Dark Room Day Light Processing and Film Faults

1. Dark Room Day Light Processing and Film Faults Lalit K. Gupta Department of. Radio-diagnosis & Imaging PGIMER, Chandigarh

2. Construction and lay out of dark room • Types of processing • Films Fault

3. Dark Room The Dark inside the room so far is called dark no leakage of white light.

4. Dark room Planning. • These are following points to be take care before planning the dark room : • Consideration • Construction • Location • Illumination • Equipment’s and lay out

5. Consideration • The following persons to be involved before planning : • Radiologists • Radiological Technologist • Architect • Engineer from the Civil and Electrical side.

6. Construction • Before start the construction we must first look which type of processing unit are required :- • Manual Processing • Automatic Processing

7. For the healthy environment in the dark room these point should be taken under consideration before construction :- • The Size of dark room, • Walls, Roof, Floor, • Types Entrance, Ventilation, • Water and electricity, • Radiation protection of the dark room

8. Ideal size of the dark room • Should not be less then 100 Sq. feet for the manual processor • less space is required for the automatic processor. Ceiling Should not less be then 2.7 Mt in height

9. Floor material • Should be such that • Non porous • Resistant to staining by chemicals or other liquid. • It does not be come slippery when wet. Walls :- should be given the adequate protection from the chemicals till the height 1.3mt for that the ceramic tiles applied to adjacent of wall surfaces.

10. Radiation protection Should 2mm lead equivalent materials are required or 9inch thick brick wall 3 inch cement plaster on each side or 1 inch thick Ba plaster on each side. Ventilation Need good ventilation because the dark room staff is unrealistic to expose with chemicals. Air conditioners are the good efficient cross ventilator then the fans for maintain the temp.

11. Temprature and Humidity • Temp. Of dark should be between 18-20degree cent. • Humidity should be ideally 40-60 %. The type of entrance in the dark Double door system as we have already in the dept. needs the less space.

12. Location of Dark Room The dark room should be situated as near as possible to the radiographic room, or placed between the two radiographic rooms. The wall of dark room should be a common with the radiographic room. Ideally, it should be centrally located

13. Safe Light The term safe to some extent is misleading in so far as it is not absolute it implies the degree of safety. We can say its response is related predominantly to wavelength or color, but also significant the intensity of light. In a general radiographic darkroom there is no necessity to work in a red light. It is depend upon the sensitivity of the film .

14. Direct safe light The lamp has circular filter 14cm in diameter with 15watts bulb inside and colored filter placed in front of bulb, it may hanging on wall above the dry bench and the processing unit or other working point.

15. It should be placed such that the sensitive material is normally handled no near it to then 4 ft and also it should be the situated the same distance on other working place in the dark room. The use of any direct illumination is not recommended for fast orthochromatic or panchromatic films.

16. Equipment’s and lay out • A well planned dark room should have the • following characteristics:- • Effective separation of wet and dry benches if both occurs in the same room. • Orderly layout of the equipment in adequate space • Clear traffic lanes so that the staff working in the dark room are not strike each other.

17. It has two working bench • Dry bench • Wet bench

18. Dry Bench or loading Bench A long table with hard wood and teakshould be used for placed to / loading/unloading cassettes. At least 2.5 Mt in length and 600 mm width and height should not be less then 900mm and minimum 75mm space are required for toe.

19. The some other accessories are also required in the dark room are as follows • Hooper for storage of films • The cassettes racks are required to keep the cassettes. • Interlocking pass box is required to transport the exposed and unexposed films /cassettes from dark room to radiography room and vice versa. • Films Hangers. • Film drier for to dry the films.

20. Wet bench Processing unit for manual operation In order to avoid these difficulties the routine processing of radiograph is under taken with equipment of which the basic components are a number of deep tanks.

21. The Manual processor consists of a large master tank which includes certain smaller tanks and divisions. From Left to right in the drawing These are as follows • lidded tank for the developer • A tank or compartment, usually having a separately tapped cold water supply, which provides a mean to rinse films between developing and fixing solution. • A tank for fixer.

22. Mannual film Processing unit

23. Tank capacities • The individual capacities of solution tanks in a process vary from model to model . Typical specifications are given below: - • The dimension of soln. tank for 50-60 films need 5- gallon each for developer and fixer is 1420 mm long x 690mm deep.

