JPH1184012A - Article surface contamination monitor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize continuous measurement in a smooth flow, without obstructing contamination measuring work of the next article at the time when article contamination is present. SOLUTION: In this article surface contamination monitor, an article carried in a monitor main part 1 from its inlet is carried out on an outlet conveyer 4 from the outlet of the main part 1, the article which is carried out is carried as far as an article taking-out arrangement mechanism 10 with the outlet conveyer 4, and radioactivity contamination of the article surface is measured by the monitor main part. On the basis of measurement result of radioactivity contamination by the monitor main body, the article taking-out arrangement mechanism 10 arranges an article in a taking-out position 12 of an contaminated article when contamination is present. The mechanism 10 arranges an article in a taking-out position 11 of an uncontaminated article when contamination is not present.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article surface contamination monitor, and more particularly, to an article surface contamination monitor having a feature in a portion where an article is taken out after determination of the presence or absence of contamination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an article surface contamination monitor for measuring the surface contamination of an article when the article is carried out from a controlled area such as a nuclear facility has been widely used. FIG. 6 is a side view showing a configuration example of a conventional article surface contamination monitor.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the conventional article surface contamination monitor shown in FIG. This article surface contamination monitor is a monitor particularly suitable for measuring radioactive contamination of large articles, and includes an inlet conveyor 3, a monitor main body 1, an outlet conveyor 4, and an article take-out section 5.

When the article to be measured is placed on the entrance conveyor 3, it is conveyed in the direction of the monitor main body 1 and is opened through the opening.
Enter the tunnel. Here, the radiation is measured by the upper and lower detectors 6 and 7, and after the presence or absence of contamination is determined, the radiation reaches the take-out part 5 of the article to be measured via the exit conveyor 4.

[0005] Here, the flow of articles is indicated by arrows in FIG. 7. If there is no contamination, the articles are unloaded from the article take-out section 5 to the outside of the management area. On the other hand, when there is contamination, the conveying direction of each of the conveyors 3 and 4 is reversed, and the contaminated articles are returned to the entrance side by the entrance and exit conveyors 3 and 4.

[0006]

However, in a case where a plurality of articles are continuously carried out, if all the articles are free of contamination, the contamination of the articles can be checked and carried out one after another. The following inconvenience occurs when there is an article that has been removed.

That is, when there is contamination, each conveyor 3,
4 is reversed and the contaminated article is returned via the same path as the measurement system, so that continuous measurement is impossible. That is, in this case, the flow of the next measurement article is interrupted, and the measurement is interrupted. For this reason, a loss of the unloading work occurs, and the work does not flow smoothly, which may cause confusion.

The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and realizes continuous measurement with a smooth flow without hindering the operation of measuring the contamination of the next article even when there is contamination of the article. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article surface contamination monitor that enables the above.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an article carried into an monitor main body from an inlet of a monitor main body is carried out from an outlet to an outlet conveyor. Further, the conveyed articles are conveyed to the article take-out arrangement mechanism by the exit conveyor, and an article surface contamination monitor for measuring radioactive contamination of the article surface by the monitor main body, wherein the article take-out arrangement mechanism includes:
The articles conveyed by the exit conveyor are placed at the take-out position of contaminated articles when the measurement result of radioactive contamination at the monitor main body is contaminated, and at the take-out position of non-contaminated articles when there is no contamination. It is an article surface contamination monitor.

According to the present invention, such a means is provided so that when an article is contaminated, it can be taken out from an unloading position different from a non-contaminated article. Continuous measurement can be realized with a smooth flow without hindering the operation of measuring the contamination of the next article.

Next, the invention corresponding to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the article take-out arrangement mechanism is rotated in different rotation directions depending on the presence or absence of radioactive contamination, so that the article take-out arrangement mechanism can be moved from the exit conveyor. This is an article surface contamination monitor comprising a turntable for arranging a received article at a contaminated article removal position or a non-contamination article removal position.

The present invention provides such means,
The same operation and effect as those of the invention according to claim 1 can be obtained, and the invention according to claim 1 can be specifically realized by a turntable.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the article take-out / placement mechanism changes the direction of the articles received from the exit conveyor to the left or right according to the presence or absence of radioactive contamination. This is an article surface contamination monitor that is disposed at a take-out position of a contaminated article or a take-out position of a non-contaminated article by a movable conveyor to be moved.

In the present invention, since such means are provided,
The same operation and effect as those of the invention according to claim 1 can be obtained, and the invention according to claim 1 can be specifically realized by a movable conveyor.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, when there is radioactive contamination, the article take-out / placement mechanism moves the contaminated articles on the exit conveyor to the exit conveyor traveling direction. Is an article surface contamination monitor which is disposed at a take-out position of a contaminated article or a take-out position of a non-contaminated article by an extruding mechanism for extruding in a right angle direction.

According to the present invention, such means are provided.
The same operation and effect as those of the invention according to claim 1 can be obtained, and the invention according to claim 1 can be specifically realized by the extrusion mechanism.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. (First Embodiment of the Invention) FIG. 1 is a side view showing a configuration example of an article surface contamination monitor according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the article surface contamination monitor. is there.
The same parts as those of the conventional apparatus shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description will be omitted.

