LIQUID FLOW SENSOR FOR X-RAY TUBES

摘要

A housing (30) surrounds at least a portion of an x-ray tube (1) . A cooling system (32, 32' ) supplies a cooling liquid through the housing. The cooling system includes a pump (40, 40' ) and a flow sensor system (60, 60' which measures a pressure difference across the pump. A processor (80, 80' , 82, 82' ) determines a cooling fluid flow rate from the pressure difference. A controller (81, 81' , 82, 82' , 107) limits operation of the x-ray tube based on the cooling fluid flow rate and a measured temperature of the cooling fluid to prevent x-ray tube overheating while minimizing cooling time between x-ray tube operations.