CN107961449B

CN107961449B - Medical equipment, cooling assembly thereof and radiotherapy equipment

Info

Publication number: CN107961449B
Application number: CN201810008076.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 邵跃林; 张剑; 刘剑; 徐益明; 倪成; 庞和喜; 王理; 方啸
Original assignee: Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-09-09
Filing date: 2016-01-04
Publication date: 2020-12-01
Anticipated expiration: 2036-01-04
Also published as: CN105413070A; CN105413070B; CN107961449A; CN105266836A

Abstract

The invention discloses a medical device, a cooling assembly for the medical device and a radiotherapy device. The medical device includes: a frame to which a heat generating element is connected; a housing including a fluid containing portion defining an inlet and an outlet; a fluid line having both ends respectively communicated to the inlet and the outlet, the fluid line passing through the heat generating element in a heat transferrable manner; a pump connected to the fluid line to circulate the fluid within the fluid containing portion in the fluid line; and a cooling source configured to be associated with the housing such that at least a portion of the housing is thermally transferable with the cooling source. According to the cooling assembly and the medical equipment with the cooling assembly disclosed by the invention, the pipeline does not need to be additionally connected to a cooling source somewhere on the ground, such as a water source. The radiotherapy apparatus has not only the aforementioned cooling assembly but also a coupling assembly to transfer electrical power and signals to electrical components on the rotatable gantry.

Description

Medical equipment, cooling assembly thereof and radiotherapy equipment

The applicant claims priority of the patent application with application number CN201510569862.0 entitled "a cooling component for medical equipment and medical equipment" filed on 9.9.2015 by the applicant to the chinese intellectual property office.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a medical apparatus, in particular to a cooling assembly and a coupling assembly for a medical apparatus, in particular a radiotherapy apparatus.

Background

In the current medical linear accelerator, many high-power components, such as an accelerating tube, a modulator and the like, need to be cooled by water to ensure that the system can normally operate. For a linear accelerator equipped with a rotating gantry, cooling water is delivered to the various components through water pipes. After the cooling water brings heat out of each component, a set of heat exchange system needs to be configured to realize heat exchange. The current design heat exchange system is limited by self factors and can only be installed outside the rotating frame, which leads to the water pipe needing to be connected to each part from the heat exchange system, and the water pipe passes through a winding frame, a frame and the like. This design will cause the water tube to rotate with the bobbin and frame, which not only increases the length and cost of the water tube, but also puts additional demands on the water tube for fatigue life in motion, increasing the complexity of the system.

In addition, in the current medical linear accelerator, the transmission of electric energy and signals is also from a power supply and a signal source somewhere on the ground to the frame and to the electric components, and since the length of the cable carrying the electric energy or the signals is specific, when the frame needs to be rotated, the angle must be within a predetermined range, otherwise, a fault occurs.

Disclosure of Invention

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a medical apparatus comprising: a frame to which a heat generating element is connected; a housing including a fluid containing portion defining an inlet and an outlet; a fluid line having both ends respectively communicated to the inlet and the outlet, the fluid line passing through the heat generating element in a heat transferrable manner; a pump connected to the fluid line to circulate fluid within the fluid containing portion in the fluid line; and a cooling source configured to be associated with the housing such that at least a portion of the housing is thermally transferable with the cooling source.

In particular, the gantry is rotatable. More specifically, the housing is fixedly attached to the frame.

Optionally, the fluid is a gas or a liquid. In particular, wherein the fluid is water.

In particular, the medical device comprises a medical linear accelerator. More specifically, the heat generating element includes one of a target, an acceleration tube, an isolator, a modulator, an electromagnet, and a magnetron; the medical linear accelerator comprises a base, and the rack is rotatably and circumferentially supported on the base. Optionally, the medical linear accelerator comprises a base to which the frame is pivotally connected.

Optionally, the medical device comprises a CT imaging device. In particular, the heat generating element is a high voltage generator.

