Patent ID: 8472584

Claim:
An apparatus for killing pathogenic and non-pathogenic organisms using low-energy x-rays, the apparatus comprising: a shielding assembly that maximizes internal deflections to prevent the x-rays from escaping the apparatus enclosing an irradiation zone having inlet portion and an outlet portion and defining a passageway therebetween, the passageway defining a path of travel for articles to be irradiated between the inlet and outlet portions; means for substantially continuously moving the articles to be irradiated through the irradiation zone at at least a first velocity; and an irradiation chamber that houses at least one x-ray source disposed within the passageway between the inlet and outlet portions in the path of travel of the articles to be irradiated, each at least one x-ray source having a first power level capable of emitting x-rays for a period of time sufficient to provide at least a predetermined dose of radiation to an article and capable of a maximum continuous power output at 100% duty cycle that is selected from within range of from approximately 16 kW to approximately 20 kW to thereby continuously emit low-energy x-rays having energies of from approximately 10 KeV and up to a maximum of approximately 440 KeV, wherein the at least one x-ray source comprises: an x-ray tube having a longitudinal axis with a power of 16 kW that emits a continuous spectrum of low energy x-rays; wherein the low-energy x-rays emitted by the at least one x-ray tube to which the at least one article is exposed are primarily bremsstrahlung-type x-rays characterized by a continuous range of energies from that of the most energetic electron downwards having energies of 220 Ke V; a cathode having a tungsten filament; a non-rotating anode including a target selected from the group consisting of tungsten, copper, aluminum, gold, platinum, strontium, titanium, and rubidium; and a beam window parallel to the target disposed a predefined distance from the target and perpendicularly disposed with respect to the longitudinal axis of the x-ray tube.