阅读说明：本技术 辐射探测装置及系统 (Radiation detection device and system ) 是由 姜浩 王侃 李硕 王浩 于 2020-07-03 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供一种辐射探测装置及系统,包括放射源、辐射探测器、处理器以及外壳,放射源被配置为发射中子射线,闪烁体被配置为接收伽马射线并将伽马射线转换为可见光光子,光电转换器与闪烁体耦合并将可见光光子转换为电脉冲信号,电子采样器件被配置对电脉冲信号进行采样；处理器被配置为分别与放射源和辐射探测器连接；放射源、辐射探测器以及处理器容置于密封的外壳内。本发明容许放射源以及电子器件开通的时间更长,有利于获取到更为精确、更加连续的数据,在高环境温度下性能依然稳定。(The invention provides a radiation detection device and a radiation detection system, which comprise a radioactive source, a radiation detector, a processor and a shell, wherein the radioactive source is configured to emit neutron rays, a scintillator is configured to receive gamma rays and convert the gamma rays into visible light photons, a photoelectric converter is coupled with the scintillator and converts the visible light photons into electric pulse signals, and an electronic sampling device is configured to sample the electric pulse signals; the processor is configured to be connected with the radiation source and the radiation detector respectively; the radiation source, radiation detector and processor are housed within a sealed enclosure. The invention allows the radioactive source and the electronic device to be opened for a longer time, is beneficial to acquiring more accurate and continuous data, and has stable performance under high environmental temperature.)

1. A radiation detection apparatus, the apparatus comprising a radiation source configured to emit neutron rays, the apparatus further comprising:

a radiation detector comprising a scintillator configured to receive gamma rays and convert the gamma rays to visible light photons, a photoelectric converter coupled to the scintillator and converting the visible light photons to electrical pulse signals, and an electronic sampling device configured to sample the electrical pulse signals;

a processor configured to interface with the radiation source and the radiation detector, respectively; and

a housing, the radiation source, the radiation detector and the processor being housed within the sealed housing.

2. A radiation detection device according to claim 1, wherein the decay time of the scintillator is not higher than 100 ns.

3. A radiation detection device according to claim 1, wherein the relative light output of the scintillator is higher than the light output of a sodium iodide scintillator.

4. The radiation detection apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the electronic sampling device is configured to sample the electrical pulse signals by a multiple voltage threshold sampling method.

5. The radiation detection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electronic sampling device comprises a comparator and a converter, wherein the comparator is configured to compare an amplitude of the electrical pulse signal with a voltage threshold and output a corresponding comparison result; the converter is configured to record time point data according to the comparison result and provide the recorded time point data to the processor for data analysis processing.

6. The radiation detection apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to control the operating states of the radiation source and the radiation detector simultaneously.

7. The radiation detection apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising a sensor coupled to the processor and the electronic sampling device, respectively, the sensor configured to measure a supply voltage of the electronic sampling device and a signal gain of the radiation detector.

8. The radiation detection apparatus of claim 7, wherein the sensor comprises a temperature sensor.

9. The radiation detection apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein there are at least two radiation detectors, each of which is connected to the processor and the electronic sampling device, respectively.

10. The radiation detection apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising a cryogenic region located within the enclosure and spaced from the radiation source, the processor, and the radiation detector, the cryogenic region thermally transferring into the enclosure.

11. The radiation detection apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein the low temperature region transmits heat transfer to an interior of the enclosure through a thermal conductor.

12. The radiation detection apparatus of claim 11, wherein the thermal conductor is a shaped thermally conductive sheet.

13. The radiation detection apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a cooler located within the housing and configured to transfer heat to the processor, the electronic sampling device.

14. The radiation detection apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the cooler sends heat transfer to an interior of the housing through a thermal conductor.

15. The radiation detection apparatus of claim 14, wherein the thermal conductor is a shaped thermally conductive sheet.

16. The radiation detection apparatus of claim 14, wherein the thermal conductors are at least two.

17. A radiation detection system comprising a host computer and a radiation detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 16, the host computer being sealingly connected to the processor by a communication cable.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of high-energy ray detection, in particular to a radiation detection device and a radiation detection system.