Preferably, the housing and the cooling source are fluid tight. Preferably, a control valve is further included, coupled to the fluid line, for controlling the flow of fluid in the fluid line. Preferably, the device further comprises an alarm unit which sends out alarm information when the temperature of the fluid exceeds a threshold value.

Specifically, the cooling source includes: a container containing a cooling medium therein. Further, the cooling source includes: a cooler in communication with the vessel through a fluid flow circuit.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooling assembly of a medical device, the cooling assembly comprising: a housing containing a fluid in a fluid-tight manner, the housing being in fluid communication with both ends of a heat dissipation conduit of the medical device to form a circuit; a pump connected to said heat dissipation line to circulate said fluid within said loop; a container containing a fluid, the container and the housing being arranged such that the fluid of the container and the fluid of the housing are heat exchangeable; and a cooler in circulatable fluid communication with the container to cool the fluid within the container. Specifically, the housing is annular or disc-shaped. Specifically, a copper tube is disposed within the housing. Preferably, the housing is fixed to a rotatable frame of the medical device. In particular, the medical device is a radiotherapy medical device or an imaging medical device. Optionally, the fluid within the housing and/or the fluid within the container is a gas or a liquid. In particular, the fluid within the housing and the fluid within the container is water.

According to the cooling assembly and the medical equipment with the cooling assembly disclosed by the invention, the pipeline does not need to be additionally connected to a cooling source somewhere on the ground, such as a water source.

The design that the casing is fixed to the linear accelerator frame is particularly advantageous, and when the linear accelerator frame is operated, the pipeline does not move relative to the frame, so that the requirement on the pipeline is reduced. When the housing is rotated, the housing is partially immersed in the fluid in the container, which provides the cooler. In this way, the heat of each high-power component is transferred to the fluid in the internal circulation loop, and the heat is driven by the pump to reach the fluid containing part of the housing rotating along with the rack through the pipeline without relative movement with the rack, and the fluid in the fluid containing part of the housing exchanges heat with the fluid in the container, so that the final heat transfer is realized.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is also disclosed a radiotherapy apparatus comprising: a base; a frame rotatably connected or supported to the base; a treatment arm having one end secured to the frame; a treatment head secured to the other end of the treatment arm; and a coupling assembly including a first element connected to the rack and having an input interface connected with an electrical element of the rack, and a second element connected to a power source and/or a signal source and having an output interface coupled with the input interface to transfer power and/or signals to the electrical element. Preferably, the radiotherapy apparatus further comprises a cooling assembly, the cooling assembly comprising: a housing containing a fluid in a fluid-tight manner, the housing being in fluid communication with both ends of a fluid line of the radiotherapy apparatus to form a circuit; a pump connected to the fluid line to circulate the fluid within the circuit; a container containing a fluid, the container and the housing being arranged such that the fluid of the container and the fluid of the housing are heat exchangeable; and a cooler in circulatable fluid communication with the container to cool the fluid within the container.

Optionally, the coupling assembly is a contact coupling assembly. In one embodiment, the first element is a slip ring connected to the housing and having an input interface connected to the electrical components of the housing, and the second element is a sliding contact that is statically supported relative to the base and has an output interface thereon connected to a power source and/or a signal source. In another embodiment, the first element is a sliding contact and the second element is a slip ring, the sliding contact being connected to the housing and having an input interface for connection with an electrical component of the housing, the slip ring being statically supported relative to the base and having an output interface thereon for connection to a power source and/or a signal source. In both of the foregoing embodiments, the sliding contact may be a brush-like element. In particular, the sliding contact may be a brush or a carbon brush.

Optionally, the coupling assembly is contactless. In particular, the coupling assembly includes a wireless signal transceiving assembly, the first element is a signal receiver, the second element is a signal transmitter, the signal receiver is connected to the rack and has an input interface connected with an electrical element of the rack, the signal transmitter has an output interface connected to a signal source to couple the output interface with the input interface to pass a signal to the electrical element. The coupling assembly further includes a coupling assembly that generates electrical energy, wherein the first element is an electrical receiving coil and the second element is an electrical generating coil that is connected to the housing and has an input interface that connects with an electrical component of the housing, the electrical receiving coil having an output interface thereon that connects to a power source to couple the output interface with the input interface to deliver electrical energy to the electrical component.

