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:
May. 27, 2003
Filed:
Jul. 18, 2001
Daniel E. Kuzniar, Lyons, IL (US);
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., Eindhoven, NL;
Abstract
A metal frame x-ray tube ( ), includes a gettering system ( ) which, when activated, provides a layer ( ) of gettering material ( ) on a grounded conductive portion ( ) of a metal frame or envelope ( ). The envelope defines an evacuated chamber ( ), which houses an anode ( ) and a cathode ( ). Moving the gettering material to larger diameter portions of the frame enables substantially larger amounts of gettering material to be provided than in a conventional gettering system, which is typically housed in the cathode assembly ( ). Moreover, multiple independently controllable gettering wires ( ) facilitate reactivating the gettering material plural times both during the manufacturing process and in the field. This ability to rejuvenate vacuum pumping capability in an x-ray tube that is starting to arc in the field allows for extended x-ray tube life.