The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 24, 1995
Filed:
Jul. 16, 1993
James E Burke, Villa Park, IL (US);
Picker International, Inc., Highland Hts., OH (US);
Abstract
A housing (A) which has a radiation transmissive window (52) defines a coolant oil reservoir (50). An x-ray tube (B) is mounted within the cooling oil reservoir. The x-ray tube includes a vacuum envelope having a cylindrical wall portion (10). A cylindrical sleeve (70) is mounted around the cylindrical wall (10) defining a narrow coolant oil gap (100). In one embodiment, a motor (16) rotates the vacuum envelope and an anode (14). The cylindrical sleeve (70) and the cylindrical rotating vacuum envelope wall portion (10) with the cooling oil film in the gap define a journal bearing which minimizes the horsepower requirements of the motor (16). A diaphragm (102) is expanded to reduce the thickness of the coolant oil film in the journal bearing gap. The cylindrical sleeve (70) is preferably constructed of a radiation blocking material such that the body of coolant oil (50) is shielded from x-rays (42). A window (76) is defined in alignment with the housing window (52) such that a beam of x-rays is permitted to leave the assembly. A radiation blocking disk (84) is mounted between the cathode and one end of the tube to block radiation exiting in that direction. The anode blocks radiation from exiting in the other direction. Optionally, an additional cylinder of radiation blocking material (86) may be mounted between the cathode and the cylindrical sleeve (70).