[Development of a simple measurement system for routine management of X-ray equipment]

Routine management of X-ray equipment is critically important, but due to the high cost of commercial management systems it is currently not practical to deploy this valuable instrumentation at every clinical facility. This led us to develop a simple measurement system for routine management purposes that can be deployed for around ¥100 thousand in materials. The system consists of an X-ray output meter, a clamp-type X-ray tube current meter (clamp meter), and a digital oscilloscope. Compared to a standard fluorescence meter, the X-ray output meter provides equivalent accuracy and reproducibility of X-ray tube voltage, X-ray tube current, and irradiation time changes, while also displaying the X-ray output time. The clamp meter must be periodically calibrated, however provides equivalent accuracy and reproducibility to a direct contact meter, while also displaying net X-ray tube current and loading time. Finally, the oscilloscope is able to estimate the waveform of X-ray tube voltage by monitoring each waveform, thus making it an extremely useful instrument for day-to-day management of X-ray equipment installed at clinical facilities.