From core components to software algorithms, the high technical barriers of medical imaging equipment has been an industry consensus.

As one of the core components of CT equipment with the most technical content, the CT  tube is still a major problem in the process of realizing domestic substitution of high-end medical imaging equipment.

Opportunities and challenges

China's CT industry is now in a mature stage of development and the market size continues to expand.

Data from Frost & Sullivan shows that

In 2021, the total sales volume of CT in China reached 6,889 units, and it is expected that by 2025, the overall sales volume of CT in China will reach 10,445 units, with a compound annual growth rate of 11.0%.

In 2021, China's total CT ownership was 37,330 units, and it is expected that by 2025, this figure will grow to 66,038 units, with a compound annual growth rate of 15.3%.

Released in March this year, "large medical equipment configuration license management catalog (2023)" will be 30 million yuan under the 64 rows and above CT out of the management items, configuration is no longer restricted. It is expected that the future 64 rows - 128 rows of CT will become the main model of the three hospitals and some secondary hospitals, will also become the fastest growing segment of the CT market.

According to the statistics of "Medical Recruitment and Procurement" on the CT public tender procurement data in 2022, the sales of CT domestic brands can be compared to imported brands. Among them, the localization rate of CT below 64 rows has exceeded 50%, and 64 rows of CT have entered the critical period of domestic substitution.

Although domestic manufacturers in the machine R & D has made great progress, but the key core components of high-end CT - high thermal capacity CT balloon has been dependent on imported brands.

CT tube R & D process route is long, heavy equipment investment, long R & D cycle, slow results, is very typical of the need for multi-disciplinary cross-cutting areas. To manufacture a stable quality, long life of the ball tube products, involving beam optics, mechanical mechanics, electromagnetism, materials science, motion mechanics, heat exchange and other fields, the process, basic supporting, process equipment requirements, design and production barriers are also very high, and to achieve a stable level of mass production of the ball tube manufacturers is even more difficult.

With the increasing popularity of 64-row CT, liquid metal bearing balloon may become the mainstream trend of the future CT machine covering high, medium and low types of models. Happily, in recent years, a number of domestic enterprises in the field of CT balloon "ground-breaking", to enhance their own self-research and manufacturing capabilities; but at the same time, the existence of an objective gap is also an indisputable fact: the ability to realize the core of the self-production, large-scale mass production and comparable to imported brands is not much, and Beijing SmartBeam Technology Co. (hereinafter referred to as "Smart Beam Technology") is one of them, and since the beginning of the founding of the courage to "gnaw on the bones", chose the industry known as the "ceiling" of the liquid metal bearing CT ball tube as a breakthrough.

Breakthroughs and Innovations

The founder of SmartBeam Technology has pointed out that a number of excellent CT machine enterprises have emerged in China, and the market share of domestic equipment is also increasing rapidly and steadily, but there is still a very obvious neck-breaking phenomenon in the field of core components typically represented by CT  tubes, especially in the mid- to high-end ball tubes represented by liquid metal bearing CT  tubes.

High heat capacity liquid metal bearing CT tube for cardiovascular, neurological and tumor imaging diagnosis of a variety of common diseases has an important role, the early realization of the localization of alternative, independent and controllable, to meet the clinical needs of the medical, reduce the cost of diagnosis and treatment of patients, and drive the development of the domestic related medical equipment industry are of great significance.

Compared with traditional ball bearings, liquid metal bearings have significant advantages:

Greatly improve the heat dissipation rate of the tube;

Support faster frame rotation and imaging rates, more suitable for cardiac scanning;

Low wear and long life;

Virtually silent operation.

From the very beginning of its establishment, SmartBeam Technology has been deeply engaged in key technology fields such as liquid metal bearings and single-ended anode grounding. At present, it has made substantial progress in a number of products under research and development: for the 3.5MHU  tube used in 16-32 rows of CT machines to replace go Now and go Up, Wizbest has overcome many technical difficulties, matched with brand-new test equipments and set up a complete test environment, and ensured stable products and customer experience through strict test environment and product life, and the new product ZS352C The new product ZS352C has been fully equipped with mass production capacity.

In 2021, Beijing SmartBeam Technology took the lead in realizing the technological breakthrough of 5MHU thermal capacity liquid metal bearing balloon in China, and has now realized mass production.

However, there is still a gap between 5MHU heat capacity to meet the clinical needs of medicine. 7MHU and above heat capacity liquid metal bearing CT tubes are urgently needed by the clinic and the industry, but the technology system is sophisticated and complex, and it is very difficult to be fully independent and controllable to realize the lead.

We are anxious about the urgency of medical treatment and the pain of the industry. Based on the existing 5MHU heat capacity liquid metal bearing balloon technology, after more than a year of dedicated research and development, the R&D team of SmartBeam has overcome a series of key core technologies, including cathodic electron gun simulation technology, liquid metal dynamic bearing simulation technology, liquid metal deep-cooling treatment technology, automated assembly of balloon, balloon seasoning technology and so on. It also independently designs and develops the general test platform of the ball tube, which can realize the performance test of various parameters of the ball tube, including high-voltage test, cathode emission test, noise test, and life run and test.

ZS702L is a medical CT tube newly developed by Beijing SmartBundle Technology, which is specially designed to be used as a replacement for the Optima series and Revolution ACE 7.0 MHU in-situ replacement tube (also known as Performix40+ LMB) of GE (General Electric) medical system.

The ZS702L balloon prototype currently meets all design expectations and offers the following advantages:

-Higher power: The ZS702L has a 72kW anode input power, supports higher current output and longer continuous scanning, which can meet the demand for coronary and other whole-body vascular examinations.

Higher thermal capacity: ZS702L adopts a 190mm large-size target disk with a maximum anode thermal capacity of 7.0 MHU, which meets the needs of hospitals for all-weather high-throughput examinations.

Higher carrying capacity: ZS702L supports a maximum rack speed of 0.35s/r, which can withstand higher centrifugal force and provide higher time resolution to meet the needs of 64-row CT cardiovascular and other examinations.

-Higher quality: As the first domestic liquid metal bearing CT bulb with a thermal capacity of more than 7 MHU, the ZS702L has lower wear and vibration, stronger cooling capacity, less unwanted radiation, lower bulb fire failure rate, higher image quality and longer service life, which ensures the high performance and high efficiency of the CT, and at the same time, further improves the patient experience and reduces the CT operation cost. ZS702L

ZS702L is another masterpiece of SmartBeam after ZS502L and ZS402L, and it will be the first liquid metal bearing CT tube in China with a thermal capacity of 7MHU. According to the current R&D progress, ZS702L is expected to complete NMPA registration and be launched in the market in 2024.

SmartBeam has now realized the sales of CTtube loons in Europe, South America, West Asia and other countries and regions, and plans to participate in the fourth quarter of this year in the CMEF in Shenzhen, RSNA in Chicago, and the RUSSIAN HEALTH CARE WEEK in Moscow and other exhibitions, respectively, to show its latest products at home and abroad.

For the cutting-edge technology field of CT balloon, only through continuous innovation and persistent investment can we brew a fine wine in time. With more mainstream balloons of SmartBeam Technology being put into the market, the future will undoubtedly bring more expectations for domestic CT.