Methods and devices for measuring the activity of a radioisotope
First Claim
1. A method for measuring the activity of a radio-isotope, which method consists in placing said radio-isotope (3) in an ionization chamber (1) capable of providing a current proportional to the activity of said radio-isotope tested, then, using electronic means for processing the signal (15), in converting the value of the current into an activity value, by using a calibration coefficient corresponding to the radio-isotope at hand, characterised in that it consists:
- in determining the energy spectrum of the radiation emitted by the radioisotope (3) placed in the ionisation chamber (1), in comparing automatically this energy spectrum with a set of energy spectra of pre-recorded or pre-programmed radio-isotopes, in order to identify the radio-isotope at hand, then in allocating automatically to the electronic means for processing the signal (15), the calibration coefficient corresponding to said radio-isotope at hand, to obtain the adequate activity measurement.
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Accused Products
Abstract
According to the invention, the method of measuring the activity of a radioisotope (3) placed in an ionisation chamber (1) consists in:—determining the energy spectrum of the radiation emitted by the radioisotope;—automatically comparing said energy spectrum with a set of pre-recorded or pre-programmed radioisotope energy spectra in such a way as to identify the radioisotope present;—subsequently, automatically directing the calibration coefficient corresponding to the radioisotope present to the electronic measuring means in order to obtain the appropriate activity measurement. The invention provides a totally automatic activity measurement. Moreover, the invention also relates to an activity meter with radioisotope recognition which is used to obtain an automatic activity measurement. Said device employs one or more scintillation- or semi-conductor-type radiation detectors (10) for determining the energy spectrum of the radioisotope present.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method for measuring the activity of a radio-isotope, which method consists in placing said radio-isotope (3) in an ionization chamber (1) capable of providing a current proportional to the activity of said radio-isotope tested, then, using electronic means for processing the signal (15), in converting the value of the current into an activity value, by using a calibration coefficient corresponding to the radio-isotope at hand, characterised in that it consists:
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in determining the energy spectrum of the radiation emitted by the radioisotope (3) placed in the ionisation chamber (1), in comparing automatically this energy spectrum with a set of energy spectra of pre-recorded or pre-programmed radio-isotopes, in order to identify the radio-isotope at hand, then in allocating automatically to the electronic means for processing the signal (15), the calibration coefficient corresponding to said radio-isotope at hand, to obtain the adequate activity measurement. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. An instrument for measuring the activity of a radio-isotope, which instrument comprises an ionization chamber (1) connected to electronic means for controlling and processing the signal (15) providing an indication of the activity introduced into said chamber (1), by using a calibration coefficient corresponding to the radio-isotope at hand (3), characterised in that it comprises:
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means (10, 11, 161) for analyzing the energy spectrum of the radio-isotope affected (3), means (162) for comparing automatically the energy spectrum analysed with a set of pre-recorded or pre-programmed spectra (163) in order to identify the radio-isotope at hand, and means (164) for allocating automatically to said electronic means for processing the signal (15), the calibration coefficient corresponding to said radio-isotope at hand, to obtain the adequate activity measurement. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification