Back to results
US 5,153,520 AGranted
Identifying and quantifying the presence of alpha radiation and specific gaseous molecules present in air samples
OwnerRobert F. Dumbeckinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
OwnerRobert F. Dumbeckinventor
Estimating the term…
Means and methods of detecting particular particles in an air stream at very low concentration levels and identifying the particles and magnitude of concentration are afforded. Thus, a particle detector cell has a source of ionizing radiation of constant magnitude, an anode and cathode for moving ions through a radiation activity region and a detector electrode for capturing and measuring free electrons as a dynamic signal indication of the presence of particular particles in the activity region. Particular gas molecules are identified by their fingerprint, namely a spectral response to resonating frequency of electrons orbiting in their molecular structure. The magnitude of free electrons detected determine the concentration of the particles present in air. The output may be recorded on a strip chart for identification and quantification or may be logged in a digital computer. The computer may organize a frequency scanning procedure correlated with dynamic free electron activity for digital storage and recall, and for comparison with spectrum tables for identification of molecules present in an air stream. The detector is very sensitive to low concentration levels of particles such as a few microcuries of alpha particles per liter of air, with equivalent detection of particular gas molecules which can be ionized in the presence of r-f fingerprinting frequencies.
A radiation detection system for detecting and quantizing the presence of unknown molecular particles in air at atmospheric pressures, comprising in combination:
The method of identifying unknown particles and their concentration in an air stream at substantially atmospheric pressure comprising the steps of:
The method of determining the identity of particular gaseous molecules in air at substantially atmospheric pressure comprising the steps of ionizing the molecules by excitation with r-f radiation to which those molecules resonate while in a region of alpha radiation activity of constant magnitude, and determining the dynamic effect of electron activity in the region to establish a magnitude of concentration of the molecules.
A particle detector cell comprising in combination, a source of ionizing radiation of constant magnitude, an anode and cathode for moving ions through a radiation activity region, a detector electrode located in said region to capture and measure free electrons as a dynamic indication of the presence of particular particles in the activity region that affect the ionization magnitude, and r-f radiation disbursing means in said activity region for existing particular gas particles into ionization with a radiation frequency related to orbital resonance in the gas particles.
A particle detector cell comprising in combination, a source of ionizing radiation of constant magnitude, an anode and cathode for moving ions through a radiation activity region, a detector electrode located in said region to capture and measure free electrons as a dynamic indication of the presence of particular particles in the activity region that affect the ionization magnitude, an air stream access path into said cell, and an electrode dispersed to inhibit the passing of charged particles into said air stream path thereby to decrease the sensitivity of detection of the cell to said free elections.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.