Blackstone HS-X202

Busy imaging rooms in community dental services and hospital dental departments put the HS-X202 to work, where one operator takes many intraoral radiographs a day. Each exposure starts with the patient on the column's stool and the cone set, then the operator steps away and fires remotely, so distance from the beam becomes part of the routine.

Radiographers and dental nurses who image all sessions benefit most from that routine, because their time near the tubehead falls to positioning alone. The low-voltage alarm matters in older buildings and temporary venues, where a weak supply could otherwise go unnoticed until an image came out underexposed.

Dental schools and training clinics use the unit to teach safe technique from the first lesson. Students learn to set the cone, leave the beam area and trigger the exposure from a distance, and the touch-key panel keeps the exposure choice to a single setting.

Screening programmes move the base in mobile mode between venues and then work through a list of patients on the stool, with periapical and bitewing views for each. In a two-room clinic, one unit in mobile mode can serve each room in turn, with the same remote routine wherever it stands. Occupational dental services at large employers place it in a medical centre room that has no dental chair. Endodontic and implant teams with a separate imaging room use it for working-length and review radiographs, choosing the 0.8 mm focus where fine detail matters.

Practices that image in the dental chair, visit patients at home, or need panoramic views need a different kind of source.

Distance built into every exposure

The exposure is fired remotely once the cone is in place, so the operator stands back from the beam for every radiograph. Protection comes from the way the unit is used, every time.

A weak supply flagged early

The low-voltage alarm warns when the mains drops too far for a dependable exposure. Staff learn about the problem before a patient is imaged.

A protected generator

High-voltage protection guards the generator circuit against excess voltage, under the same microcomputer control as the exposure timer.

Housing leakage of 0.002 mGy/h

Measured a metre from the housing, leakage sits at or under 0.002 mGy/h, so people near the unit receive negligible stray radiation.

Beam filtration of 2.5 mm Al

Aluminium filtration of 2.5 mm removes low-energy photons before they reach the patient, cutting dose that would add nothing to the image.

A steady, seated patient

The patient sits on a pneumatic stool fixed to the column, raised to the cone and held still for the exposure.

Either focus size

The tube's focus comes in 0.8 or 1.5 mm, with the smaller size suited to fine detail work.

Mobile or fixed base

The base works in mobile mode for moving between venues and in fixed mode for a permanent imaging point.

Film or digital

Daylight-developing film and digital intraoral systems both pair with the unit, so the receptor choice stays open.

Column and arm

The column carries the articulated arm that brings the tubehead to the patient.

Pneumatic patient stool

The stool on the column adjusts in height by pneumatic lift.

Two base modes

The base can run mobile or fixed.

60 kV output

The tube operates at 60 kV.

8 mA tube current

Each exposure runs at 8 mA.

1.5 mm or 0.8 mm focus

Focus options are 0.8 mm and 1.5 mm.

2.5 mm Al filtration

Total filtration amounts to 2.5 mm Al.

0.2 to 4 second exposures

Exposure time adjusts across 0.2 to 4 seconds.

Microcomputer control and touch keys

A microcomputer controls each exposure, set from touch keys in one press.

Remote-triggered exposure

The exposure is fired remotely, away from the tubehead.

Low-voltage alarm

The unit warns when supply voltage drops too low.

High-voltage protection

The generator circuit is protected against excess voltage.

Housing leakage

The housing leaks no more than 0.002 mGy/h at 1 m.

Mains supply

Power arrives at 220 V ± 10%, 50 Hz, for a 1 kVA load.

Receptor pairing

Daylight-developing film and digital intraoral systems both work as receptors.

The HS-X202 fits clinics where one operator takes a steady flow of intraoral radiographs and wants distance from the beam built into every exposure. Its case is safety: remote triggering, a low-voltage alarm, high-voltage protection and a 0.002 mGy/h leakage ceiling at one metre, with the patient seated on the column's own pneumatic stool. Four limits weigh most. No CE or UKCA position is evidenced for this model. Imaging happens on the unit's stool, so chair-side radiography needs another source. The supply must be 220 V at 50 Hz. A film or sensor system is needed alongside, and the focus is 0.8 or 1.5 mm.