Digital Radiography – The Next Generation

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Varex Imaging 4343W is an IP68 rated wireless flat panel detector for digital radiographic systems. It fits standard
17” x 17” bucky trays and its 5 GHz interface provides wireless communication for table, above table, chest stand, and mobile cart applications. In-bucky inductive charging eliminates the need for separate fixed and wireless detectors.

Designed for Reliability

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is becoming more and more important for our customers. Initial purchase cost of a detector is still important, but the costs of maintaining the detector throughout its lifetime play an ever-increasing role. Varex Imaging (together with its predecessor Varian Medical Systems) has delivered more than 150,000 flat panel detectors to the market and can use this experience to design products with low TCO for our demanding customers.

Reliability statistics for the previous generation of Varex Imaging digital radiography detectors are already very impressive.Current Install Base Failure Rate (IBFR) is below 1% and Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) around 70 years. Time that it takes for 10% of the units to fail in the field (B10) is roughly 7 years or more. Details of the reliability statistics can be seen in the table below.

Reliability data for the previous generation of Varex Imaging digital radiography detectors

Varex Imaging 4343W has been designed for reliability based on learnings from both 4336Wv4 and 4343Rv3. Varex Imaging has also performed extensive reliability testing for the 4343W prior to its release.

Mechanical Design Improvements

Varex Imaging has received an industry-leading IP68 rating for the new 4343W detector.

IP68

The new detector is based on an advanced polycarbonate housing and weighs only 3.1 kg with DRZ+ and 3.3 kg with CsI scintillator as compared to 2.9 / 3.1 kg for the smaller size 4336W. Additionally, this new housing can withstand 300 kg uniform and 200 kg point loads. The enclosure has improved ergonomics including built-in handgrips. Serviceability has also been improved with a field replaceable battery latch and field replaceable battery pogo pins.

Advanced Features and Workflow Improvements

Varex Imaging is enabling wireless (inductive) charging inside the bucky for the first time with the new 4343W. The detector has a built-in receiver for inductive charging and Varex Imaging provides a small transmitter module that can be integrated inside any standard bucky.

Another key element to wire-free operation is a high-speed wireless interface with stable and reliable connectivity when the detector is inside the bucky. Varex Imaging has achieved this for the 4343W with the same 5 GHz antennas that are used in the XRpad2 series of detectors. In conjunction with inductive charging this eliminates the need for a separate wired detector in a system.

In case wireless charging is not utilized or the detector is mostly outside of the bucky, the battery on a 4343W can be hot-swapped without the need to re-establish the connection.

Varex Imaging 4343W supports fast workflows in high-throughput hospital environments. Cycle time has been reduced and is now less than 5 seconds. The detector supports panel sharing as well.

Image Quality

One thing that has not changed from previous generations of Varex Imaging radiography detectors is image quality. However, for the 4343W cost to performance ratio can be further optimized by the choice of three different scintillators – DRZ+, Standard CsI and Premium CsI. Detective Quantum Efficiency (DQE) performance for each of these options is presented below.

DQE performance for three scintillator options

Conclusion

Varex Imaging 4343W is leading the way for the next generation of Varex Imaging digital radiography detectors. Designed for today’s demanding radiographic environments with features like inductive charging, Varex Imaging 4343W eliminates the need for separate fixed and wireless detectors providing an excellent value proposition for our cost-conscious customers.

You can find the 4343W product page and datasheet here.