Adaptive state of charge for portable x-ray device

• US 10,506,695 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2017
• Issued: 12/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Boehm, Manfred David
• Primary Examiner(s): Green, Yara B
• Application Number:
  US15/721,622
• Publication Number:
  US 20190104603A1
• Time in Patent Office: 802 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4405 the apparatus being movable or portable, e.g. handheld or mounted on a trolley
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/56 Details of data transmission or power supply, e.g. use of slip rings
• CPC Class Codes: H05G 1/32 Supply voltage of the X-ray apparatus or tube

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for an adaptive state-of-charge for a portable imaging system. In one embodiment, a method comprises controlling an x-ray source to generate an x-ray exposure, measuring a voltage of a power supply coupled to the x-ray source during the x-ray exposure, and adjusting an available capacity of the power supply based on the voltage. In this way, the full capacity of a power supply may be utilized while compensating for aging of the power supply.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

controlling an x-ray source to generate an x-ray exposure;

measuring a voltage of a power supply coupled to the x-ray source during the x-ray exposure; and

adjusting an available capacity of the power supply based on the voltage.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the available capacity of the power supply based on the voltage comprises adjusting the available capacity of the power supply responsive to the voltage below a threshold.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the threshold is dependent on a state-of-charge of the power supply.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the threshold comprises a plurality of thresholds, each threshold of the plurality of thresholds corresponding to a different range in a plurality of ranges of the state-of-charge of the power supply.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the threshold defines a margin above an error-free threshold, the error-free threshold comprising a voltage value below which errors occur in the x-ray exposure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the available capacity of the power supply comprises decreasing an available capacity of the power supply.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the available capacity of the power supply is decreased by a predetermined amount, or by an amount based on the voltage.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the power supply comprises one or more batteries.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating a state-of-charge of the power supply based on the adjusted available capacity, and displaying the updated state-of-charge of the power supply.

10. An imaging system, comprising:

a rechargeable power supply;

an x-ray source electrically coupled to the rechargeable power supply;

control circuitry for controlling the x-ray source; and

a display configured to display a state-of-charge of the rechargeable power supply;

wherein the control circuitry is configured with instructions in non-transitory memory that when executed cause the control circuitry to;

measure a voltage of the rechargeable power supply while controlling the x-ray source during an x-ray exposure;

adjust an available capacity of the rechargeable power supply based on the measured voltage; and

update the state-of-charge based on the adjusted available capacity.

11. The imaging system of claim 10, wherein adjusting the available capacity of the rechargeable power supply based on the measured voltage comprises decreasing the available capacity of the rechargeable power supply responsive to the measured voltage below a threshold.

12. The imaging system of claim 11, wherein the threshold depends on the state-of-charge of the rechargeable power supply.

13. The imaging system of claim 11, wherein the threshold depends on the available capacity.

14. The imaging system of claim 10, wherein the control circuitry is further configured with instructions in the non-transitory memory that when executed cause the control circuitry to measure the state-of-charge of the rechargeable power supply based on current integration.

15. The imaging system of claim 10, wherein the control circuitry is further configured with instructions in the non-transitory memory that when executed cause the control circuitry to output, via the display, an indication that the rechargeable power supply should be replaced responsive to adjusting the available capacity to a final available capacity.

16. The imaging system of claim 10, wherein the imaging system is a portable imaging system.

17. A method, comprising:

measuring a voltage of a rechargeable power supply coupled to an x-ray source during an x-ray exposure;

reducing an available capacity of the rechargeable power supply based on the voltage;

updating a state-of-charge of the rechargeable power supply based on the reduced available capacity; and

displaying the updated state-of-charge of the rechargeable power supply.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein an initial available capacity of the rechargeable power supply comprises a first percentage of a full rated capacity of the rechargeable power supply, the first percentage less than 100%, and wherein a final available capacity of the rechargeable power supply comprises a second percentage of the full rated capacity of the rechargeable power supply, the second percentage greater than 0%.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising displaying a notification to service the rechargeable power supply responsive to reducing the available capacity to the final available capacity.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein reducing the available capacity of the rechargeable power supply based on the voltage comprises reducing the available capacity of the rechargeable power supply responsive to the voltage below a threshold.