Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Tobias Schlenk

Rolf Karl Otto Behling

Thorben Repenning

Zoryana Terletska

The invention relates to a cathode for an X-ray tube and a corresponding method for assembly. The cathode comprises a filament (), at least two support structures (), a body structure comprising a recess for the filament. The filament is provided to emit electrons towards an anode in an electron emitting direction (). The filament is held by the support structures, which are fixedly connected to the body structure. The filament is totally recrystallized before assembly and has an at least partial helical structure. The support structures comprise a reception end () for releasably receiving two ends of the filament by means of a locking mechanism and the complete alignment of the filament and the recess is given by the geometry of the filament, the at least two support structures and the body structure which comprises a recess for the filament. An improved and facilitated cathode assembly with increased reliability of the precision of the positioning in operation is achieved.

Cathode for an X-ray tube

The invention proposes an insulator within an X-ray tube having a vacuum side and an ambient side and a feedthrough substantially coinciding with an axis of symmetry at the vacuum side and an axis of symmetry at the ambient side. The axis of symmetry at the vacuum side and the axis of symmetry at the ambient side have an angle of at least 5&#xb0;, preferably 90&#xb0;, with respect to each other. An X-ray source comprising such an insulator is presented as well and the present invention also extends to a medical imaging apparatus for generating X-ray images of a patient thereby using an X-ray source with such an insulator. In an embodiment, an X-ray source is provided wherein the insulator is plugged to an electrical connector at the ambient surface.

X-ray tube insulator

An X-ray source () for generating X-rays () is provided. The X-ray source () comprises an emitter arrangement () for generating electrons or for generating X-rays, at least one feedthrough () for supplying electrical power to the emitter arrangement (), and an insulator () configured for isolating an electrical potential of the at least one feedthrough () from a ground potential. Therein, the at least one feedthrough () extends at least partly through the insulator (), and at least a part of the insulator () is in thermal contact with at least a part of the emitter arrangement (). Further, the insulator () comprises at least one cooling channel () formed completely in an interior volume () of the insulator () and configured to dissipate heat from the emitter arrangement (), wherein a distance () between an outer surface () of the insulator () and the cooling channel () is at least as large as half of a thickness () of the cooling channel ().

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Hamburg, Germany

Tobias Schlenk