According to the radiotherapy equipment disclosed by the invention, because the electric energy and signals of each electric element are obtained not by the cable connected to the power supply and the signal source at a place on the ground but by the coupling assembly, the rack can rotate within any angle range clockwise or anticlockwise without being limited by the length of the electric wire cable and/or the signal wire; further, in a more preferred embodiment, the fluid for dissipating heat from the heat generating components is not coupled to a cooling source somewhere on the ground but is in heat transfer communication with the cooling medium within the vessel through a housing that is rotatable about the rack, so that the rack can be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise through any angular range without being limited by cooling fluid lines and/or electrical wiring cables and/or signal wire lengths.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an exemplary medical device having a cooling assembly according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a cooling assembly of an exemplary medical device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a medical device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the medical device shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the medical device shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a housing portion of the cooling assembly of the medical device shown in FIG. 3; and

fig. 7 is a coupling assembly of the medical device shown in fig. 3.

Detailed Description

The X-ray target assembly of the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific examples. Advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and from the claims. It is to be noted that the drawings are in a very simplified form and are not to precise scale, which is merely for the purpose of facilitating and distinctly claiming the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an exemplary medical device having a cooling assembly according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a cooling assembly of an exemplary medical device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 1-2, a medical device 100 is disclosed according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the medical linear accelerator is described as an example, however, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the following description is only exemplary and not limiting.

Specifically, the medical linear accelerator 100 includes a base 102, a gantry 104, a treatment arm 106, a treatment head 108, a couch assembly 110, and a cooling assembly 200. The base 102 is substantially a rectangular parallelepiped, and two pairs of rollers are symmetrically disposed in a first horizontal direction and a second horizontal direction, respectively, wherein the first horizontal direction is perpendicular to the second horizontal direction, and the periphery of the frame 104 is supported on the rollers of the base 102. Between the base 102 and the frame 104 there is also arranged a drive unit by means of which the frame 104 can be moved in rotation relative to the base 102. One end of the treatment arm 106 is fixed to the gantry 104 at a position radially away from the center of rotation, and the other end of the treatment arm 106 is fixed with a treatment head 108. The medical linear accelerator 100 further includes a bed assembly 110, and the bed assembly 100 includes a bed plate capable of reciprocating for carrying a patient, and when the patient is lying on the bed plate and positioned at a specific treatment position, the treatment can be performed.

