Quantifying airborne radon decay products and other radionuclides
AssigneeThe Center for Applied Radon Research LLC
InventorKimberley A. WALDRON
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A device may include a radon sensor to measure activity concentration of radon gas in a sample of ambient air. A device may include a particulate sensor to measure an abundance of airborne particulates in the sample of the ambient air. A device may include control logic stored in memory and executable to calculate an equilibrium factor from the measured abundance of airborne particulates in the ambient air. The control logic may be executable to further determine a working level of radon decay products in the ambient air from the calculated equilibrium factor and the measured activity concentration of radon gas.
Claims20
A radon decay product quantifier comprising:
- a radon sensor to measure activity concentration of radon gas in a first sample of ambient air;
- a particulate sensor to measure an abundance of airborne particulates in a second sample of the ambient air;
- and
- control logic stored in memory and executable to:
- calculate an equilibrium factor from the measured abundance of airborne particulates in the ambient air;
- and
- determine a working level of radon decay products in the ambient air from the calculated equilibrium factor and the measured activity concentration of radon gas.
A method of assessing risk from radon comprising:
- measuring activity concentration of radon gas in a first sample of ambient air;
- measuring an abundance of airborne particulates in a second sample of the ambient air;
- calculating an equilibrium factor from the measured abundance of airborne particulates in the ambient air;
- and
- determining a working level of radon decay products in the ambient air from the calculated equilibrium factor and the measured activity concentration of radon gas.
A radon decay product quantifier comprising:
- a radon sensor to measure activity concentration of radon gas in a first sample of ambient air;
- a particulate sensor to measure an abundance of airborne particulates in a second sample of the ambient air, wherein the abundance of airborne particulates includes one or more of a count of the airborne particulates in the second sample of the ambient air and a mass concentration of the airborne particulates in the second sample of the ambient air;
- control logic stored in memory and executable to:
- calculate an equilibrium factor from the measured abundance of airborne particulates in the ambient air, wherein the equilibrium factor is calculated with a multimodal formula, the multimodal formula including a first formula applicable when the abundance of airborne particulates is high and a second formula applicable when the abundance of airborne particulates is low, the second formula being distinct from the first formula;
- determine a working level of radon decay products in the ambient air from the calculated equilibrium factor and the measured activity concentration of radon gas;
- determine a health risk posed by the radon decay products from the working level;
- and
- actively monitor changes in the working level over time;
- a display to report one or more of the health risk and the working level compared against a threshold to a user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.