Background

In geological exploration, physical parameters of a stratum can be acquired in various modes such as electricity, sound, radiation and the like, and oil and gas information is further acquired through data analysis. Nuclear logging is a common geological exploration technique, which includes neutron logging. Neutron logging uses a radioactive source to emit high-energy rays, then detects rays such as gamma rays returned after the high-energy rays react with formation elements, and corresponding formation information can be analyzed by analyzing information contained in signals corresponding to the rays.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a radiation detection device and a radiation detection system, so that the problems of unstable performance, low applicability or high cost of a detector in the prior art are solved.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a radiation detection apparatus, including a radiation source, a radiation detector, a processor and a housing, wherein the radiation detector includes a scintillator, a photoelectric converter and an electronic sampling device, the scintillator is configured to receive gamma rays and convert the gamma rays into visible light photons, the photoelectric converter is coupled with the scintillator and converts the visible light photons into electrical pulse signals, and the electronic sampling device is configured to sample the electrical pulse signals; the processor is configured to interface with the radiation source and the radiation detector, respectively; the radioactive source, the radiation detector and the processor are contained in the sealed housing.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the decay time of the scintillator is not higher than 100 ns.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the relative light output of the scintillator is higher than the light output of a sodium iodide scintillator.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the electronic sampling device is configured to sample the electrical pulse signal by a multiple voltage threshold sampling method.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the electronic sampling device comprises a comparator and a converter, wherein the comparator is configured to compare the amplitude of the electrical pulse signal with a voltage threshold and output a corresponding comparison result; the converter is configured to record time point data according to the comparison result and provide the recorded time point data to the processor for data analysis processing.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the processor is configured to control the operating state of the radiation source and the radiation detector simultaneously.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the radiation detection apparatus further comprises a sensor connected to the processor and the electronic sampling device, respectively, the sensor being configured to measure a supply voltage of the electronic sampling device and a signal gain of the radiation detector.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the sensor comprises a temperature sensor.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the number of radiation detectors is at least two, each of the radiation detectors being connected to the processor and the electronic sampling device, respectively.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the apparatus further includes a cryogenic region located within the enclosure and spaced from the radiation source, the processor, and the radiation detector, the cryogenic region being in thermal communication with the enclosure.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the low temperature zone sends heat transfer to the interior of the housing through a heat conductor.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the heat conductor is a profiled heat conducting sheet.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the apparatus further comprises a cooler located within the housing and configured to transfer heat to the processor, the electronic sampling device.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the cooler sends heat transfer to the interior of the housing through a heat conductor.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the heat conductor is a profiled heat conducting sheet.

According to one embodiment of the invention, said heat conductors are at least two.

The invention also provides a radiation detection system which comprises an upper computer and the radiation detection device according to any one of the embodiments, wherein the upper computer is hermetically connected with the processor through a communication cable.

The radiation detection device and the radiation detection system provided by the invention allow the opening time of the radioactive source and the electronic device to be longer, are beneficial to acquiring more accurate and more continuous data, are still stable in performance under high environmental temperature and a wide ray energy range of 600 KeV-10 MeV, and can acquire more accurate detection information.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a radiation detection device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a radiation detection device according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic plan view of a radiation detection apparatus according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The following describes the radiation detection device and system provided by the embodiments of the present invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a radiation detection device, which includes a processor 1, a radiation detector 2, a radiation source 3 and a housing 10, wherein the processor 1, the radiation detector 2 and the radiation source 3 are all disposed in the housing 10, the processor 1 is respectively connected to the radiation detector 2 and the radiation source 3, the processor 1 is configured to control a working state of the radiation source 3, such as controlling the radiation source 3 to emit neutrons or interrupting emission, and the processor 1 is configured to control the radiation detector 2 and receive a radiation signal detected by the radiation detector 2; the radioactive source 3 can emit neutrons or interrupt emission according to the instructions of the processor 1; the radiation detector 2 can detect gamma rays according to the instructions of the processor 1, convert the gamma rays into electric signals and transmit the electric signals to the processor 1 for processing. The processor 1 may be connected to the radiation source 3 and the radiation detector 2 through a plurality of interfaces, or connected to the radiation source 3 and the radiation detector 2 through a fixed interface.

In particular, the processor 1 is configured as any processor or controller, such as an FPGA chip or an MCU or the like, capable of transmitting control instructions and processing electrical signals. The processor 1 is preferably made of high temperature resistant materials so as to adapt to the high temperature environment in the well in the oil exploration.

The radiation detector 2 is configured as any radiation detector capable of converting gamma rays into electrical signals. For example, the radiation detector 2 may include a scintillator, a photoelectric converter, and an electronic sampling device, where the scintillator and the photoelectric converter are coupled to each other, the electronic sampling device is connected to the photoelectric converter, the scintillator is configured to receive gamma rays and convert the gamma rays into visible light, the photoelectric converter is configured to convert the visible light into electrical signals, the electronic sampling device is configured to collect the electrical signals, and the electronic sampling device may further perform processing such as denoising and data packing on the collected electrical signals.

