RADIOACTIVE AREAL DENSITY DETECTOR WITH SCINTILLATING RECEIVER

• Main Authors: KLARMANN, JOSEPH, BINNS, W., ROBERT, LEAHEY, HARRY, S, EPSTEIN, JOHN, W, DAVIS, MICHAEL, J
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 31.03.1993
• Edition: 5
• Subjects: APPLICATIONS OF SCANNING-PROBE TECHNIQUES, e.g. SCANNING PROBEMICROSCOPY [SPM]; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MEASURING; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS; MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEARDIMENSIONS; MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUIDLEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME; PHYSICS; SCANNING-PROBE TECHNIQUES OR APPARATUS; TESTING; WEIGHING

Apparatus for continuously determining the areal density along a length of a material includes a radioactive source and a scintillating receiver. In a first embodiment, the invention measures the thickness of a traveling web simultaneously at multiple points across its full width. The apparatus includes a radioactive source which extends across one side of the web. A detector array, on the opposite side of the web, detects the emission from the source through the web. The array includes scintillating fibers and multi- or single-anode photomultipliers which may be connected by a scintillating or non-scintillating fiber optic elements to the photomultiplier. In a second embodiment, the invention continuously detects the fill level of a plurality of containers as they are conveyed between the receiver and detector. A scintillating fiber receiver may have its fibers arranged either vertically or horizontally. When arranged horizontally, the fibers may be grouped and conduct photons to single anodes of a multi-anode photomultiplier tube to provide direct physical measurement of the fill level. Still another receiver includes a plastic scintillator sheet directly coupled to a photomultiplier tube.