Inside the treatment head 108, heat generating elements such as an accelerator, a target, an isolator, a modulator, an electromagnet, and a magnetron are provided. In operation, the heat generated by these heat generating elements needs to be dissipated or carried away in time, otherwise, as the heat is accumulated more and more as the treatment work continues, the temperature will gradually rise to the critical tolerance temperature of each element, thereby causing an unexpected stop of the work, and this will also greatly reduce the service life of the elements. The one or more heat generating elements described above are each replaced in the schematic shown in fig. 2 by a thermal load 112.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in fig. 1-2, the cooling assembly for cooling the aforementioned thermal load 112 includes a housing 114, a fluid line 116, a pump 118, and a cooling source 120. Specifically, the housing 114 includes a fluid containing portion 1142, the fluid containing portion 1142 defining an inlet 1144 and an outlet 1146; the fluid line 116 is connected at both ends to the inlet 1144 and the outlet 1146, respectively, and the fluid line 116 passes through the thermal load 112 in a heat-transferable manner; the pump 118 is connected to the fluid line 116 to circulate the fluid in the fluid containing portion 1142 through the fluid line 116. More specifically, the fluid containing portion 1142 is, in this embodiment, a copper tube disposed within the housing 114, the copper tube preferably being partially or fully spirally arranged, both ends of the copper tube extending out of the housing 114 and connecting the tube joints to form the inlet 1144 and the outlet 1146, and the fluid in the copper tube may be water. It is understood that the tube may be made of other materials with better heat conductivity, and the fluid in the copper tube may be oil. Alternatively, the fluid containing portion 1142 may be an annular containing cavity defined within the housing 114, with the aforementioned inlet 1144 and outlet 1146 defined on the housing 114 and communicating with the containing cavity. The fluid line 116 is formed by a hose, or by a hose and a copper pipe, both ends of the hose are connected to the inlet port 1144 and the outlet port 1146 respectively through pipe joints, and the pump 118 is connected to the hose or one of the hose and the copper pipe, so that a fluid circulation circuit is formed. It will be appreciated that the hose is also not limiting and that a person skilled in the art will be well able to select a suitable material for the hose as required. In order to cool the aforementioned heat load, the fluid circulation circuit needs to be able to pass through the heat load in a heat-transferable manner in order to carry away the heat generated by the heat load during operation. By "thermally transferable across the thermal load" is meant that the fluid in the conduit may directly or indirectly contact the thermal load such that the fluid in the conduit may exchange heat with the thermal load by one or more of thermal conduction, thermal convection, and thermal radiation. That is, "passing" in "passing through the thermal load in a heat transferable manner" is not limited to the fluid of the piping being in direct contact with the thermal load, as long as heat transfer between the fluid of the piping and the thermal load can be achieved. For example, when the thermal load is a target, for such a target design: the target is fixed on a copper substrate, the copper substrate is arranged below the target, a cavity is defined on the lower surface of the copper substrate adjacent to the target, and the fluid in the pipeline can be introduced into the cavity of the copper substrate to cool the target; for this target design: the target is fixed on the copper substrate, the copper substrate is provided with a cavity below the target, the lower surface of the target is directly exposed out of the cavity, and fluid in the pipeline can be introduced into the cavity of the copper substrate and directly contacts the lower surface of the target.

The cooling source 120 is configured to be associated with the housing 114 such that at least a portion of the housing 114 is thermally transferable with the cooling source 120. In an exemplary embodiment, at least a portion of an outer surface of the housing 114 is coupled in a heat-transferable manner with the cooling source 120. Next, the cooling source 120 is described in detail.

The aforementioned "associated with the housing such that at least a portion of the housing is heat transferable with the cooling source" or "at least a portion of an outer surface of the housing is heat transferable coupled with the cooling source" means: the housing 114 is coupled to the cooling source 120 in a manner configured such that a portion or all of the exterior surface of the housing 114 is in direct or indirect contact with the cooling medium of the cooling source 120 and exchanges heat via one or more of thermal conduction, thermal convection, and thermal radiation. The term "coupled" may mean coupled through some medium, in addition to direct connection.

Specifically, in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the cooling source 120 includes a container 1202, with a cooling medium contained within the container 1202. The cooling medium may be the same as or different from the fluid in the housing 114. In an exemplary embodiment, the cooling medium within the container 1202 is also water. The housing 114 may be annular or disc-shaped, with a portion of the housing 114 being submerged in water within the receptacle 1202, and the housing 114 and the receptacle 1202 may be fluid-tight to prevent water from spilling out.

Further, the cooling source 120 further includes a cooler 1204, and the cooler 1204 is in communication with the container 1202 through a fluid communication circuit. Specifically, the container 1202 is opened with an inlet and an outlet, wherein the inlet of the container 1202 is connected to the outlet of the cooler 1204 through one pipe, and the outlet of the container 1202 is connected to the inlet of the cooler 1204 through another pipe. Thereby, a fluid circuit may be formed between the container 1202 and the cooler 1204.

The cooler 1204 may include components well known to those skilled in the art of refrigeration, such as a pump capable of providing fluid flow power, a compressor capable of compressing a refrigerant, and the like. The refrigerant in the container 1202 exchanges heat with the refrigerant in the cooler 1204.

