Patent Number: 056339089
Section: description

The invention is described in more detail below with reference to the appended drawings showing an advantageous application of the invention in sections seen from the side. According to the Figure a holder 2 has been mounted in a radiation protected housing 1 by which means the capillary tube 3 has been mounted located in the housing 1 so that the other end of the capillary 3 substantially forms a closed system together with the X-ray source 4. The inside of the capillary tube is at least partly conical with a cone angle of 0-1 degrees such that the inner part with respect to the diameter is largest at that end which is located closest to the X-ray source 4. The X-ray source is also mounted inside the housing 1. The capillary tube 3 is connected to a hole 6 formed in the detector 5 at the end opposite to the X-ray source 4 so that the capillary tube 3 forms an open system together with the environment of the housing. A cooling element 7 functioning as a Peltier element has been mounted around the detector and the end of the housing closest to the detector, by which means the detector 6 can be held within a temperature range which is advantageous for the function of the detector 5. In the figure the layout 8 of the cables and a connecting piece 9 for the cables, by the means of which the X-ray source 4 the detector 5 and the cooling element 7 can be made to function in the advantageous way in accordance with the invention. When a device according to the invention functions, the X-ray source 4 generates an X-ray pulse which is directed to the capillary tube 3. Thanks to the inner, conical surface, the X-ray pulse is focused when it passes through the tube capillary tube 3. The fluorescent X-rays generated on the surface which is characteristic for the different elements on the surface is directed towards the detector 5 being located around the hole 6, the detector receiving the intensities of the incoming radiation. For determination of the different elemental contents on the surface of the specimen 10, the obtained intensities are processed further in the connected devices which have been electrically connected by means of the cable-connecting piece 9.