The current (usually 10 A) heats up the filament to impart enough energy to the
electrons to be released i.e. it affects the number of electrons released.
 Tube current
This is the flow of electrons to the anode
It is usually 0.5 - 1000 mA.
 Summary
* Filament current is applied across the tungsten cathode filament (10 A) and
affects the number of electrons released.
* Tube current is applied across the x-ray tube from cathode to anode and affects
the energy and number of electrons released.
 2. X-ray production at the anode
The electrons hit the anode with a maximum kinetic energy of the kVp and
interact with the anode by losing energy via:

Elastic
interaction: rare, only happens if kVp < 10 eV. Electrons interact but
conserve all their energy
Ineleasticinteraction: causes excitation / ionisation in atoms and releases energy
via electromagnetic (EM) radiation and thermal energy
 interactions
At the anode, electrons can interact with the atoms of the anode in several ways
to produce x-ray photons.

1. Outer shell interaction: low energy EM released and quickly converted into
heat energy
2. Inner shell interaction: produces characteristic radiation
3. Nucleus field interaction: aka Bremsstrahlung
 1. Characteristic radiation

This movement to a
A bombarding electron A higher shell electron lower energy state The bombarding
knocks a k-shell or l- moves into the empty releases energy in the electron continues on
shell electron out. space. form of an x-ray its path but is diverted.
photon.
It is called "characteristic" as energy of emitted electrons is dependent upon the anode material, not on
the tube voltage. Energy is released in characteristic values corresponding to the binding energies of
different shells.

For tungsten:
Ek - El (aka Kα) = 59.3 keV
Ek - Em (aka Kβ) = 67.6 keV
 2. Bremsstrahlung
Rarely, the
electron is
stopped
completely
Bremsstrahlun
and gives up
g causes a
The energy all its energy
spectrum of
Bombarding Electron is loss from this as a photon.
photon
diverted by diversion is More
electron energies to be
the electric released as a commonly, a
approaches field of the photon
released. 80%
series of
the nucleus. of x-rays are
nucleus. (Bremsstrahlu interactions
emitted via
ng radiation). happen in
Bremsstrahlun
which the
g.
electron loses
energy
through
several steps.
Characteristic radiation

Only accounts for small percentage of x-ray photons produced

Bombarding electron interacts with inner shell electron

Radiation released due to electron dropping down into lower energy state

Radiation released is of a specific energy

X-ray photon energy depends on element of target atoms not tube voltage
 Bremsstrahlung

Accounts for 80% of photons in x-ray beam

Bombarding electron interacts with whole atom

Radiation released due to diversion of bombarding

electron as a result of the atomic pull

Radiation released is of a large range of energies

X-ray photon energy depends on tube voltage