NUCLEAR GAUGES AND METHODS OF CONFIGURATION AND CALIBRATION OF NUCLEAR GAUGES

• US 20170299737A1
• Filed: 04/03/2017
• Published: 10/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Troxler Electronic Laboratories, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Troxler Electronic Laboratories, Inc.
• Inventors: Troxler, Robert Ernest, Steckmann, Dirk M., Weger, Donald E.
• Granted Patent: US 9,958,562 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 18/008 with calibration coefficients stored in memory
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 23/06 and measuring the absorption
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 23/203 Measuring back scattering
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 7/005 calibration techniques stabilization of spectrometer G01T1/40
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49826 Assembling or joining

Abstract

A method for calibrating a nuclear gauge of the having a source includes providing a nuclear gauge comprising a radiation source, the radiation source being coupled with a computing system with a machine readable program stored thereon containing a calibration routine. An operator places the gauge on one or more specified blocks to adjust the source within each block to one or more specified positions to initiate a count. The method includes determining that the source is at each position before each count begins, adjusting the counting times before each count begins by the program on the nuclear gauge based on each position of the source to obtain calibration information, obtaining counts at each position, storing the counts within the computing system of the nuclear gauge, and calculating for each position calibration coefficients.

Claims

1. A method for calibrating a nuclear gauge of the having a source, the method comprising:

providing a nuclear gauge comprising a radiation source, the radiation source being coupled with a computing system with a machine readable program stored thereon containing a calibration routine;

wherein an operator places the gauge on one or more specified blocks to adjust the source within each of the one or more specified blocks to one or more specified positions to initiate a measurement;

determining, by the operator or computing system, that the source is at each of the one or more specified positions before each measurement begins;

selecting or verifying, by the operator or computing system, the proper measurement times before each measurement begins based on each of the one or more specified positions of the source to obtain calibration information;

obtaining measurements at each of the one or more specified positions;

storing the measurements within the computing system of the nuclear gauge; and

calculating, by the nuclear gauge, for each of the one or more specified positions, calibration coefficients.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one position in each block is one of a backscatter position and transmission position.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one block of the one or more specified blocks is a magnesium, aluminum, granite, limestone, poly, or magnesium-aluminum block.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more specified blocks comprise one to five blocks.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one block of the specified calibration block is a composite containing at least one of cadmium, lead, tungsten, magnesium, aluminum, granite, limestone, poly configured to represent one or more densities of a single block.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more specified blocks comprise one to five blocks.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising repeating the steps of determining that the source is at each of the one or more specified positions, selecting or verifying the proper measurement times, obtaining measurements and storing the measurement results within the computing system of the nuclear gauge for measurement positions of the source within multiple blocks.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the proper measurement times comprises automatically selecting the proper measurement times.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, at the nuclear gauge, performing a quality control routine on the gauge to confirm calibration.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality control routine comprises using previously measured results stored in the computing system of the gauge to perform diagnostics on the gauge.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the diagnostics include analyzing the coefficients of each curve for slope, count rate, precision and standard deviation.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating internal to the gauge calibration coefficients representing curves or equations for one or more source positions.

13. A nuclear gauge comprising:

a radiation source; and

a computing system having a machine readable program stored thereon containing a calibration routine, the computing system being coupled with the source, wherein the calibration routine is configured to;

determine or verify that the source is at each of one or more specified positions before each of one or more measurements begins, wherein a measurement is initiated when an operator places the gauge on one or more specified blocks and adjusts the source, within each of the one or more specified blocks, to one or more specified positions, and initiates the measurement;

select, by the program on the nuclear gauge, or receive by user input, the proper measurement duration before each measurement begins, based on each of the one or more specified positions of the source to obtain calibration information;

obtain measurements at each of the one or more specified positions;

store the measurement results within the computing system of the nuclear gauge; and

calculate, for each of the one or more specified positions, calibration coefficients.

