Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) recently developed a portable X-ray source using carbon nanostructures, paving the way for X-ray nondestructive examination using dry batteries as a power source.
According to the report, Ryoichi Suzuki (Leader), the Advanced Defect-Characterization Research Group, the Research Institute of Instrumentation Frontier (Director: Yoshio Akimune) of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) (President: Hiroyuki Yoshikawa), In cooperation with Dialight Japan Co., Ltd. (President: Masanori Haba) and Life Technology Research Institute, Inc. (President: Yoshihisa Ishiguro), has developed practical portable X-ray sources with a cold-cathode electron source using carbon nanostructures.
Main Body of the Developed X-ray Source. Photo from AIST.
The X-ray sources use carbon nanostructures as field-emission electron sources. Due to the absence of a heater or a filament, it can promptly generate X-rays whenever required and does not require preheating. In addition, energy is consumed only while X-rays are being generated, allowing X-rays with an energy of more than 100 keV (the level needed in nondestructive inspection or medical diagnostics) can be generated from dry batteries or a USB power source. The report also mentions that “the technology also is applicable to an electron beam with a power of more than 10 kW generating X-rays for ultrahigh-speed imaging, which contributes to new applications that require ultra-rapid X-ray inspection.”
Setup for X-ray transmission imaging using a portable X-ray source. Photo from AIST.
According to the report, the developed X-ray tube with a high-voltage power source can be hand-carried in a case, and used to generate X-rays on site. The photo from AIST on the top shows the setup for X-ray transmission imaging using a low-power model of portable X-ray tube housed in a small case (measuring 37 cm × 13 cm × 35 cm) together with a power source. This X-ray source can be used in nondestructive inspection and medical diagnostics in the same way as a conventional hot-cathode X-ray source. The portable X-ray source is convenient to use because it eliminates warm-up time, a big issue for conventional hot-cathode X-ray tubes, and generate X-rays promptly whenever needed. We could really see the applications of a portable X-ray for use in outdoor medical field like helping refugees and for medical emergency use after a natural disaster like an earthquake and a tsunami.
Scehmatic Diagram showing how the X-ray tubes work. Picture from AIST.
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