General Electric Company

Gregory D Schwehr

Christopher J Heitman

Peter H Basler

James J Kandler

Richard T Brandt

Richard E Zibolski

An electronic circuit module includes a smaller than normal size printed wire board and an adaptor plate to fit the printed wire board into a slot of a rack made for normal size modules. A diverter fixed to the adaptor plate funnels cooling air over the adaptor plate to the printed wire board and a cover contains the air flow next to the adaptor plate and printed wire board. A cover is provided for blocking off empty slots of the rack from air flow and a dummy module is positioned to separate modules from any adjacent empty space so as to assure and adequate supply of cooling air to the electronic circuit components of the modules.

Electronic circuit module with improved cooling

A fiber optic illuminating assembly for indirectly and uniformly illuminating the bore of a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner utilizes, in the preferred embodiment, a pair of plastic fiber optic bundles located in the bore behind a deflector element. The fiber optic bundles are made up of many optical fibers cut to different lengths to create point light sources spaced along the length of the bore. A frosted tube surrounds the bundle portion with the point light sources and operates to uniformly diffuse the light. The input ends of the fiber optic bundles are illuminated through an infrared mirror by a non-magnetic quartz-halogen light source operated from a direct current power supply to prolong filament life.

Fiber optic illuminating assembly

A self-aligning mechanism utilizes a flexible shaft affixed at one end to a means for rotating it. The other end of the rod is configured to engage a complementarily-shaped opening in a coupler provided with a funnel-shaped front surface to guide the flexible shaft into engagement. In one embodiment, the coupler is mounted directly to the shaft of the device to be adjusted. In another embodiment, the coupler is a pulley which drives, by means of a drive belt, a device which is offset in position relative to the flexible shaft. Wire-retaining means are provided to enable the knob and shaft to be easily removed and reinstalled with a minimum of effort and adjustment, even in the presence of misalignment in the X-, Y-, and Z-axis directions.

Self-aligning control mechanism

An X-ray table having an elevator mounted on a base for vertical movement, an intermediate support mounted on the elevator for moving longitudinally, and a carriage with a patient cradle on it for moving longitudinally on the support. A pair of gas springs mounted at the forward end of the table provides a constant upward force to compensate for weight of the elevator and the cantilevered load which is exerted as the patient cradle is extended in the longitudinal direction. There are individual servomotors for driving the support and the cradle. The intermediate support drive includes a drive bar and switch assemblies for sensing any force of more than 25 lbs., for example, exerted on the patient or patient cradle and for disengaging the servodrives in response thereto. The cradle drive incorporates a zero-backlash longitudinal friction drive which includes a harmonic drive unit to achieve accurate positioning of the patient. An encoder is driven by a closed-loop cable attached to the patient cradle to accurately indicate its position and speed even though there is a two-stage drive.

Patient-positioning X-ray table

A laminated touch switch panel includes a lowermost insulating board having foil contacts on its top surface and a perforated uppermost board having foil contacts on its bottom surface. A perforated insulating spacer sheet has its bottom surface interfacing with the top of the lowermost board and its upper surface interfacing with an intervening flexible perforated membrane. The membrane has foil contacts on its upper surface which are normally closed with respect to the contacts on the bottom of the uppermost board and has contacts on its lower surface which are normally open with respect to the contacts on the lowermost board. Flexing the membrane with a force applied through the uppermost board opens the normally closed contacts and closes the normally open contacts. In one embodiment, contacts are kept normally closed with resilient elements that apply a force on the membrane which is overcome to open the contacts by applying a force through an aperture in the uppermost board.

Membrane touch switches

Movement control of an L/U arm combination of a medical diagnostic apparatus is maintained by the use of a single handle mounted on the patient table and provision is made for temporarily removing the handle for sterilization and for easily replacing the handle for subsequent use. The handle can be operated by a single hand of an operator to selectively rotate either or both of the L/U elements in either direction on their axes or to move the patient table, longitudinally or laterally, to a desired position. An enabling lever is also provided on the handle such that no movement of the components can occur until the enabling lever has been depressed as by the operators grasping the control handle.

L-U Arm handle assembly

A printed wire board has lamp socket holes and switch contact pairs adjacent the holes on the top surface of the board and lamp socket contacts adjacent the holes on its bottom surface. An insulating spacer sheet is adhered to the board and has apertures which are congruent with the switch contact pairs. A membrane, adhered to the top surface of the spacer, has lamp holes and short circuiting contacts on its bottom surface for being flexed through the apertures to bridge gaps between the contact pairs on the board. An apertured rigid plate is superposed over and spaced from the membrane. Combination light channel and switch operating plunger elements fit in the plate apertures and contact the membrane. A film on which switch operating touch zones are delineated is adhered to the plate.

Growing community of inventors

Milwaukee, WI, United States of America

Gregory D Schwehr