NOTE BOOK # 7

Automatic Exposure Control

Automatic exposure controls have the control over exposure time. Time
is the main component that needs to be remembered when explaining
automatic exposure controls (AEC). The radiographer still has control over
the mAs and kVp. The way the AEC functions is y measuring the quantity of
radiation being exposed and breaking the circuit when the appropriate
dosage has been achieved. The overall goal of the AEC is to produce high
quality radiographs, with little factors needing to be set by the radiographer.
There are many aspects of AEC that need to be described in order to
understand how it exactly works. First, ionization chambers are a key
component on understanding how AEC operates. An ionizing chamber is a
thin (5mm) plate, made up of aluminum, insulator, air, graphite and damping
material. This is placed anteriorly to the image receptor. There are 3 ionizing
chambers included, one will be in the center of the IR and the two others will
be on the left and right sides of the center situated a little higher up. The
location of these chambers is critical for obtaining a quality image, and when
positioning your patient for the procedure, so that the AEC doesnt shut off
prematurely. Photo timing is a common term that refers to the use of ionizing
chambers. These chambers are used to measure the exposure to the
receptor, ideally to your patient. If you cannot find the location of these
chambers, some makers will provide plastic inserts for collimators that will
project the location of the chambers through the beam light. These are used
for a specific SID. Controlling these configurations involve combinations of
the chambers to be activated in order to have control over the exposure.
There are seven different types of combinations. The signals within the cells
are used to measure the dosage and are sent to the amplifier, once the full
amount of voltage needed is obtained, the exposure will be terminated by
the amplifier. However, many chambers are used will determine if the image
is over exposed or under. The radiographer will determine how many
chambers are activated when determining the position and anatomy of the
body. All the systems allow for the adjustments of the amount of radiation
needed to send the exposure termination signal. These have different labels
but the typical density labels are -3, -2, -1, 0, 1,2,3, , , N, 1 , and 1 .
Most use the center control as the normal density, which permits increases
and decreases. Some use single, major and minor control. These controls
should not be used to compensate for patient thickness or kVp changes. The
AEC is supposed to calculate all this material on its own. Technique charts
are also a component that the AEC uses. Subject densities throughout the
body or contrast can also affect AEC. Collimation will affect the AEC as well.
Try to avoid collimating near or in the ionizing chamber itself. It can cause

NOTE BOOK # 7

over exposure, under exposure, and prematurely shut off the exposure if
collimation is on the chamber. Even though timing is what the AEC controls,
sometimes there are issues with that as well. These are known as minimum
response time and back up time. The minimum response time is the length
of time needed for the AEC to respond to ionization and send the signal to
terminate the exposure. The backup time will establish the
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max exposure time for the system in order to prevent over exposure.
Automatic programs area mixture of AEC and an exposure system that is
wired to correspond to anatomical procedures. This will allow you to choose
the region on the body that which you need to x-ray, in which will return a
suggested technique for the exam. All of these components are important in
understand exactly how the automatic exposure control works. The
radiographer still has a job to do and most of that job will greatly depend on
the actual positing of the patient. This is one of the most important aspects
in obtaining a high quality image.

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