This article surface contamination monitor is a monitor particularly suitable for measuring radioactive contamination of large articles, and includes an inlet conveyor 3, a monitor main body 1, an outlet conveyor 4, and a turntable mechanism as an article take-out arrangement mechanism. It consists of ten.

The entrance conveyor 3 conveys the articles in the radiation control area to the entrance opening 21 of the monitor main body 1 and carries the articles into the monitor main body 1. On the other hand, exit conveyor 4
Is configured to convey an article that has come out of the outlet opening 23 of the monitor main body 1 to the turntable mechanism 10 and place the article on the turntable mechanism 10.

The monitor body 1 is provided with an entrance opening 21, a tunnel 22, and an exit opening 23. The main body conveyor 2 is provided below the tunnel 22, and the main body conveyor 2 is configured to convey articles carried in from the entrance opening 21 to the exit opening 23.

An upper detector 6 and a lower detector 7 are provided above and below the tunnel 22 as radiation detectors, and their detection outputs are input to the signal processing unit 8. The signal processing unit 8 processes the output signals from the detectors 6 and 7 and outputs the result to the display unit 9. In particular, if the measured article is contaminated with radioactivity so that it cannot be carried out of the radiation control area, an alarm is displayed on the display unit 9. The signal processing unit 8 outputs a result indicating whether or not the measurement article is contaminated or not to a control unit (not shown) for controlling the turntable mechanism 10.

As shown in FIG. 2, the turntable mechanism 10 rotates a mounted article 90 degrees counterclockwise or clockwise as viewed from above by a drive unit and a control unit (not shown). Here, the counterclockwise rotation is a forward rotation, which is a rotation when the article is not contaminated,
As a result, the article rotates to the non-contaminated article removal position 11. Clockwise, on the other hand, is a reverse rotation, which is a rotation when the article is contaminated, whereby the article rotates to the contaminated article removal position 12.

In the turntable mechanism 10, the control unit receives a signal indicating the presence or absence of contamination of the article from the signal processing unit 8, and the turntable is rotated forward or backward under the control of the control unit.

Next, the operation of the article surface contamination monitor according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described. First, when the article to be measured is placed on the entrance conveyor 3, it is conveyed in the direction of the monitor main body 1 and is opened through the opening.
Enter the tunnel. Here, the articles are subjected to radiation measurement by the upper and lower detectors 6 and 7 while being moved by the main body conveyor 2, and then placed on the turntable via the exit conveyor 4.

On the other hand, the measurement results from the upper and lower detectors 6 and 7 are input to a signal processing unit 8 to determine the presence or absence of contamination. This determination result is displayed on the display unit 9 and
It is output to the control unit of the turntable mechanism 10.

Therefore, when there is no contamination, the turntable rotates forward under the control of the control unit, and the article concerned is carried out of the non-contaminated article taking-out position 11 to the outside of the management area as it is.

On the other hand, if there is contamination, the control unit rotates the turntable in the reverse direction, returns the article from the contaminated article take-out position 11 into the management area, and goes to the decontamination step.

As described above, in the article surface contamination monitor according to the embodiment of the present invention, the measured articles from the monitor main body 1 are transferred to the non-contaminated article removal position 11 and the contaminated article removal position 12 by the turntable mechanism 10. , The next article contamination measurement can be performed without stopping the main body conveyor 2, whereby continuous and smooth measurement without interruption of the measurement is realized, and the work efficiency is improved. be able to. (Second Embodiment of the Invention) FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example of the configuration of an article surface contamination monitor according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The description is omitted, and only different parts will be described here.

In this article surface contamination monitor, the article take-out / placement mechanism moves the article from the exit conveyor 4 to the slide type mechanism 17.
, And is conveyed to the contaminated take-out pedestal 13 or the non-contaminated take-out pedestal 14, and is configured similarly to the first embodiment.

The contamination take-out stand 13 is a stand for taking out contaminated articles and returning to the decontamination step. The non-contaminated take-out stand 14 is a stand for taking out uncontaminated articles and carrying them out of the management area.

The slide-type mechanism 17 is a slide-type movable conveyer, and has front and rear rotary shafts that can slide left and right on two axes. Further, a control unit (not shown) is provided, and controls the sliding direction of the movable conveyor in accordance with a signal indicating the presence or absence of contamination from the signal processing unit 8 as in the first embodiment.

This movable conveyor normally slides rightward when it receives a signal indicating no contamination from the signal processing unit 8 and operates to convey articles to the non-contamination take-out stand 14. However, when there is contamination, the rear rotating shaft (roller) slides to the left to move the article to the contamination take-out stand 13.

In this way, the measurement articles are distributed to the side outside the control area and the side to return to the decontamination step. As described above, in the article surface contamination monitor according to the embodiment of the present invention, the measured articles from the monitor main body 1 are distributed to the non-contamination take-out stand 14 and the contamination take-out stand 13 by the slide-type mechanism 17. Therefore, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained. (Third Embodiment of the Invention) FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a configuration example of an article surface contamination monitor according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a side view of the article surface contamination monitor. is there.
1 and 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted. Only different portions will be described here.