In an exemplary embodiment, the housing 114 is secured to a side of the gantry 104 opposite the treatment arm 106 and/or treatment head 108. Thus, when the medical linear accelerator is operated, the gantry 104 rotates to a certain angle to perform radiotherapy on a patient lying on the couch plate, and the heat generating element generates a large amount of heat during the treatment. The pump 118 causes water to flow in the line 116 which, after sufficient heat exchange with the heat generating element, carries the heat energy back to the copper tubing of the housing 114 for heat exchange with the cooler water in the reservoir 1202. Because the housing 114 rotates with the rotation of the housing 104, the surface of the housing 114 that contacts the water contained in the tank 1202 changes, which allows for more efficient heat exchange between the water in the copper tube and the water in the tank 1202. The water in the reservoir 1202 may be warmed due to heat exchange with the water in the copper tube, and the cooler 1204 may be operated in order to keep the temperature of the water in the reservoir 1202 constant or within a certain range to always cool the water in the copper tube during treatment, in particular, a pump element in the cooler 1204 may circulate the water between the cooler 1204 and the reservoir 1202 and cool the water in the reservoir 1202.

According to this configuration, the tubing need not be connected to a source of cooling fluid somewhere at the surface, as long as the housing 114 and the tank 1202 water are coupled by heat transfer, and the range of rotation or number of rotations of the rack 104 is not limited by the length of the tubing.

In another embodiment, the housing 114 may also be separate from the rack 104, i.e., the housing 114 is not attached to the rack 104. In such embodiments, the length of the tubing may still need to be designed to accommodate the range of rotation angles or number of rotations of the gantry 104.

It will be appreciated that when the housing 114 with the heat generating elements is rotating during operation, the housing 104 may be non-rotating independent of the housing 104, and the range of rotation of the housing 104 is limited because the total length of the fluid line 116 is specified. The housing 114, which is separate from the gantry 104, can also be rotatable by adding a drive mechanism that is synchronized with the gantry rotation, so that the gantry 104 is not restricted from rotating.

It will also be appreciated that when the rack 104 with heat generating elements is stationary in operation, the housing 114, which is separate from the rack 104, may be stationary. Conversely, when the frame 104 having the heat generating element is stationary in operation, the housing 114 independent of the frame 104 may also be movable, in which case the rotational range of the housing 114 is limited.

The foregoing exemplary embodiments have been described with reference to a radiotherapy medical device, however, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the cooling assembly of the present invention is not limited to radiotherapy medical devices, but can be applied to imaging medical devices such as CT devices, MR devices or PET devices, multi-modality imaging devices or imaging-radiotherapy integrated devices, etc. For example, for CT devices, high voltage generators are particularly considered to be cooled.

According to a preferred embodiment, a single valve or valve assembly may be disposed in the fluid line 116 to at least control the flow of fluid in the line 116.

According to another preferred embodiment, an alarm unit may be arranged for emitting an alarm message when the temperature of the fluid inside the housing 114 or the container 1202 exceeds a threshold value, such as the appearance of an alarm prompt dialog and/or the emission of an alarm sound and/or flashing an alarm light.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a cooling assembly for a medical device is disclosed.

The cooling assembly includes: a housing 114 containing a fluid in a fluid-tight manner, the housing 114 being in fluid communication with both ends of a fluid line 116 of a medical device to form a circuit;

a pump 118 connected to the fluid line 116 to circulate the fluid within the circuit;

a container 1202 containing a fluid, the container 1202 and the housing 114 arranged such that the fluid of the container 1202 and the fluid of the housing 114 are heat exchangeable; and

a cooler 1204 in circulatable fluid communication with the receptacle 1202 for cooling fluid within the receptacle 1202.

