CT Gantry Cooling Duct Segmentation for Uniform Airflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
CT systems face challenges in ensuring uniform and reliable cooling of gantry components, particularly when stationary, due to susceptibility of additional fans to rotation accelerations, leading to non-uniform air supply and potential temperature issues, which necessitate higher power operation and increased noise.
Innovation Solution
The cooling system divides the incoming-air duct into multiple segments, allowing for individual air supply and pressure adjustment, ensuring uniform pressure distribution along the gantry circumference, even when stationary, by decoupling segments and optimizing inlet openings for consistent airflow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If additional fans are attached to the rotating support to cool individual components, then the cooling coverage is improved, but the reliability deteriorates due to susceptibility to rotation accelerations
Solution Approach 1:
The incoming-air duct is divided into multiple segments that can be independently controlled. Each segment supplies cooling air to specific components, eliminating the need for additional fans on the rotating support. This segmentation allows uniform pressure distribution across all segments, ensuring reliable cooling without the reliability issues of acceleration-sensitive fans.
2Reliability
If additional fans are omitted for reliability reasons, then the reliability is improved, but the uniform air supply deteriorates when the support is stationary
Solution Approach 1:
Each segment of the incoming-air duct is equipped with locally adjustable inlet openings that can be optimized for their specific position on the gantry. This local quality adjustment ensures that every segment delivers the correct amount of cooling air to its designated components, achieving uniform air supply across the entire gantry circumference without requiring additional fans.
3Temperature
If the gantry cooling operates at higher power to compensate for non-uniform cooling, then the cooling performance is improved, but the noise level increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter of pressure distribution by dividing the air duct into segments with individually adjustable inlet openings. This parameter optimization allows the cooling system to operate at lower power while maintaining uniform cooling performance across all gantry positions, thereby reducing the noise level generated by the cooling operation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach ensures reliable and position-independent cooling of CT system components, reducing power consumption and noise levels compared to traditional methods with baffles.
Implementation Method 1
a cooling system for cooling the components secured to the gantry with at least one air duct
Data Source
AI summary
A CT system is disclosed for generating tomographic recordings of an examination object. In an embodiment, the CT system includes at least a gantry with a rotatable support for receiving components of the CT system, and a cooling system for cooling the components secured to the gantry with at least one air duct. In at least one embodiment, an incoming-air duct of the cooling system is divided into at least two segments to ensure uniform pressure distribution in the incoming-air duct.