ABSTRACT
Some may denigrate it as a mains adapter; others call it the brain of the bremsstrahlung source. Although historically called a generator, a diagnostic high-voltage control unit does not per se generate anything, except perhaps ensuring intelligent control of the attached X-ray tube, but rather converts electrical energy from alternating current (AC) mains to high-voltage direct current (DC). Practitioners may simply associate the typical user interface of Figure 8.1 with the term generator, but there is much more to know about the functionality and the electronics involved. e art of high-voltage engineering is discussed in Rizk (2014), and the background of medical generators in Rossi et al. (1985) and Krestel (1990).
