14 11 16 15 10 12 13 (236,237,238,239,240,241,242,243,244,245,246,247)

236. At the time of writing the availability of daylight system is limited mainly to the dupont daylight
system limeted mainly to the dupon ds although other film and equipment manufature are
developing their own ds information n these limited and experience with installation not know. The
information given here is on the dds as it is the only system on which sufficient user information and
practiacal experience from installation is available

Diagnostik radiography essentially begins with imaging an affected part of patient. Most of the
equipment and supplies used in an xray department are for this purpose. Xray film is a key item as it
is the usual medium for carrying the image for study and diagnosis by radiologist. Convetionally,
alight tight cassete must be manually loaded and unloaded under safelight condition and carried to
the diagnostic room for exposure. In a busy department his happens many hundreds of time a day.
The dds utilizes specially designed cassete. And film handling equipment permits the films from
factory sealed packages to be dispensed into cassete. These cassete can then be utiizedin the same
way as conventional cassete with xray equipment. Following use these cassete can be automatically
unloaded and fed to an automatic processor and no safelighting conditions are necesassary. All
these operations are carried out in normal illumination thus obviating the need for a darkroom. In
principle the system so far described is shown in figure 15.1

Althought a darkroom is no longer necessary it is still essential a provide space for the film processor
and film viewing facilities.

Dupont ltd, heve shown that with a complete and fully integrated ds patiens examinations can be
made up to 30% fasteer with existing xray equipment. This allows a faster patient through put
allowing a greater workload without necessarily increasing staff number or employing more
equipment and space. Again, this increase in the rate at which xray examination can be completed is
likely to reduce patient waiting time and congestion in figure 15.1 the film is loaded from the
cassette directly to the processor. However an intermediate unloader is available in which a nmber
of exposed films can be stored prior to processing. When ready the unloader can be attached to the
processor and films automatically fed singly from it to the processor. The dupon daylight system is
ilustrated in its complete form in figure 15.2. only one film dispenser is considered but in practice is
necessary to have one dispenser for each different size of film used. Each size of cassette is matched
to its own dispenser. It is apparent from figure 15.2 that a number of options are available. The
choice of option will depend on the particular work situation, cost effectiveness and financial
contrains existing

Option1

The simplest option use the dispensers, daylight cassette, film identifier, casseette unloader and film
transport case. Notice, however that a dark room and safelight is a necessary requirement since
exposed films must be manually unloaded from the transport case for feeding to the automatic
proceesor. Figure 15.3 ilustrates this option . film identification and cassette loading are the
responsibility of the radiographer while unloading of the film transport case would be undertaken
normally by the darkroom operator. The system is simple. The cassette is loaded automatically from
a dispenser loaded with film. The film is identified in the cassette after expose to xray by using the
film identifier. The cassette is then automatically unloaded into the transport case by using the
cassette unloader. At some convenient point the transport case containing exposed films can be
delivered to the darkroom. This option rather inconvenient especially when film must be processed
individually as soon as they are taken. In practice the transport case is simply a fil storage magazine
for film a waiting processing, use of the single film feeder is abetter option and is truly a daylight
system since a darkroom with safelight is no longer required

The film dispenser

The cronex daylight dispenser, to give it its full title is a wall- mounted cassette loading system for
use in normal ilumination. The dispenser is loaded in white light whit 100 sheets of screen type film
in a black polythene wrapping. Once loaded the dispenser feeds film one sheet at a time, into a
daylight cassette, againin white light. A separete dispenser is required for each size of film to be used
and the dispenser are available for six size of film. 35x35cm,35x43,30x40,20x40,24x30,18x24. Each
dispenser consist of two section (i) an upper film storage section and (ii) a lower fil loading section.
The film storage section at the top of the dispenser is protected by lead to prevent the stored film
from being fogged by scattered radiation. This is necessary because film dispenser are usually wall
mounted whitin each xray room. Between the upper and lower section of the dispenser is a light seal
which is automatically opened as a cassatte is inserted for loading. When a cassette is inserted for
loading . a single sheet of film is fed into it. The loading system is basically gravity feed but a pair of
motor driven rollers are used to assist this mechanism. To load the dispenser with film, the
prepacked black polythene bag cointaining 100 films of the appropriate size is loaded as it into the
top of dispenser. The top flat of the package is lifted and fed into the split metal bar at the top of
dispenser. The bottom flap is cut off. The unit is then closed and by truning the upperexternal handle
the bag is with drawn from the film. The dispenser can then be used counter on the front of the
dispenser and an indicator panel on the side. One indicator lights when the film storage
compacrtment is empty and another lights as a film is being loaded into the cassette. To load the
cassette it must be inserted into the lower section of the dispenser. Two locating pins register with
two buttons on the cassette to separate the is for film insertion from dispenser.

The daylight cassette

The daylight cassette has essentilally the same feature as a conventional cassette but differs in
several important aspects. The cassette is sealed on three sides while the fourth side has an opening
with a light seal to facilitate loading the cassette with film from the dispenser in normal illumination.
At the opposite end of the cassette to the light insertion of the required identification using the film
identifier. At this same end of the cassette is a film indicator pin which verifies wheter or not the
cassette is loaded and also assist in unloading the film.

The cassette differs internally from conventional cassette in that the back IS is pressed against front
screen by a spring mecanism ensuring a good film screen conact. the surface are specially coated to
reduce friction when the film is inserted ( from dispenser) betwen the screen. The scree surfaces
have many minute elevations to reduce the possibility of the film adhering to the screen during
unloading. Tjis system reduce the possibility of dirt collecting onthe screen and film faults due to film
handling. Becaause of its construction the dyalight cassette is more robust than a conventional
cassette

243.The combination adaptor

This attaches to the feed tray of automatic film processors and converts it for the automating and
film feeding to the processor either from a daylight cassete or the transport feeder. The adaptor
accepts all size dayight cassete . like the film dispenser and cassete unloader there are locating pins
on the adaptor to allow “IS” SEPARATION and relase of film from cassete. These pins are adjustable
to allow all cassete size to be accommodate. A different version of the adaptor allows only for
automatic film feed to the processor from transport feeder. Single dylight cassete cannot be
accommodated. Where use of the transport feeder is considered unnecessary the adaptor is
notrequired. Then a single film feeder can be used which accept all size of daylight cassete but will
not accommadated a transprt feeder

The film identifier

This is a battery powered electronic unit producing a timed kight emission from an
electroluminescent panel. The patiens information slip placed arround the panel and inserted into
the appropriate slot in the daylight cassete. Activating the unit result in actinic marking of the film

The daylight film

Unlike ordinary screen type the daylight fim has small notches to accommodate the automatic film
dispensing mechanism. In all other respeets the film is conventional