System for, and method of, irradiating opposite sides or articles with optimal amounts of cumulative irradiation
First Claim
1. A method of irradiating an article using a plurality of radiation sources disposed on opposite sides of a load transport member configured to transport the article along a transport path past the plurality of radiation sources, including the steps of:
- determining whether the article will receive a cumulative amount of radiation between a first limit and a second limit;
positioning a radiation reducing member either into or out of a radiation path of a radiation source based on the determination of cumulative radiation; and
directing radiation to the article from radiation sources disposed on opposite sides of the load transport member.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Opposite sides of an article are irradiated to sterilize the article. The cumulative irradiation should be above a first value, and below a second value greater than the first value, at all of the positions in the article to provide the article with desired radiation benefits. Any amount of cumulative radiation between the first and second values is considered as optimal values. For a first range of article thicknesses, the cumulative radiation in the article is at the optimal values. For article thicknesses in a second range greater than in the first range, the cumulative radiation at positions in the article is greater than the optimal values. For article thicknesses in a third range greater than the second range, the cumulative radiation at the different positions in the article is at the optimal values. For the thicknesses in the second range, a member disposed in the radiation path weakens the radiation passing to the article, thereby reducing the cumulative radiation to an optimal value. For each thickness in the second range, a different amount of cumulative radiation above the optimal value may occur when the member is not disposed in the radiation path. The member may accordingly be provided with different thicknesses, dependent upon the amount of the cumulative radiation in the article for the different positions in the second thickness range, to reduce the cumulative radiation in the article to an optimal value. A system may automatically position the member properly for article thicknesses in the second range.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of irradiating an article using a plurality of radiation sources disposed on opposite sides of a load transport member configured to transport the article along a transport path past the plurality of radiation sources, including the steps of:
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determining whether the article will receive a cumulative amount of radiation between a first limit and a second limit; positioning a radiation reducing member either into or out of a radiation path of a radiation source based on the determination of cumulative radiation; and directing radiation to the article from radiation sources disposed on opposite sides of the load transport member. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A system for irradiating an article, comprising
a load transport member configured to transport a plurality of articles through the system in a transport path; -
at least two radiation sources disposed on opposite sides of the load transport member, wherein each radiation source is configured to direct a radiation stream toward the transport path for irradiating the article; a microprocessor configured to determine whether a cumulative amount of radiation that will be applied by the radiation sources to the article will be between a first limit and a second limit, wherein the second limit is greater than the first limit; a radiation reducing member; and a radiation reducing member actuator that is configured to move the radiation reducing member between a first position wherein the radiation reducing member is disposed outside of the radiation stream of at least one of the radiation sources and a second position wherein the radiation reducing member is disposed within the radiation stream and between the radiation source and the transport path. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification