Reply To: Iconography

[Brian H]

Breakable wrote: Insulation is required so that the electrons would not recombine with the holes where they originated.

That makes no “circuit sense” to me. If an electron is dislodged from a foil molecule by an X-ray, it must be in contact with the conductive grid which drains off the power in order to leave the shell as part of a current. Insulation would block that process at the source. Once in the grid wiring/conductor, the path of (literally) least resistance would be to exit the shell through the grid connection. The foils would be grounded to supply electrons to fill the “holes”.
Actually, here’s what the patent says:

The x-ray collector 46 includes one or more metal layers 48a-48i separated by interstitial layers 50a-50h. The composition of the one or more metal layers 48a-48i may vary depending on the specific embodiment. For example, metal layers 48a, 48b and 48c contain aluminum, metal layers 48d and 48e contain copper, while metal layers 48e, 48f and 48g contain tungsten. Similarly, the composition of the interstitial layers 50a-50h may vary depending on the specific embodiment. For example, interstitial layers 50a, 50b and 50c may be aluminum or beryllium, while 50g is tungsten. Although the skilled artisan will recognize the above examples are intended for illustrative purposes and that other metals may be used and in different orders and compositions.