This article surface contamination monitor uses an extrusion mechanism 1 when the article take-out and arrangement mechanism contaminates articles from the exit conveyor 4.
8 extrudes the contaminated take-out pedestal 16 and conveys it to the non-contaminated take-out pedestal 15 when it is not contaminated, and has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment.

The non-contaminated take-out stand 15 is provided on the same straight line as the carry-out destination of the exit conveyor 4, and is a stand for taking out uncontaminated articles and carrying them out of the management area.
The contaminated removal stand 16 is provided on the right or left side of the exit conveyor 4 in the article traveling direction, and is a stand for taking out contaminated articles and returning to the decontamination step.

The push-out mechanism 18 is provided on the opposite side of the contamination take-out stand 16 with the outlet conveyor 4 interposed therebetween. Extrusion mechanism 18
Includes a pushing unit 20 composed of a plurality of moving pistons, a driving unit of the pushing unit, and a control unit (not shown).

In the push-out section 20, each piston is arranged perpendicular to the moving direction of the articles on the exit conveyor 4, and the drive section pushes the tray 19 on which the contaminated articles are loaded at right angles to the moving direction of the conveyor 4, thereby promptly moving the tray. Then, it is moved onto the contamination removal stand 16.

When the control unit receives the contamination signal from the signal processing unit 8 as in the first embodiment, the control unit issues a command to the drive unit to perform the above operation. The articles moved onto the contaminated take-out rack 16 are returned to the decontamination step, and the articles moved from the exit conveyor 4 onto the non-contaminated take-out stand 15 as they are are taken out of the control area.

In this way, the measurement article is sorted to the side outside the control area and the side to return to the decontamination step. As described above, the article surface contamination monitor according to the embodiment of the present invention is arranged such that the measured articles from the monitor main body 1 are distributed to the non-contamination take-out stand 15 and the contamination take-out stand 16 by the pushing mechanism 18. Therefore, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

In this embodiment, if there is radioactive contamination, the article is moved onto the contaminated take-out stand 16, but the non-contaminated take-out stand 15 and the contaminated take-out stand 16 are moved.
May be reversed, and when the article is non-contaminated, the uncontaminated article may be pushed out of the outlet conveyor 4 by the pushing mechanism 18 in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction. In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof.

[0041]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the measured articles from the monitor main body are distributed to the position for taking out the contaminated article and the position for taking out the contaminated article. Even in the presence of the present invention, it is possible to provide an article surface contamination monitor capable of realizing continuous measurement with a smooth flow without hindering the next article contamination measurement operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a configuration example of an article surface contamination monitor according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the article surface contamination monitor.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a configuration example of an article surface contamination monitor according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a configuration example of an article surface contamination monitor according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the article surface contamination monitor.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a configuration example of a conventional article surface contamination monitor.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the conventional article surface contamination monitor shown in FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Monitor main body part 2 ... Main body conveyor 3 ... Inlet conveyor 4 ... Outlet conveyor 6 ... Upper detector 7 ... Lower detector 8 ... Signal processing part 9 ... Display part 10 ... Turntable mechanism 11 ... Non-contaminated article removal position 12 ... Contaminated article take-out position 13 ... Contaminated take-out stand 14 ... Non-contaminated take-out stand 15 ... Non-contaminated take-out stand 16 ... Contaminated take-out stand 17 ... Slide type mechanism 18 ... Extrusion mechanism 19 ... Tray 20 ... Extruded part 21 ... Entrance opening 22 ... Tunnel 23 … Exit opening

Claims (4)

[Claims] An article conveyed into the monitor main body from an entrance of the monitor main body is conveyed from an outlet to an exit conveyor, and the conveyed article is further conveyed to an article take-out arrangement mechanism by the outlet conveyor. An article surface contamination monitor for measuring radioactive contamination of the article surface with the monitor body, wherein the article take-out arrangement mechanism irradiates the article conveyed by the outlet conveyor with the monitor body. An article surface contamination monitor characterized by being disposed at a take-out position of a contaminated article when the result of measurement of contamination is contaminated, and at a take-out position of a non-contaminated article when there is no contamination. 2. The article take-out arrangement mechanism rotates the articles received from the exit conveyor by taking out the contaminated articles or rotating the non-contaminated articles by rotating in different rotation directions depending on the presence or absence of the radioactive contamination. 2. The article surface contamination monitor according to claim 1, further comprising a turntable arranged at a take-out position. 3. The conveyer according to claim 1, wherein the conveyer moves the conveyed article to the right or left according to the presence or absence of the radioactive contamination. The article surface contamination monitor according to claim 1, wherein the article surface contamination monitor is arranged at an article take-out position. 4. An ejecting mechanism for pushing out the contaminated articles on the outlet conveyor in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the outlet conveyor when the radioactive contamination is present. The article surface contamination monitor according to claim 1, wherein the article surface contamination monitor is arranged at a removal position or a removal position of the non-contaminated article.