X-ray tube bias supply

Abstract

A power supply is switchable to apply a low kilovoltage and a relatively higher kilovoltage alternately to the anode of an X-ray tube that includes a filament and a control grid. A grid bias voltage generator uses an inverter driven in the kilohertz frequency range to feed the primary winding of a first transformer whose parasitic capacitance and inductance are used to produce a peak ac output voltage from the secondary of the first transformer at resonant frequency. The secondary output voltage is rectified and the resulting negative bias voltage is applied to the control grid synchronously with the high kilovoltage being applied to the anode so the X-ray tube current is then relatively low. A less negative or zero bias voltage is applied to the grid synchronously with the lower kilovoltage being applied to the anode so the X-ray tube current is then relatively high and substantially limited by the temperature and emissivity of the filament. A second transformer identical to the first one is used to sense the ac output voltage of the first one. A voltage-to-frequency converter switches the inverter. The resonant circuit ac output voltage sensed by the second transformer is rectified and compared with a selectable dc control signal and any resulting error signal is used to adjust the converter frequency and, hence, the inverter frequency so the bias on the X-ray tube grid voltage is proportional to the dc control signal level.