24. Automatic processor • The purpose of automatic processor is used to : • Improvement in the film processing. • Efficiency and stability of Image quality.

25. System components • These are following components of automatic film processor:- • Feed tray • Rollers with different assembly: 1. Entrance 2. Deep racks 3. Turn around 4. Cross over 5. Squeegee 6 Dryer. • Receiving Bin

27. Mechanism of automatic processor • Dry to Dry films. • Transportation of film from one tank to another. • To keep the film for a set period of time in Developer, Fixer, Water, and Drier. • Automatic process the solutions are always agitated and getting regular and automatic replenishment.

28. How we get the processed from dry to dry film quickly • The following principal on which Developing and fixing is quick: • Higher temperature and shorter time. • The temp. Developer is 30-34 degree cent and processing time is app. 25 sec. • Circulation of solution. • Moment of film. • Getting regular replenishes. • Chemical highly activated. • Emulsion is also thinner and base material is also thinner.

29. For Fixer • Fixing Time is 15-20 Sec • Squeezing rollers are in between the developing tank and the fixing tank to stop the action of developer and reduction in swelling of gelatin. • Well Buffer fixing chemicals. • Circulation of replenishes • Moment of film

30. Washing • Washing time is 15 sec –20 sec . • Water is always agitated. • Moment of film. • One Film wash at one time.

31. Drying • Time is 15-20 sec • The water should be squeezes out of the film with the squeezes for adequate drying from the water tank • Moment of film • Reduction of humidity by controlling blower or by dehumidify .

32. Advantages of automatic processor • Radiographic • Deptt. • Patients • Hospital

33. Radiography Advantages • Standardization of exposure factor. • Standardization of processing. • Good density and contrast on the films which means the quality of films will improve. • Less artifacts.

34. Advantages to the Deptt • Small space is required for automatic processor. • Elimination of accessories of dark room such as hangers, clips, Drier. Wet bench. • Allow quick viewing and reporting of the film. Advantages to the patient • Less waiting time • Quick Diagnosis of Diseases

35. Advantages to the hospital • No large waiting hall is required • Saving of staff such as dark room asstt. And dark room tech. • Silver recovery is efficient.

36. Day Light film processor A technical development which has changed the ways in which work may be done in the x-ray dept. in the introduction of what known as system for day light handling of x-ray films.

37. The term day light film handling means that the film goes from exposure in the x-ray room to its viewing as a finished radiograph in the reporting room, it does not need to progress through dark room at any stage. These equipment can be installed anywhere under any ordinary artificial light, no safe light is needed. So these method might be called day light film handling system.

38. Day Light Automatic film Processer

39. Day Light using cassettes • Day light system which handle cassettes perform a series of operation for which the following items of equipment are necessary :- • A cassettes a which in normal room lighting can be automatically loaded before radiographic exposure, unloaded after wards and then reloaded with film in readiness for the next exposure.

40. Day light system without Cassettes Or Cassette less system:- Day light system for automatically handling x-ray films without putting them into cassette are in use especially for the radiography of chest or digital imaging radiography.

41. Day Light system without cassette odelca camera

42. Loading , unloading a film magazine and Processing in Dark Room

43. Loading of films in day light and Processing in Dark Room

44. Day Light Loading and processing in day light

45. Day Light Loading and film processing in day light system Dry View Camera

46. Advantages of day light film system • The staff who work alone in the x-ray dept. are able to remain in contact with their ill and injured patients. • Away from the safe light in order to process the films and to reloads the cassettes. • There is no need to coop in the dark room, working conditions are improved, time is saved, and skilled staff is more efficiently used. • X-ray rooms do not need to close to the dark room and so there is greater scope in departmental planning. Also day light film processor needs less space as compared the dark room automatic process. • Automated handling reduces the risk of damage to films and intensifying screens.

47. DARKROOMS- STILL NECESSARY • Darkrooms are still necessary for manual processor and automatic film processor. • Its concern with the loading automatic film processor magazine. • Necessary for conducting certain quality control test ( eg Sensitometeric test)

48. Radiographic Films Artifacts

49. Films artifacts are broadly divided into three catagories: • A. Artifacts due to storage and handling • B. Artifacts due to processing faults • C. Artifacts due to error in exposure.

50. A.Image artifacts due to storage and handling:- These artifacts includes such as :- • Fog • Static marks • Intensifying screens and cassette • Storage and handling films in the dark room both exposed as well as unexposed.