Abstract: An inverter for diagnostic X-ray equipment, comprising a thyristor bridge with an input diagonal connected in series with two commutating inductances across a DC power supply, is provided with a start-stop circuit which includes an ancillary thyristor connected in series with a diode and a current-limiting impedance across one of the bridge arms. On start-up, the ancillary thyristor is triggered simultaneously with the diagonally opposite bridge thyristor in order to connect the current-limiting impedance in series with the AC output diagonal of the bridge during the first half-period; for a quick cutoff, the ancillary thyristor and the associated bridge thyristor are turned on together whereby two previously charged quenching capacitors, one of them included in the start-stop circuit, are discharged through the commutating inductance in series with the associated bridge arm to terminate conduction in another bridge arm fed through the same commutating inductance.