Such a cooling assembly is particularly suitable for medical devices where the heat generating elements are attached to a rotatable frame and heat dissipation requires cooling fluid circuits. Or, in particular, to medical devices that are limited to the length of the cooling fluid line and only make a certain range of angles or a certain number of turns. Preferably, it is applied to radiotherapy medical devices, including those commonly available on the market as well as those incorporating other non-therapeutic components, such as imaging components. More preferably, it applies to such radiotherapy medical devices: the radiotherapy medical equipment comprises a base, a rack, a treatment arm and a treatment head, wherein the rack is supported or rotatably connected on the base, one end of the treatment arm is fixed on the rack, and the other end of the treatment arm is fixed with the treatment head. The reason for the suitability of such radiotherapy medical devices is that the treatment head typically has heat generating components such as accelerators, targets, isolators, modulators, electromagnets, magnetrons, etc. which need to be cooled by fluid in external conduits which are connected to the gantry from a cooling source (such as a water source) somewhere on the ground in the prior art, and the gantry is rotatable, which presents the problem of limited gantry rotation. Most preferably, it applies to medical devices: the radiotherapy medical equipment comprises a base, a rack, a treatment arm and a treatment head, wherein the rack is rotatably supported on the base in the circumferential direction, one end of the treatment arm is fixed on the rack, and the other end of the treatment arm is fixed with the treatment head.

The technical features of the exemplary cooling assembly have been described in the foregoing exemplary medical device embodiments and will not be described again.

Next, referring to fig. 3 to 7, the medical apparatus 200 will be explained in detail.

The medical device 200 includes a base 202, a frame 204, a treatment arm 206, and a treatment head 208, wherein the base 202 is supported on the ground, the frame 204 is rotatably supported on the base 202, one end of the treatment arm 206 is fixed to the frame 204, and the treatment head 208 is fixed to the other end of the treatment arm 206. The medical device 200 also includes a housing 210, the housing 210 being coupled to a side of the frame 204 distal from the treatment arm 206 by a rib 212. Specifically, the housing 210 is formed of a plurality of sub-housings, and each two adjacent sub-housings are connected together by a joint. The housing 210 is ring-shaped, defining a fluid containing portion therein, and has heat radiating fins 214 fixed to an outer surface thereof at equal intervals, preferably, the heat radiating fins 214 are copper, and more particularly, the housing 210 is a circular copper pipe. Preferably, a waterproof layer is disposed on an outer surface of the case 210. The housing 210 also defines an inlet and an outlet, and the fluid line 216 is connected at one end to the outlet of the housing 210 and at the other end to the inlet of the housing 210 via a heat generating element, such as a target, on the rack 204. A pump (not shown) is connected to the aforementioned fluid line 216 so that fluid can circulate within the fluid line 216. Specifically, the fluid contained in the aforementioned fluid containing portion may be water.

The medical device 200 further comprises a cooling source 217, the cooling source 217 comprising a container 218. The container 218 contains a cooling medium therein, and the upper surface of the container 218 defines an opening around which a brush felt 219 is provided, and at least a part of the housing 210 is immersed in the cooling medium in the container 218 through the opening. In particular, the cooling medium is water. When the housing 210 rotates with the frame 204, since the surface of the housing 210 has a waterproof layer, the water in the container 218 is not carried away by the surface of the housing 210, and even if a small amount of water is carried up by the surface of the housing 210, it is brushed away by the felt when passing through the opening of the container 218.

The cooling source 217 further includes a cooler 220, the cooler 220 being in fluid communication with the container 218 via a fluid flow circuit. The chiller 220 may include components well known to those skilled in the art of refrigeration, such as a pump capable of providing fluid flow power, a compressor capable of compressing a refrigerant, and the like.

Thus, as fluid is circulated through the fluid line 216 by the pump, heat generated by the heat generating elements on the rack 204 is carried away by the fluid and exchanges heat with the cooling medium in the container 218 as it flows through the portion of the housing 210 that is immersed in the cooling medium in the container 218, and at the same time, the cooling medium in the container 218 exchanges heat with the refrigerant in the cooler 220. By these two heat exchange processes, the heat generating elements on the rack 204 can be maintained in a normal operating temperature range during operation.

The medical device 200 further comprises a coupling assembly comprising a sliding contact 222 and a slip ring 224. In particular, the sliding contact 222 is fixed to a support 226 fixed to the aforementioned container 218, on which an output interface (output interface) for power or signals is arranged; a slip ring 224 is secured to the housing 204 and is substantially coaxial with the housing 204 and has an input interface for power or signals disposed thereon corresponding to the sliding contacts 222. The output interface and the input interface each typically have a plurality of interfaces corresponding to each other, and the plurality of interfaces of the slip ring 224 are each annular and adjacent interfaces are concentric and electrically isolated. The sliding contacts 222 and the sliding ring 224 are contactingly coupled together such that an input interface of the sliding ring 224 and an output interface of the sliding contacts 222 are correspondingly in electrical contact with each other to transfer electrical power or signals to electrical components on the rack 204. It will be appreciated that the bracket 226 may be supported on the ground or fixed to a base, and that the bracket 226 may take any suitable configuration.

