Method and apparatus for measuring incombustible content of coal mine dust using gamma-ray backscatter. [Patent application]

Patent ·

OSTI ID:7201483

Armstrong, F E

This invention describes the method and apparatus for measuring incombustible content of particulate material, particularly coal mine dust. It involves placing a sample of the particulate material in a container to define a pair of angularly oriented surfaces of the sample, directing an incident gamma-ray beam from a radiation source at one surface of the sample and detecting gamma-ray backscatter from the other surface of the sample with a radiation detector having an output operating a display to indicate incombustible content of the sample. The positioning of the source and detector along different surfaces of the sample permits the depth of the scattering volume defined by intersection of the incident beam and a detection cone from the detector to be selected such that variations in scattered radiation produced by variations in density of the sample are compensated by variations in the attenuation of the incident beam and the gamma-ray backscatter. (auth)

• NSA Number: NSA-33-08857
• Assignee: U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration
• Patent Number(s): None
• OSTI ID: 7201483
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010800 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Waste Management
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400103* -- Radiometric & Radiochemical Procedures-- (-1987)
BACKSCATTERING
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COAL
COAL MINES
COMBUSTION
DUSTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY
MINES
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
OXIDATION
RADIATION SCATTERING ANALYSIS
SCATTERING
SPECTROSCOPY