Portable X-Ray Machines

History

The field of radiology began after the discovery of the X-Ray by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, Professor and Head of the Department of Physics at the Julius Maximillian University at Wurzburg in Germany, in 1895. (NDT Resource Center, n.d.) Originally named the “roentgenogram” after Prof. Roentgen. (Luk, 2016), the medical community throughout the world almost instantly realized the importance of the X-Ray and was ready to learn more.

At first, Physicians used the X-Ray solely to image the bones of patients to find foreign objects, especially wounded soldiers (Jorgensen, 2017). At the start of World War I, X-ray machines were limited to city hospitals, which was very inconvenient for wounded troops on the battlefield. Marie Curie came up with the solution of creating the first “radiological car”, a vehicle that contains an X-ray and darkroom equipment and can be driven up to the battlefield. (ETHW, 2015) A major challenge that Curie encountered when creating the car was the source of electrical power needed to produce the X-rays. She solved this problem by using a type of electrical generator called a dynamo, into the design of the car. A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using electromagnetism. The car engine powered by petroleum was then able to provide the required electricity.Outside of the war, the X-ray machine became more generally used and the design continued to improve. In 1925, the Metalix X-ray was introduced as being the first X-Ray that was shielded to prevent unwanted radiation exposure. (Luk, 2016). The design was changed to consist of a “chromium iron cylinder shielded by lead and sealed directly by glass at its end”. (Luk, 2016), This ensured that the radiation was only able to exit through the glass end. Later in the 1960s and 1970s, there was an improvement in the screens used for radiography allowing for clearer images that used less radiation during exposure.

MINXRAY HF100H+

MinXray, Inc. is a brand of digital radiography that has over fifty years of experience. They have been determined to create high-scale portable x-ray imaging equipment since 1967. Their systems are “internationally recognized as the gold standard across a range of healthcare applications, including: nursing home and home health care imaging, small and large veterinary, military field operations, as well as other digital imaging applications” (MINXRAY, n.d.). They released their prototype of the MinXray HF100H+ portable x-ray unit on February 28, 1997 and the first production was made on January 16, 1998 (MINXRAY, 2012). Updates were made to various design parts in order to improve the overall function and usage of the unit. The latest change, a change to the interface, was made on March 20, 2012.

Figure 2: Mobile Philips Metalix diagnostic X- ray machine

Description

Main Parts of HF100H+

Figure 3: Main Parts of HF100H+ (MinXray, Inc., 2012)

The main parts of HF100H+ is shown in Figure 3 to the left. It consists of the main case which holds the battery, the interface connector, the collimator (the part of the device that produces the radiation), as well as several switches and knobs for adjustment. The crucial parts of the machine have been designed to a size that is easy for travel. The collimator was also designed to limit the radiation exposure to technicians.

Button Layout of HF100H+

The HF100H+ also comes with a set of buttons on the top of the case as shown in Figure 4. These buttons are used by technicians after the initial set up of the device to further adjust the exposure of the image. The kV indicator and adjustment buttons are used to control the x-ray tube voltage used in kilovolts. The mAs indicator shows the amount of radiation in an examination in milliampere-seconds. Both the mAs indicator and the kV indicator control the density and contrast of the image (Digital Radiography, Radiology, 2016). The exposure of the image is crucial for the radiologist to be able to read and evaluate the image.

Figure 4: Button Layout of HF100H+ (MinXray, Inc., 2012)

References

Digital Radiography, Radiology. (2016, September 6). Understanding Radiology Exposure Indicators. Retrieved from Carestream: https://www.carestream.com/blog/2016/09/06/understanding-radiology-exposure- indicators/

ETHW. (2015, September 15). Field XRays. Retrieved from ETHW: https://ethw.org/Field_X- Rays

Jorgensen, T. J. (2017). How Marie Curie Brought X-ray Machines to the Battlefield. Smithsonian Magazine.

Luk, S. Y. (2016). The Mobile X-Ray Machine. Hong Kong Medical Journal.
MINXRAY. (2012, March). MINXRAY HF100H+. Retrieved from HF100H+ Service Manual: https://www.minxray.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/HF100H-service-Ver1.2-

Webridged.pdf
MINXRAY. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved from MINXRAY: https://www.minxray.com/about/ MinXray, Inc. (2012, March). 

MinXray HF100H+ Service Manual. Retrieved from MinXray HF100H+: https://www.minxray.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/HF100H-service-Ver1.2-Webridged.pdf

NDT Resource Center. (n.d.). History of Radiography. Retrieved from NDT Resource Center: https://www.nde- ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Radiography/Introduction/history.htm

Reflection

When writing this technical description, I had originally thought it’d be a much more complicated assignment than it turned out to be. The idea of writing about a portable x-ray machine had come to me during a doctor’s visit for my hand where they had developed a quick image using a portable x-ray. Through all my other doctors’ appointments, I had spent lots of time waiting for a radiologist or lab technician to take a full x-ray of whatever body part I needed checked out. I realized how much radiology has developed and thought, “well, what a perfect item to describe for my assignment.”

I began looking into the history of portable x-rays, learning that they had actually first been invented in World War I for wounded soldiers by Marie Curie. She is remembered for her research on radioactivity but seldomly acknowledged for her creation of the first portable x-ray. Since the development of the portable x-ray is crucial to the understanding of the product we have now, I found it important to include a general history of the portable x-rays as a whole as well as the history of the MinXray HF100H+ specifically.

I started off by forming an outline of how I was going to lay out the description, thinking that the assignment would’ve lacked some important information if I didn’t explain the entire makeup of the x-ray. As I began to write the paper, however, I realized that much of the information that I was going to originally place into separate sections is easily fit into one or two sections that can explain the overall function of the machine. Writing the description almost came naturally; words just flew onto the page as I worked. Since I have always felt as though I am a technical thinker, I generally enjoyed this assignment and researching a device that I’ve encountered many times throughout my life.

This assignment also allowed me to tap into my inner creativity when deciding between the usage of imagery or verbal descriptions of certain parts of the machine. I was able to explain the history and structure of the device without bias by using solely informational resources and diction. The peer review that we had done also opened my eyes to other possibilities for the layout and depth of the description, allowing me to rearrange and change certain aspects of my assignment to benefit the reader. Looking at my peers’ descriptions, I was able to acknowledge the effect that using an image or diagram can have on the reader, as opposed to strictly using verbal communication. They do say, “An image is worth a thousand words.”

Due to the fact that I had never written a technical description in the past, this assignment opened up a whole new field of writing that I hadn’t encountered before. Considering I plan on hopefully pursuing research in biomedical engineering, technical writing will soon become a huge part of my life and this assignment has allowed me to explore the different paths I could follow when I do so.