The radiation detector 2 is preferably a scintillator radiation detector, so as to adapt to detection under different types and different dose rates, for example, in the present invention, the scintillator may be a scintillator with a relative light output higher than 100%, which has the characteristics of high light output and short decay time, such as lanthanum bromide, lanthanum chloride, and the like. It is noted that the "relative light output" is relative to a sodium iodide scintillator, when high-energy rays are incident and energy is deposited in the scintillator, a large number of photons are generated, and the number and the energy of the photons are difficult to measure simultaneously, so that the light output relative to the sodium iodide scintillator is used for marking the performance of other scintillators, and the luminescence of a standard sodium iodide scintillator is taken as a reference value of 100% during measurement, and further the relative value of a measured scintillator sample is marked. "high light output" and "short decay time" are relative performance characteristics for the prior art, for example, the relative light output of a sodium iodide scintillator is 100%, and the relative light output of a lanthanum bromide scintillator is about 178%, so that the lanthanum bromide scintillator has the relative high light output characteristic; the decay time of the sodium iodide scintillator is about 250ns, and the decay time of the lanthanum bromide scintillator is about 18ns, so that the lanthanum bromide scintillator has the characteristic of relatively short decay time. The adoption of the relative high light output and short attenuation time is beneficial to obtaining more accurate detection data, and the radiation detector is prevented from crashing due to signal accumulation or the temperature rise is prevented from being too fast during signal acquisition, because the attenuation time greatly restricts the capability of the scintillator for converting high-energy rays into visible light photons, and the accuracy of signal acquisition is further restricted. Those skilled in the art can select the appropriate relative light output and decay time according to the specific detection requirements, and will not be described in detail herein. In addition, in order to adapt to a high-temperature and high-magnetic environment in a well in oil exploration, the photoelectric converter is preferably made of a high-temperature resistant material, such as PMT, which can normally operate at 175 ℃ or higher.

The electronic sampling device is configured as any device capable of digitizing an electrical signal, such as a PCB board circuit control device or a different digitizing module, including an MVT (Multi-voltage threshold, MVT for short) digitizing module or a tot (time over threshold) digitizing module, or the like. After sampling is complete, the electronic sampling device may send these digitized signals to the processor 1 for processing.

In order to enable the radiation detection device to detect gamma rays under different dose rates in an excellent state, the electronic sampling device preferably adopts a multi-voltage threshold sampling method to complete sampling of electric pulse signals, in general, electric pulse signals generated after the gamma rays are converted by a scintillator have relatively fast rising edges and relatively slow falling edges, and due to the fact that countless electric pulse signals are generated at the same time during detection and are stacked together, the traditional equal-time interval sampling method cannot be used for distinguishing which electric pulse signal the acquired time and voltage information pair belongs to, and therefore cannot be used under the condition. The multi-voltage threshold sampling method includes setting multiple voltage thresholds, such as 3, respectively designated as V1, V2 and V3, recording the time when the electric pulse signal crosses the voltage thresholds through a comparator, and using a time-to-digital converterDigitalizing the corresponding time, at this time, 6 sampling points are generated, and each sampling point corresponds to the digital information of voltage and time, such as (V)₁、T₁₁)、(V₂、T₂₁)、(V₃、T₃₁)、(V₃、T₃₂)、(V₂、T₂₂) And (V)₁、T₁₂) Where the first 3 pairs of digital information are on the rising edge of the pulse and the last 3 pairs of digital information are on the falling edge of the pulse. The number of voltage thresholds generally needs to correspond to the number of comparators, one for each voltage threshold. The problem of signal superposition caused by reaching a large number of electric pulse signals in a short time can be solved through MVT sampling, and the problems of inaccurate system information acquisition and over-fast heating of a processor are solved.

Thus, the electronic sampling device may be configured to comprise a comparator and a converter, wherein the comparator may be configured to compare the amplitude of the electrical pulse signal under test output by the radiation detector in response to the received photons with a voltage threshold and to output a corresponding comparison result; the converter may be configured to record time point data according to the comparison result, and provide the recorded time point data to the processor 1 connected at the back end for data analysis processing, the processor fits and restores the time point data to obtain a digitized pulse signal, and may obtain information related to the electrical pulse signal through the digitized pulse signal, such as energy information extraction and the like. After the electronic sampling device completes the sampling of the electrical pulse signal, data analysis and processing, such as pulse signal reduction, time, energy, and position information extraction, can be performed according to the relationship between the time data and the amplitude of the electrical pulse signal and the corresponding energy thereof, which is easily implemented by those skilled in the art and is not described herein again.

