Apparatus and a method for measuring the activity of radioactive samples containing a multiple of radioactive isotopes, without separate determination of the quench level
US5120962A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 6, 1991 |
| Grant date | Jun 9, 1992 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 6, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01T1/204
- WIPO fieldEnvironmental technology
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
Liquid scintillation counter includes a memory having stored spectra of known counting efficiencies and known levels of quench, for isotopes to be measured. A device extracts from the spectra, by using the determined quench level value for each of the N isotopes, a reference spectrum representing a pure isotope spectrum at the predicted quench level. A device determines for each extracted reference spectrum a factor by which the extracted reference spectrum is to be multiplied in order to fit the sum of the multiplied reference spectra to the sample spectrum. Each factor is directly related to the amount of each isotope in the sample. A device computes a goodness-of-fit value and predicts a new value for the quench level based on this goodness-of-fit value. A method in liquid scintillation counter includes predicting a first value of the quench level of the scintillation sample. A reference spectrum is extracted from stored spectra of known counting efficiencies and known levels of quench, for each of the N isotopes. The reference spectrum represents a pure isotope spectrum at the determined quench level. A factor is determined for each extracted reference spectrum by which the ext…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.