>> System
Overview
The RC4000 Charge Bucket radiation detection system
scans your charge bucket to ensure that radioactive materials
are not dumped into your furnace.
The charge bucket system consists of two main components
- the RCD charge bucket radiation detector and RC4000 Control
Console. The system includes one or more large RCD charge
bucket detectors mounted along the side of load travel way,
connected to an RC4000 control console located in an occupied
area such as the control room. The RCD detectors are connected
to the RC4000 console via a low voltage signal communication
cable. The signal cable utilizes double-shielded, multiple
twisted-pair conductors that carry low voltage DC power and
logic levels that are virtually immune from electrical noise.
The RCD detectors measure
the ambient radiation levels on a continuous, uninterrupted basis.
These measured levels are converted into digital signals that
are transmitted to the RC4000 computer and then analyzed by the
high-speed microprocessor system. The software analysis controls
the sampling of the incoming measured signal for the purpose
of establishing a continuous running reference of the ambient
background radiation level. The alarm threshold levels are controlled
by an infrared sensing system. When there is no load present
and the infrared sensor is not blocked, the system sensitivity
is slightly decreased to minimize the possibility of false alarms.
When the sensor detects the presence of a load, the system automatically
increases sensitivity to enhance the systems overall detection
capability. The load presence sensor system is part of the RCD
detection units and is based on infrared technology. When a load
passes between the detection units the infrared beam will be
interrupted, signaling the presence of a load between the detection
units. The RC4000 will display a message telling the system operator
a load is being scanned at the most sensitive level.
Each RCD detection unit will be scanned and alarm levels
calculated independent of the other detection units
in the system. During
normal operation, the RCD units utilize indicators on the top
level display that allow the operator to view the operational
status of each detector. During normal operation the indicators
will be green. In the event of an alarm condition on any one
or all of the RCD units, the indicator will turn red with an
accompanying alarm level indicating the intensity of the radiation
level. When the alarm occurs, all of the detailed information
regarding the alarm condition will be stored in memory and
can be retrieved from Menu option Data. The alarm information
will
include the detector number, alarm condition, alarm data collected,
date, time and specific sample status (e.g. highest reading
taken). The system never stops analyzing the measured
radiation levels
from the
RCD detectors regardless of the system operating condition.
The RC4000
has many additional features other than alarm data retrieval
such as; time/date,
display of RCD measured radiation levels, system configuration
adjustments, system testing without
a radioactive source, and remote factory access by
modem or internet. Many of the system features are protected
by
a security
code entry.
The
system also provides digital logic output that can be used
to operate external audio and
visual system
status and
alarms.
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