14. The gauge of claim 13, wherein at least one position in each block is one of a backscatter and transmission position.

15. The gauge of claim 13, wherein at least one block of the one or more specified blocks is a magnesium, aluminum, granite, limestone, poly, or magnesium-aluminum block.

16. The gauge of claim 15, wherein the one or more specified blocks comprise one to five blocks.

17. The gauge of claim 13, wherein at least one block of the specified calibration block is a composite containing at least one of cadmium, lead, tungsten, magnesium, aluminum, granite, limestone, poly configured to represent one or more densities of a single block.

18. The gauge of claim 17, wherein the one or more specified blocks comprise one to five blocks.

19. The gauge of claim 18, wherein the computing system is further configured for repeating the steps of determining that the source is at each of one or more specified positions, selecting the proper measurement duration, and storing the measurement results within the computing system for the at least one or more multiple positions of the source within the multiple density blocks.

20. The gauge of claim 13, wherein the nuclear gauge is further configured for performing a quality control routine on the gauge to confirm the calibration.

21. The gauge of claim 13, wherein the quality control routine comprises using previously obtained information stored in the computing system of the gauge to perform diagnostics on the gauge.

22. The gauge of claim 13, wherein the diagnostics include analyzing the coefficients of each curve for slope, count rate, precision and standard deviation.

23. The gauge of claim 13, wherein the computing system is further configured for calculating calibration curves or coefficients for one or more positions.

24. The gauge of claim 13, wherein results are wirelessly transmitted to a local computer, network, server, or cloud for record storage.

25. The gauge of claim 24, whereby at least one of owner information, serial number, date, time, location, and notes are stored and recorded remotely from the gauge.

26. A nuclear gauge comprising:

a gauge housing including a vertical cavity and a base;

a radiation detector located within the gauge housing and adjacent to the base of the gauge housing;

a vertically movable source rod extending into the vertical cavity of the gauge housing;

a radiation source carried by a distal end of the source rod;

a computing system located within the gauge housing;

a first user interface mounted on the gauge housing and in communication with the computing system, wherein the first user interface comprises a keypad;

a handle coupled to the source rod;

a support member connected to the gauge housing; and

a second user interface mounted on the support member and in communication with the computing system, the second user interface comprising a switch for initiating a gauge measurement.

27. The nuclear gauge according to claim 26, wherein the computing system includes a memory for storing the results of the gauge measurement.

28. The nuclear gauge according to claim 26, wherein the second user interface and the computing system are adapted for wireless communication.

29. The nuclear gauge according to claim 26, comprising a wire line adapted for communicatively connecting the second user interface and the computing system.

30. The nuclear gauge according to claim 26, comprising a wireless communications system adapted for communicatively connecting the second user interface and the computing system via a wireless communications connection.

31. The nuclear gauge according to claim 26, wherein the second user interface is attached to the support member a predetermined distance from the first user interface.

32. The nuclear gauge according to claim 31, wherein the first and second user interfaces share at least a portion of their functionality.

33. The nuclear gauge according to claim 31, wherein the first and second user interfaces each include at least one keypad switch having functionality for communicating the same user input to the computing system.

34. The nuclear gauge according to claim 26, wherein the nuclear gauge is a density gauge, a bulk density gauge, a thin overlay gauge, a thin layer gauge, or a combination thereof.

35. The nuclear gauge according to claim 26, wherein the support member extends from the gauge housing parallel to the source rod.

36. The nuclear gauge according to claim 35, wherein the source rod is movable relative to the support member to vary a position of the radiation source.

37. The nuclear gauge according to claim 35, wherein the support member includes an interior vertical channel, and the source rod extends and is movable within the interior vertical channel.

38. The nuclear gauge according to claim 26, wherein the second user interface comprising a switch for ending a gauge measurement.

39. The nuclear gauge according to claim 26, wherein further comprising an indexing mechanism coupled to the handle and support column to hold the source rod a predetermined positions relative to the support column.