Because the coupling assembly is used to transfer power or signals, the transfer of power or signals from the power source or signal source to the electrical components of the rack 204 is maintained even as the rack 204 is rotated in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. Therefore, the technical problem that the treatment head of the radiotherapy equipment in the prior art can only rotate within a fixed angle range is well solved.

Preferably, the sliding contact 222 and the sliding ring 224 in the above embodiment have both power and signal transmission functions, that is, a power output interface and a signal output interface are arranged on the sliding contact 222, correspondingly, a power input interface and a signal input interface are arranged on the sliding ring 224, and when the sliding contact 222 is coupled with the sliding ring 224 in a contact manner, the power output interface and the signal output interface of the sliding contact 222 are slidably contacted with the power input interface and the signal input interface of the sliding ring 224 respectively and can maintain power and signal transmission.

It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that slip ring 224 may alternatively be secured to a frame 226 having a power output interface and/or a signal output interface disposed thereon, and correspondingly, the aforementioned sliding contacts 222 may be secured to the frame 204 having a power input interface and/or a signal input interface disposed thereon that is coupled to electrical components on the frame 204. In this case, if the frame 204 rotates, the frame 204 will cause the sliding contacts 222 to rotate circumferentially around the stationary slip ring 224 and maintain power and/or signal transmission throughout the rotation.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the sliding contacts 222 are not limited to carbon brushes or brushes, but may be other brush-like elements that cooperate with slip rings so long as unlimited coupling to the rotation of the slip rings is achieved to enable power and/or signal transmission.

It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the aforementioned sliding contacts 222 and slip ring 224 may provide power and/or signals to other components integrated onto the medical device 200, such as an imaging component, in addition to the radiotherapy component.

It should be appreciated that in addition to the contact coupling assemblies described above, the coupling assemblies may also be contactless, i.e., it may be possible to transfer the electrical energy of the power source and/or the signal of the signal source to the electrical element of the medical device 200 via the contactless coupling assemblies. For example, for signals, this may be achieved by a wirelessly coupled signal transmitter and signal receiver, in particular, a signal receiver may be connected to the rack and have an input interface connected to an electrical element of the rack, a signal transmitter having an output interface connected to a signal source, wherein the output interface is coupled with the input interface to pass signals to the electrical element; for electrical energy, this may be achieved by a coupled electrical generating coil, in particular connected to the frame and having an input interface for connection to an electrical component of the frame, and an electrical generating coil having an output interface for connection to a power source, wherein the output interface is coupled to the input interface such that the electrical generating coil generates and is transferred electrical energy to the electrical component. More specifically, the wireless coupling of the electrical receiving coil and the electrical generating coil may include, but is not limited to, an electromagnetic induction coupling, a magnetic resonance coupling, an electric field coupling, and a microwave coupling.

The aforementioned coupling assembly is particularly suitable for medical devices in which electrical components are connected to a rotatable frame and the electrical power and/or signals of the electrical components need to be supplied by corresponding cables and/or signal lines. Or, in particular, to medical equipment that is limited to the length of the cable or signal line and only makes a specific angle range or a specific number of turns. Preferably, it is applied to radiotherapy medical devices, including those commonly available on the market as well as those incorporating other non-therapeutic components, such as imaging components. More preferably, it applies to such radiotherapy medical devices: the radiotherapy medical equipment comprises a base, a rack, a treatment arm and a treatment head, wherein the rack is supported or rotatably connected on the base, one end of the treatment arm is fixed on the rack, and the other end of the treatment arm is fixed with the treatment head. The reason for being suitable for the radiotherapy medical equipment is that a plurality of electric elements in the treatment head need to supply electric energy and/or signals, so external cables and/or signal wires are needed, the cables and/or signal wires in the prior art are connected to the rack from a power supply and/or a signal source at a certain position on the ground, and the rack is rotatable, so the problem that the rotation of the rack is limited exists. Most preferably, it applies to medical devices: the radiotherapy medical equipment comprises a base, a rack, a treatment arm and a treatment head, wherein the rack is rotatably supported on the base in the circumferential direction, one end of the treatment arm is fixed on the rack, and the other end of the treatment arm is fixed with the treatment head.

