X-ray Service — Level 1
Safety, image chain and preventive maintenance
Part of the program: X-ray Service Engineer — full program (12 h) →
A loose earth, a cracked limit switch, a detector calibrated with the grid in place, a workstation whose IP address someone changed — most X-ray downtime starts with something small that nobody checked in order. This course teaches the engineer who maintains radiography rooms, mobile units and C-arms to work safely around radiation and high voltage, to understand the image chain from generator to PACS, and to carry out planned maintenance and fault-finding by subsystem.
Most X-ray calls are not about the tube. They are about a switch, a cable, a calibration or a network setting.
- An X-ray room that stops sends the whole emergency department's queue somewhere else, and the cause is often cheap: a supply problem, a broken interlock contact, a dirty roller in a CR reader or a lost DICOM setting.
- X-ray service mixes three hazards at once - ionising radiation, high voltage with stored energy, and heavy moving mechanics - and engineers are often expected to manage them with no formal training.
- Manufacturer courses are model-specific, expensive and often closed to independent engineers; the shared basics of every X-ray system - generator, tube, detector, mechanics, quality checks - are rarely taught on their own.
After the course you can
Curriculum
Name the subsystems of any X-ray system, recognise the main system types, and follow the power, radiation, image and control chains well enough to decide where a reported fault most likely sits.free
20 min02Radiation safety for the service engineer
Work with exposures during service so that your own dose and everyone else's stays as low as reasonably achievable: control the room, use time, distance and shielding, check interlocks and warning lights, wear and look after a personal dosimeter, and know the legal frame you work in.22 min03Power and high voltage: supply, generator, stored energy
Check that an X-ray system's supply is adequate under load, explain how a high-frequency generator produces tube voltage, recognise where energy is stored, and make a generator safe for work by isolation, lock-out, discharge wait and verification.22 min04The X-ray tube: anode, heat, seasoning and tube faults
Explain how a rotating-anode tube works and how it is loaded and cooled, protect it with correct warm-up and seasoning, and recognise the typical faults of the tube, rotor, filament, housing and oil before they end in a failed tube.22 min05Detectors and the image chain: CR, DR, calibration and DICOM
Explain how CR readers and DR flat panels produce an image, run and audit detector calibrations (offset, gain, defect map) correctly, tell a calibration problem from a detector fault, and trace an image from the detector to PACS.24 min06Mechanics: stands, tables, brakes, counterweights and C-arms
Understand how X-ray stands, tables and C-arms hold and move heavy loads, recognise the stored mechanical energy in counterweights, springs and gas springs, check brakes, locks and collision protection, and work on mechanics without being crushed or letting a load fall.20 min07Preventive maintenance and quality checks
Plan and carry out a preventive maintenance visit on an X-ray system in a safe, logical order: inspection, cleaning, functional and safety checks, generator measurements with a non-invasive meter, collimation and light field, image quality with phantoms, electrical safety and a complete record.24 min08Fault-finding by subsystem and return to service
Find X-ray faults in a disciplined way - facts first, subsystem by subsystem, cheap and likely checks before expensive ones, using logs - and return a system to clinical use only after the right checks, with a clear written record.24 min—Exam
25 · 40 min · 75 %
The certificate
Pass the exam and get a certificate of course completion with your name, hours and score. Every certificate has a unique number and a public verification page, so an employer or a customer can check it in one click. It confirms completion of the course; it is not an educational document (diploma) and not a manufacturer authorisation.
Who it is for
Who it is for
- Hospital biomedical / clinical engineering teams
- Field engineers in independent service companies
Who teaches
Written by a service engineer working with medical equipment since 2014, including 6.5 years at GE Healthcare and service supervision at Mindray, together with the engineers of Service Engineer.
FAQ
Is this manufacturer training?
No. It is independent, vendor-neutral training. It does not replace the manufacturer's procedures or grant authorisation or access to service software.
Does the certificate allow me to work with X-ray equipment?
No. Work with sources of ionising radiation is regulated nationally: in Kazakhstan and Russia it needs a licensed organisation, trained and medically cleared staff and personal dosimetry. The certificate confirms that you completed this course and passed its exam.
What does the certificate say?
Your name, the course, the hours, the date and your exam score, with a unique number and a public verification page.
Can my company buy seats for a team?
Yes: five seats and a progress overview for the manager.
Languages?
English and Russian.