Anode with unevenly distributed slots

Abstract

There is provided an anode disc (200) for use as rotating anode in an X-ray tube. The anode disc comprises a center region (220) including a center (210), wherein the center (210) intersects an axis of rotation when the anode disc is in use. The anode disc (200) further comprises an outer circumference (230) surrounding the center region (220), and at least three slots (201, 202, 203) for reducing stress when the anode disc is in use. Each slot extends from the outer circumference towards the center region. According to embodiments of the invention, the slots (201, 202, 203) are unevenly distributed along the outer circumference, such that each circumferential distance (c12, c23, c31) between two neighboring slots is different. By providing an anode with slots that are unevenly distributed along the circumference, the risk of patterns in X-ray intensity distribution is reduced. Furthermore, when images from multiple integration periods are combined to form a reconstructed image, possible disturbance from the unevenly or randomly distributed slots will be noise that can be filtered out or will even out, as compared to repeating patterns that may grow with each integration. Thus, imaging quality may be improved.

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