Selecting Gearhead Technology for Medical Imaging Equipment

CT scanners have far greater accuracy than x-ray technology but place more demands on patients. Getting the high precision, three-dimensional images necessary for accurate diagnosis requires patients to lie still on a table moving through a magnetic field created by a large ring of magnets that rotates around them. Although the fundamentals of these designs are limited by the laws of physics and economics, over the years, medical equipment manufacturers have made great strides in refining system mechanics to maximize patient comfort. They have, for example, reduced the duration of a single rotation from hours to below 500 milliseconds, which has shortened sessions dramatically.