Safety system for a laser-utility facility
AssigneeUnited Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
InventorsStanley A. Edwards, Robert Hunt, Daniel R. Lobb
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A safety system for a laser-beam utilizing facility incorporates a safety enclosure (24) and an infra-red monitoring system (32) for detecting the development of hot spots at internal surfaces of the enclosure walls (24) and ceiling (26) which may occur as a result of stray laser radiation impinging on such surfaces. The development of a hot spot leads to shutting off the laser source (10) or interruption of the beam by means of a shutter (22).
Claims27
A safety system for a laser beam-utilizing facility, comprising an enclosure housing said facility, radiation-sensitive sensor means for receiving the radiation emitted by at least one surface or wall forming, or located within, said enclosure, on which wall(s) or surface(s) the laser beam is only incident in the event of a malfunction of said facility, said sensor means producing an output signal dependent upon the radiation received thereby, and means responsive to the sensor means for modifying operation of the laser beam-utilizing facility in response to levels of emitted radiation, or changes thereof, in excess of a threshold value or values.
A safety system for a laser beam-utilizing facility, comprising an enclosure housing said facility, radiation-sensitive sensor means for receiving the radiation emitted by at least one surface or wall forming, or located within, said enclosure, on which wall(s) or surface(s) the laser beam is only incident in the event of a malfunction of said facility, said sensor means producing an output signal dependent upon the radiation received thereby, scanning means for providing the sensor means with an instantaneous field of view which is scanned to produce an overall field of view encompassing said surface(s) or wall(s) and which is extended in a direction generally orthogonal to the direction in which the instantaneous field of view is scanned, and means responsive to the sensor means for modifying operation of the laser beam-utilizing facility in response to levels of emitted radiation, or changes thereof, in excess of a threshold value or values.
Apparatus for monitoring infrared emissions comprising sensor means responsive to infrared radiation for producing an electrical output related to the intensity of infrared radiation incident thereon, scanning means for effecting a cyclical scan to provide the sensor means, in use of the apparatus, repeatedly with an overall field of view encompassing an area under surveillance, said scanning means including an anamorphic lens means for providing said sensor means with a refracted instantaneous field of view which is scanned in a direction generally orthogonal to its wide angle of view to provide the sensor means with said overall field of view, means for analyzing the outputs of the sensor means with reference to a predetermined threshold value or values to detect within said overall field of view arising sources of infrared radiation representing potentially hazardous conditions, and means for generating an actuating signal in the event of detection of such sources.
Apparatus for monitoring infrared emissions comprising:
- (a) sensor means responsive to infrared radiation for producing an electrical output related to the intensity of infrared radiation incident thereon;
- (b) scanning means for effecting a cyclical scan to provide the sensor means, in use of the apparatus, repeatedly with an overall field of view encompassing an area under surveillance, said scanning means comprising a support, a scanning head mounted on the support for rotation about a predetermined axis, drive means for effecting continuous rotation of the scanning head about said predetermined axis, an anamorphic lens mounted by the scanning head at a location spaced radially outwardly from said predetermined axis and so that its wide angle of view extends in a plane which contains or is parallel to said predetermined axis of rotation, and beam focussing and deflecting optical components for effecting focussing of the infrared radiation refracted radially inwardly from said lens and deflecting the same along said predetermined axis for reception by said sensor means;
- (c) means for analyzing the outputs of the sensor means with reference to a predetermined threshold value or values to detect within said overall field of view arising sources of infrared radiation representing potentially hazardous conditions;
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- (d) means for generating an actuating signal in the event of detection of such sources.
Apparatus for monitoring infrared emissions comprising:
- (a) sensor means responsive to infrared radiation for producing an electrical output related to the intensity of infrared radiation incident thereon;
- (b) scanning means for effecting a cyclical scan to provide the sensor means, in use of the apparatus, repeatedly with an overall field of view encompassing an area under surveillance, said scanning means including an anamorphic lens for providing said sensor means with an instantaneous field of view which is scanned in a direction generally orthogonal to its wide angle of view to provide the sensor means with said overall field of view;
- (c) means for analyzing the outputs of the sensor means with reference to rate of change of temperature to discriminate between potentially hazardous sources of infrared radiation giving rise to rapid changes in levels of radiation emitted and non-hazardous sources of infrared radiation giving rise to slowly varying changes in levels of radiation emitted;
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- (d) means for generating actuating signals in the event of detection of such sources.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.