Like manufacturing processes, certain medical equipment requires rapid and efficient cooling to help facilitate its function. In this respect, chillers play an important role in the medical field, particularly in diagnostics and imaging machines.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Used to provide healthcare professionals with advanced imagery of the body, MRI equipment uses an air-cooled or water-cooled chiller to maintain the temperature of magnets within the equipment. Without precise, effective temperature control, the heated magnets can cause the machine to produce distorted images, leading to inaccurate MRI results.
Computed Tomography (CT)
When an ultrasound scan or x-ray isn’t clear enough to provide practitioners with the information they need, they often rely on a CT (often called CAT) scan to provide a sharper picture. CT scanners contain an x-ray tube that requires up to 30 minutes of cooling time between uses. Medical offices and hospitals simply don’t have the time to wait for the machines to cool down, and the delay between patients contributes to patient dissatisfaction and increased medical costs. Industrial-grade chillers provide CT equipment with immediate cooling, so there’s no need to endure the cool-down period.
Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
PET scans are a revolutionary form of imaging that provide three-dimensional images of organs and body functions. Because of their highly specialized nature, they generate a large amount of heat while they’re in use. Like CT scanners, they have to be cooled down between patient use in order to operate properly. Chillers provide the quick, efficient cooling power PET scan machines need to minimize delays in imaging and streamline the patient care process.
Medical Linear Accelerators
In addition to medical imaging machines, chillers are also used in linear accelerators, which provide radiation treatments to cancer patients. Like CT equipment, they use x-ray tubes, which produce heat and require rapid cooling for proper functioning and accurate results. All of these machines rely on chillers because of their ability to provide effective cooling that is cyclical in nature; that is, instead of steady and consistent chilling, chillers produce intense bursts of cooling power on a periodic, as-needed basis.
Quality chillers from GCI Refrigeration Technologies help medical professionals provide patients with reliable results that can improve and save lives. Request more information about our custom-built chillers today online or by phone at (225) 926-6950.