The medical device 200 includes not only a cooling component but also a coupling component, wherein the coupling component includes not only a signal coupling component (here, a wireless signal transceiving component) but also a coupling component related to generating electric energy. Since the fluid for dissipating heat from the heat generating components is not connected to a cooling source somewhere on the ground but is in heat transfer with the cooling medium in the container through the housing which is rotatable on a rack, and the power and signals for the individual electrical components are obtained not through cables connected to a power and signal source somewhere on the ground but through the coupling assembly, the rack 204 can be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise within any angular range without being limited by cooling fluid lines and/or electrical wire cables and/or signal wire lengths.

The above description is only for the purpose of describing the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and any variations and modifications made by those skilled in the art based on the above disclosure are within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A radiotherapy apparatus comprising:

a base;

a frame rotatably connected or supported to the base;

a treatment arm having one end secured to the frame;

a treatment head secured to the other end of the treatment arm;

characterized in that, radiotherapy equipment still includes:

a coupling assembly including a first element connected to the rack and having an input interface connected with an electrical element of the rack, and a second element connected to a power and/or signal source and having an output interface coupled with the input interface to transfer power and/or signals to the electrical element; and

a cooling assembly; the cooling assembly includes:

a housing containing a fluid in a fluid-tight manner, the housing being in fluid communication with both ends of a fluid line of the radiotherapy apparatus to form a circuit;

a pump connected to the fluid line to circulate the fluid within the circuit;

a container containing a fluid, the container and the housing being arranged such that the fluid of the container and the fluid of the housing are heat exchangeable; and

a cooler in circulatably fluid communication with the container to cool fluid within the container.

2. Radiotherapy apparatus according to claim 1 in which the coupling assembly is a contact coupling assembly.

3. Radiotherapy apparatus according to claim 2 in which the first element is a slip ring connected to the gantry and having an input interface connected to an electrical element of the gantry, and the second element is a sliding contact, the sliding contact being statically supported relative to the base, having an output interface thereon connected to a power and/or signal source.

4. Radiotherapy apparatus according to claim 2 in which the first element is a sliding contact and the second element is a slip ring, the sliding contact being connected to the gantry and having an input interface for connection with an electrical element of the gantry, the slip ring being statically supported relative to the base with an output interface thereon for connection to a power and/or signal source.

5. Radiotherapy apparatus according to claim 3 in which the sliding contact is a brush-like element.

6. Radiotherapy apparatus according to claim 5 in which the sliding contact is a brush or carbon brush.

7. Radiotherapy apparatus according to claim 4 in which the sliding contact is a brush-like element.

8. Radiotherapy apparatus according to claim 7 in which the sliding contact is a brush or carbon brush.

9. Radiotherapy apparatus according to claim 1 in which the coupling assembly is non-contact.

10. Radiotherapy apparatus according to claim 9 in which the coupling assembly comprises a wireless signal transceiving assembly, the first element being a signal receiver and the second element being a signal transmitter, the signal receiver being connected to the gantry and having an input interface connected to an electrical element of the gantry, the signal transmitter having an output interface connected to a signal source to couple the output interface with the input interface to deliver a signal to the electrical element.

11. The radiotherapy apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first element is an electrical receiving coil and the second element is an electrical generating coil connected to the gantry and having an input interface connected to an electrical component of the gantry, the electrical receiving coil having an output interface thereon connected to a power source to couple the output interface with the input interface to transfer electrical energy to the electrical component.