Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Picker International, Inc.

Patrick P McNally

Thomas R Miller

James E Burke

Anton Z Zupancic

Gerald James Carlson

Qing Kelvin Lu

Allan D Kautz

Salvatore G Perno

Paul Xu

Todd Russell Bittner

Jose A Buan

An x-ray tube assembly ( ) includes a housing ( ) and an insert frame ( ) supported within the housing ( ), such that the insert frame ( ) defines a substantially evacuated envelope in which a cathode assembly ( ) and a rotating anode assembly ( ) operate to produce x-rays. The rotating anode assembly ( ) includes an anode target plate ( ) coupled to a rotor ( ) and bearing shaft ( ), which is rotatably supported within a bearing housing ( ), by a plurality of ball bearings ( ). A heat barrier ( ) substantially surrounds the bearing housing ( ) and is coupled, along with the bearing housing ( ) to an anode cold plate ( ). The anode cold plate ( ) includes a grooved cover ( ), a basin ( ), and a plurality of corrugated fins ( ) disposed therein. Coupling both the bearing housing ( ) and the heat barrier ( ) to the anode cold plate ( ) provides an effective means for cooling the bearing assembly ( ).

X-ray tube anode cold plate

A CT scanner has an x-ray tube (B) which is carried by a rotating gantry portion around a patient receiving region (12). A large diameter, annular radiator (30) is connected to the rotating gantry for rotation with the x-ray tube. A cooling oil is circulated around the x-ray tube and through passages (32, 74, 100) of the rotating radiator. An annular stationary member is mounted to a stationary gantry portion (A) of the CT scanner. In the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3, the stationary member is an annular tube (36) which substantially surrounds the rotating radiator except for an annular access aperture (38). Spray jets (40) spray the rotating radiator with water which is drained (42), circulated to a remote heat exchange or cooling apparatus (D), and recirculated to the spray nozzles. Baffles (52, 54), gutters (58), lip and baffle arrangements (54, 56), and the like, inhibit the sprayed water from escaping from the tube (36). In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the water is sprayed on a wick member (76). Water evaporates from the wick, cooling the rotating radiator with evaporative cooling. In the embodiments of FIGS. 4 and 5, the rotating and stationary members include interleaved fins vanes (70, 82) between which heat is transferred by air flow. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, a layer of water is carried by centrifugal force into the air gap between a horizontal rotating heat transfer surface (102) and a horizontal stationary heat transfer surface (108).

Heat transfer techniques for moving thermal energy from high power X-ray

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Geneva, IL, United States of America

Patrick P McNally