Yesterday, Swedish x-ray source manufacturer Excillum was awarded one of the prestigious R&D 100 awards for their unique liquid metal x-ray source. This source allows for a tenfold increase in brightness due to the power loading capability of the liquid metal anode.
One of the main limiting factors for a traditional x-ray source is the thermal management of the solid fixed, or rotating, anode leading to overheating or even melting as the electron beam power is increased. Excillum’s source overcomes this problem by replacing the solid anode with a high speed jet of liquid metal. In this way, the anode is already molten and continuously regenerated, thereby allowing much higher power loading.
2. A liquid anode can be operated at higher temperatures without the worry of melting as with a solid anode, thus allowing more power per area to be injected into it, which produce X-rays with a higher brightness.
- It is a true honor to receive the recognition of the R&D 100 Award on the first product we launch says Oscar Hemberg, CEO of Excillum. And the timing is excellent as it is just made available to the x-ray diffraction market through our collaboration with Bruker-AXS and we are beginning the process of looking for partners and customers in the other markets where we feel our extreme-brightness source can make a difference.
The uniqueness of Excillum’s x-ray source is its extreme brightness, i.e., its ability to generate more x-rays from a small spot compared to other techniques. This makes the source very suitable not only for x-ray diffraction, but also for applications such as X-Ray Inspection, Micro Computed Tomography and Phase Contrast Imaging.
Contacts and sources:
Excillum AB
Björn Hansson, Director of Sales & Marketing,
Excillum was founded in 2007 and is based in Stockholm, Sweden. Excillum develops, designs, and manufactures extreme-brightness microfocus x-ray sources for demanding applications. For more information about Excillum, please visit www.excillum.com.
About the R&D 100 Award
Winners of the R&D 100 Awards are selected by an independent judging panel and the editors of R&D Magazine (www.rdmag.com ). R&D 100 Awards have long been a benchmark of excellence for industry sectors as diverse as telecommunications, high-energy physics, software, manufacturing, and biotechnology. Since 1963, the R&D 100 Awards have identified revolutionary technologies newly introduced to the market. Many of these have become household names, helping shape everyday life. These include the flashcube (1965), the automated teller machine (1973), the halogen lamp (1974), the fax machine (1975), the liquid crystal display (1980), the Kodak Photo CD (1991), the Nicoderm anti-smoking patch (1992), Taxol anticancer drug (1993), lab on a chip (1996), and HDTV (1998).
One of the main limiting factors for a traditional x-ray source is the thermal management of the solid fixed, or rotating, anode leading to overheating or even melting as the electron beam power is increased. Excillum’s source overcomes this problem by replacing the solid anode with a high speed jet of liquid metal. In this way, the anode is already molten and continuously regenerated, thereby allowing much higher power loading.
How it works
Instead of using solid metal anodes found in conventional X-ray sources, Excillum's source utilizes a liquid metal jet anode as its target material for X-ray generation. Switching to a liquid jet based source has 2 major advantages:
1. Mechanical and thermal damages that are inevitable in solid metals are completely inapplicable and is a non-issue for liquid metals.
Instead of using solid metal anodes found in conventional X-ray sources, Excillum's source utilizes a liquid metal jet anode as its target material for X-ray generation. Switching to a liquid jet based source has 2 major advantages:
1. Mechanical and thermal damages that are inevitable in solid metals are completely inapplicable and is a non-issue for liquid metals.
2. A liquid anode can be operated at higher temperatures without the worry of melting as with a solid anode, thus allowing more power per area to be injected into it, which produce X-rays with a higher brightness.
Credit: Excillum
A third advantage is that while a solid anode has a fixed amount of material,liquid anodes can potentially utilize large amounts of material. Each section in a solid anode can only be cooled for a limited period of time before it is being used in the process for X-ray generation again, where it again absorbs more heat. It has a narrow time window for cooling and can only maintain performance up to the point where the amount of heat absorbed is equal to the amount of heat dissipated.
On the other hand, a liquid anode system can have a large reservoir consistently supplying liquid for X-ray generation. By collecting the heated liquid and passing it through a cooling system the reservoir can be replenished. As long as the reservoir has liquid to pump out, the cooling process can take place indefinitely, ensuring that the system always operates at maximum performance.
Excillum builds upon these advantages to create its high performance X-ray sources.
For more detailed information about our technology, please refer to the Excillum Technology Tutorial
Excillum builds upon these advantages to create its high performance X-ray sources.
For more detailed information about our technology, please refer to the Excillum Technology Tutorial
- It is a true honor to receive the recognition of the R&D 100 Award on the first product we launch says Oscar Hemberg, CEO of Excillum. And the timing is excellent as it is just made available to the x-ray diffraction market through our collaboration with Bruker-AXS and we are beginning the process of looking for partners and customers in the other markets where we feel our extreme-brightness source can make a difference.
The uniqueness of Excillum’s x-ray source is its extreme brightness, i.e., its ability to generate more x-rays from a small spot compared to other techniques. This makes the source very suitable not only for x-ray diffraction, but also for applications such as X-Ray Inspection, Micro Computed Tomography and Phase Contrast Imaging.
Excillum AB
Björn Hansson, Director of Sales & Marketing,
Excillum was founded in 2007 and is based in Stockholm, Sweden. Excillum develops, designs, and manufactures extreme-brightness microfocus x-ray sources for demanding applications. For more information about Excillum, please visit www.excillum.com.
About the R&D 100 Award
Winners of the R&D 100 Awards are selected by an independent judging panel and the editors of R&D Magazine (www.rdmag.com ). R&D 100 Awards have long been a benchmark of excellence for industry sectors as diverse as telecommunications, high-energy physics, software, manufacturing, and biotechnology. Since 1963, the R&D 100 Awards have identified revolutionary technologies newly introduced to the market. Many of these have become household names, helping shape everyday life. These include the flashcube (1965), the automated teller machine (1973), the halogen lamp (1974), the fax machine (1975), the liquid crystal display (1980), the Kodak Photo CD (1991), the Nicoderm anti-smoking patch (1992), Taxol anticancer drug (1993), lab on a chip (1996), and HDTV (1998).
0 comments:
Post a Comment