Medical Imaging

Common Coolant Types and their Uses in Liquid Cooling Systems

Introduction

As power densities and thermal loads continue to increase in crowded electronic systems, and specific analytical and diagnostic testing processes demand more temperature stabilization for improved accuracy and results, more equipment designers, R&D labs and diagnostic laboratories are turning to liquid cooling solutions for better thermal management. Optimal cooling fluids improve accuracy of results, improve equipment performance, minimize downtime, reduce maintenance costs, ensure safety and can help meet environmental compliance.

Cooling Particle Accelerators: Linear Accelerators and Cyclotrons

Introduction

Particle accelerators, such as linear accelerator (LINAC) and cyclotron systems, increase the kinetic energy of particles for use in a variety of applications, ranging from scientific studies on particle physics to radiation therapy for cancer patients. Particle accelerators, like most sensitive medical and laboratory equipment, are negatively affected by thermal variations, specifically an increase in heat. Temperature control of vital particle accelerator system components is critical for operational integrity, performance accuracy and system reliability.

Liquid Cooling Systems for Efficient Temperature Control of Medical Diagnostics


One critical element of today’s diagnostic equipment is its cooling system. The cooling system prevents overheating, which can cause equipment to malfunction. Additionally, cooling solutions help maintain thermal stability of lab instrumentation, which is necessary for high-quality results. Considering the importance of medical imaging and diagnostic tests to monitor and maintain patients’ health, the equipment and the lab must be thermally maintained to ensure equipment consistently meets stated performance expectations.

 





Thermal Management for Medical Applications

Laird Thermal Systems offers a broad range of thermal management solutions for the medical industry to address bulk heat removal of x-ray imaging systems, precise temperature control of detectors and refrigeration of medical diagnostic chambers.  

This brochure provides an overview of applications and products suitable for this market.




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Radiation Therapy (RT)

Radiation damages the DNA in malignant tissue, which prevents the cell’s ability to repair itself or reproduce. 

A linear accelerator, or LINAC is used to produce and deliver the radiation beam to the targeted area through a complex system. As the X-ray tube in this system is very powerful it also has high heat load requirements, ranging up to 25 kilowatts. Temperature control of devices within the system is required to optimize radiation beam and destroy as few healthy cells as possible.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

PET scanning is a gamma-based imaging technique that allows doctors to detect early signs of cancer, brain disorders and heart diseases by identifying changes in organs and tissues at cellular level. In a PET scan, the patient is injected with a radioactive substance and placed on a flat table that moves into a donut-shaped housing called gantry. 

Cooling Medical X-ray Imaging Equipment

Introduction

Designed to take pictures inside a patient’s body, medical X-ray imaging systems are a vital piece of detection equipment. Medical X-ray imaging equipment can be used to detect and diagnose a wide range of injuries or diseases. In X-ray-based imaging techniques, an X-ray beam is projected through a patient to a recording medium. The generation and projection of an X-ray beam is highly inefficient and produces a large amount of waste heat. The heat load can be as much as 5KW.




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