Thermal Characteristics of Rotating Anode X-ray Tube with Emissivity in Aging Process for Digital Radiography

We investigated the thermal characteristics of rotating anode X-ray tube to develop it for digital radiography by using computer simulation. The target which is the area of the anode struck by electrons is the most important component to get a long life of X-ray tube. So we analyze the thermal characteristics of the target and rotor assembly according to their emissivity by using ANSYS transient thermal simulation and then compare with the measured data of the target temperature operating in aging process of X-ray tube. Especially, keeping the lead coated layer as the role of metal lubricant on ball bearing enables to prevent the noise in rotating anode. The simulation result showed that its temperature was under the melting point of the lead in X-ray tube for digital radiography with 1.2 mm large focal spot 0.6 mm small focal spot and 150 kV tube voltage. We also investigated the relationship between the diameter of the anode shaft and the temperature of the anode and rotor assembly. It has been confirmed that the smaller anode shaft could be good for the rotor thermal characteristics.