Dear X-Ray fans,
I thought I would share some pictures and thoughts on some modern digital X-Ray plates that have just come into my possession.
I have four large Digital X-Ray plates that are ex hospitals. They are fully digital DR plates rather than the CR plate system. That is to say, they contain a large CCD or photodiode imaging array that has a Scintillator sheet in front of it to create an image when illuminated by X-Ray radiation.
It will come s no surprise that these cost a small fortune new. Mine are all suspected faulty so may never work again. This does give the opportunity to investigate the technology however. How far i go with a tear-down has yet to be decided as you will see later.
These X-Ray plates are stated as being wireless and self contained. They contain wireless transceivers that link them to the host PC that contains the image display and processing software. The Canon plates are definitely standard 2.4GHz and 5Ghz Wi-Fi with AES encryption to protect patient data. The Canon units also have an IRDA communications port that enables them to be easily logged onto the PC system as individual identifiable X-Ray plates. One PC can serve several X-Ray plates at the same time in a multi X-Ray room deployment.
The Samsung X-Ray plates are also wireless but I have not established whether it is Wi-Fi complaint or proprietary. I have had no time recently to research these plates.
More information when I have it, but to be honest, without the PC software I am not certain knowing the communications bearer is of much use anyway.
So what is wrong with these plates ?
A visual inspection has revealed the most likely faults with these plates.
1. The two Canon CXDI series plates have both suffered from the diligent use of wet anti-bacterial cleaning solutions after each use. This is standard anti-bug transfer protocol in Hospitals these days. Sadly the fluid has crept past the rubber bungs and case cover and caused some not too serious looking corrosion. The external (diagnostics?) socket on the CDXI-80C is badly corroded which cannot be good for the plate. The corrosion does not look terminal however.
2. Samsung S4335 plates are both the victims of physical abuse. Both have obvious bending of the case. Some detector arrays are on glass and others are more flexible so such bending may or may not mean the destruction of the imaging array. Interestingly, one of the bent plates has had its battery taped back into position so presumably it still worked after the accident ? This could also have been a desperate attempt to see if teh plate survived the damage of course
The Cannon plates are easily disassembled by removal of many screws that secure the rear plate in place. The Samsung plates are a little more challenging to disassemble and I have yet to get into one. They do not appear to share the corrosion issues of the Canon plates. possibly due to the more watertight construction that makes disassembly paths less obvious without damaging the front or rear plastic covering.
None of the plates rattle when give a good shake so no shattered glass inside
The canon units are equipped with glass plate detector arrays but are rated to be stood on by the average human adult !
So what to do with these plates ?
1. All except the CDXI-80C are too large for use in my Faxitron MX-20 and the 35kVp maximum voltage on the micro focus tube may not be enough for these plates either. They are designed to work with a tube running around 75KVp. The plates are self contained in that they self trigger upon exposure to X-Ray energy and have their own auto exposure system to obtain the best image. The complete images are then sent to the host PC as a file for display and user manipulation. I suspect the file sent is a Dead Pixel and Non uniformity corrected ADU data set that the PC manipulates as required.
2. Ripping these plates down to their component parts might be fun and interesting but I hate doing that if others can make good use of them. The canon plates look repairable. Even the Samsung plates may still function well if they do contain a flexible imaging array and can be flattened with some careful metal 'bashing'
3. I am unclear whether the data emitted from these plates may be decoded and viewed without the original PC software that is very expensive. Ift might be interesting to see if one of the Canon plates can be repaired to see if communications can be established with it. there is also the diagnostic/hard wired port to explore on all of the plates. Hours of fun for someone maybe ?
4. Am I going to use these plates for X-Ray ? Unlikely as I have no need of such large X-Ray images at this time. The smaller CDXI-80C looks more useful but it i still quite large.
So what next I wonder ? I welcome thoughts fro m the readership but please consider my comments above. It seems sacrilege to tear down a £10K+ wireless Digital X-Ray plate for pure curiosity when someone else needs such for more serious work. It is not like I do not already know what resides inside the plates design. It is the same technology as used in many digital X-Ray plates and cameras that I have seen described in great technical detail.
I hope the pictures are of some interest and maybe we can come up with some ideas on what I should do with these lovely bits of X-Ray imaging kit ?Before anyone suggests I set to an repair them.... I am not sure that I have the time or enthusiasm to do that at the moment. A recent loss in my family has robbed me of enthusiasm for very much these days.
If anyone wants these plates for serious use please let me know and we may be able to do a deal. Sadly I cannot give them away for free as they owe me some pennies.
Fraser
Home
Help
Search
Login
Register
