Turnkey Solutions for
Radiation Calibration Laboratories

A dosimetry calibration laboratory of primary (PSDL) or secondary (SSDL) standard require a variety of instruments working together like clockwork.

• An irradiator (or “calibrator”) produces the radiation for the calibration process. It hosts the radiation source – either an X-ray system or a variety of radiation emitting isotopes
• A calibration bench (or “linear positioning system”) ensures the accurate positioning and fixating of the dosimeter at a carefully determined distance from the origin of the radiation. For a calibration, the detectors are fixed on a carriage that can be precisely moved on the rails of the calibration bench, either manually or automatically, motor driven by remote control to realize different distances from the radiation source and to establish different dose rates. A variety of bench versions are available, common are X/Y/Z manual, X/Y manual + Z automatic or X/Y/Z automatic. In case of motorized movements, the system is controlled by software from the control room.
• An isotope irradiator can host different type of isotopes of various activities to enable calibrations at different qualities and dose rates. The selection of the isotope and specific activity is done automatically from the pool of available sources via software interface from the control room. A warning lamp generally indicates the beam-on-status, the irradiation preparation is indicated by a flashing light and acoustical signal, a mechanical (signal rod) as well as electrical indicators (warning light) indicate when the source is ejected. In case of a power failure, the source falls automatically into a safe position by force of gravity.
• An X-Ray irradiator consists of either one or multiple X-ray systems – depending on the scope of calibration tasks of the laboratory. The quality is defined by the electron energy, anode material as well as the additional filtration. The additional filtration can be changed with automatic filter wheels, the anode material with a tube changer. To get rid of the start-up-behavior of the tube usually a high-speed X-Ray shutter is used, whilst a built-in monitoring system serves as a reference dose meter. All components are controlled by software from the control room. A warning lamp indicates the X-Ray beam status, irradiation preparation is indicated by flashing light and acoustical signal.
• An additional safety system is offered according to customer’s needs, ranging from door locking magnets, door interlock contacts, a monitoring camera system, a radiation monitoring system as well as pyroelectric infrared (PIR) sensors, manual emergency breakers to source-theft-protection solutions.
• PTW’s product range also comprises all required accessories: Reference dosimeters, X-Ray tube-voltage-dividers (HV dividers), oscilloscopes, ambient meters, phantoms and lasers for detector alignment.