Tips and Tricks for Servicing Siemens Medical Imaging Equipment

Field service technicians and engineers who work on medical imaging systems need to have a lot of information stored inside their heads. Any time you can get a little helpful advice or learn about an easier way to accomplish a task, you’re saving some brain power.

That’s why, in addition to our training opportunities, Technical Prospects is always producing helpful videos for busy techs and FSEs.

We’ve collected our most-popular and informative Tech Tip videos and system maintenance videos to help those working with Siemens medical imaging equipment. Make sure to visit the Technical Prospects’ Video Library for more assistance as well as videos explaining our quality assurance process for Siemens replacement parts.

Visit our YouTube channel and subscribe so you’ll know when we upload something new!

1. An Easy Way to Clean Circuit Board Contacts
Who doesn’t love a good hack? If you’re running into problems where you’re always reseating network cards in order to make the system work properly, it could be oxidation on the circuit board’s gold contacts.

A basic pencil eraser can be used as a makeshift tool to quickly clean those contacts. Watch the video to hear more from our Director of Technical Engineering, Kevin Brinkman.

2. Replacing and Inspecting CT Brushes
In this video, Director of Engineering and Training Ken Hable gives some maintenance advice for CT brushes. He looks at all three types of brushes in a Siemens CT system: data brushes, low voltage brushes, and high voltage brushes.

Siemens recommends these brushes be checked at least twice a year, but what should you be looking for when performing a routine maintenance check? Ken will show you an example of what a worn-out brush looks like compared to a new one, so you’ll know when a replacement brush is needed.

One of the important tips Ken provides in this video is to make sure you reinstall brushes in their original spot and orientation inside the CT equipment. He’ll tell you an easy way to keep track when you click to watch the full video.

3. Inspecting CT Sliprings
Another one of Technical Prospects’ helpful videos shows you how to conduct a proper inspection of a Siemens CT slipring. This critical component of CT equipment should also be checked every six months.

Ken Hable will walk you through preventative maintenance of a Siemens Sensation CT system. You’ll need to use your hands and eyes to check for imperfections along the slipring. Ridges and burring on the slipring can cause CT brushes to wear out prematurely. Wearing of the contact brush can also create more dust in the environment, which could negatively impact the function of the machine.

So, what do you do if you find an imperfection on the slipring? Ken will show you the right tool to use and how to smooth everything out. Finally, see how our in-house expert recommends cleaning the slipring.

4. Why You Should Hand Rotate Gantries on CT Systems
Kevin demonstrates this tip on a Siemens Sensation, but it is relevant to any system with a rotating gantry. He strongly recommends rotating the system by hand after completing service or maintenance work on the CT.

Doing so can help you catch cables that might snag or loose nuts and washers that may have fallen inside the equipment. What can happen if you don’t double check things like that? Kevin will show you what a circuit board from our equipment looked like after a nut or washer got stuck inside. Hand rotating the gantry could save you some serious hassles.

5. Transporting Detector Cooling Units
Have you ever shipped a detector unit across the country and noticed the coolant level is lower after the unit reaches its destination? The only place that liquid would have gone is down onto the rest of the cabinet. Kevin says that’s no good, but what can you do?

We’ll show you an easy way to make sure there’s no leaking during transportation, including return shipping to Technical Prospects.

Source: Tips and Tricks for Servicing Siemens Medical Imaging Equipment