The radiation source 3 is configured to generate neutron rays, such as an isotope radiation source, an accelerator radiation source, or a reaction stack radiation source, and preferably, the radiation source 3 employs a small-sized portable radiation source to reduce costs.

Since the housing 10 needs to enter a complicated geological environment with high temperature, high humidity and high magnetic field, the housing 10 needs to have high strength, high temperature resistance, sealing property, magnetic shielding and other properties. Preferably, high temperature resistance means that the housing can withstand a temperature of 500 ℃, so as to avoid heating the internal components too quickly as possible.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the radiation detection apparatus may further include a sensor 4, the sensor 4 is respectively connected to the processor 1 and the electronic sampling device, the sensor 4 is configured to acquire data of the temperature sensor to monitor changes of the ambient temperature, and may be configured to measure a power supply voltage in the electronic sampling device and a signal gain of the radiation detector, and such data acquired by the sensor 4 may be further transmitted to the processor 1 and operated by receiving an instruction of the processor 1. The sensor 4 may be any device capable of implementing the above functions, such as a PCB circuit control device, and will not be described herein.

In addition, in the embodiment of fig. 1, a low temperature region 5 is provided inside the casing 10, the low temperature region 5 is isolated from the processor, the radiation detector, the sensor and the radiation source, a heat conductor 8 can be disposed on the low temperature region 5, the low temperature region 5 provides a cold source inside the sealed casing 10, and heat transfer between heat of the electronic device inside the casing 10 and the low temperature region 5 can be achieved through the heat conductor 8, so that the problem that the temperature inside the sealed space is rapidly increased when the electronic device (for example, the processor 1, the electronic sampling device, and the like) inside the sealed casing 10 works is solved, the time of temperature increase of the electronic device is delayed through heat transfer, and the time of normal work of the radiation detector underground is prolonged.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the radiation detection device may also be configured to form a radiation detection system together with the upper computer 7, wherein the upper computer 7 is an overall control center of the radiation detection system, and is connected to the processor 1 in the radiation detection device through a communication cable, and the communication cable may pass through the housing 10 and maintain a sealing fit with the housing 10. The upper computer 7 is used for monitoring or processing the working state of the radiation detection system and/or sending working instructions to various components of the radiation detection system, so as to store and analyze the detection data sent by the processor 1 and monitor the working state of the components of the detection device, or sending instructions to the detection device to start or stop the operation of the detection device. The upper computer 7 can also control the sensor 4 to adjust the gain of the output electric pulse signal, so that the detection result of the detection device is more accurate.

According to another embodiment of the invention, as shown in fig. 2, in which identical or similar components are indicated by means of a reference numeral with an "added" compared to the embodiment of fig. 1, such as the processor 1', only the differences compared to the embodiment of fig. 1 will be described below. In the embodiment of fig. 2, two radiation detectors 2 'are disposed in a housing 10' of the radiation detection apparatus, the two radiation detectors 2 'are respectively connected to a processor 1', an electronic sampling device is respectively connected to the two radiation detectors 2', the structure and function of each radiation detector 2' are the same as those described in fig. 1, the processor 1 'and the electronic sampling device can respectively control or monitor the operations of the two radiation detectors 2', which can prevent a certain radiation detector from suddenly failing during the detection process of the detection apparatus, ensure that the detection process can still be performed, increase the diversity of detected data, and complement the data of the two radiation detectors, so that the detection result is more accurate.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, in which the same or similar components are denoted by reference numerals increased by "", as compared with the embodiment of fig. 1, only the differences as compared with the embodiment of fig. 1 will be described below. In the embodiment of fig. 3, a plurality of refrigerators 5 are arranged inside a casing 10", the refrigerators 5 are isolated from a processor, a radiation detector, a sensor and a radioactive source, a heat conductor 8 can be arranged on the refrigerators 5", the refrigerator 5 provides a cold source inside the closed casing 10", heat transfer between heat of electronic devices inside the casing 10 and the refrigerators 5 can be realized through the heat conductor 8", so that the problem that the temperature in the closed space is rapidly increased when electronic devices (such as the processor 1, an electronic sampling device and the like) inside the closed casing 10 work is solved, the temperature increase time of the electronic devices is delayed through the heat transfer, and the normal working time of the radiation detector under the ground is prolonged

In addition, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that a plurality of heat conducting fins may be disposed on each cooler/low temperature area, and the shape of each heat conducting fin may be matched as required, for example, the heat conducting fins may be configured as irregular heat conducting fins to increase the heat conducting area and improve the heat balance effect, and the heat conducting fins may also be configured to be respectively close to the heat generating electronic device, for example, the processor and the electronic sampling device, so as to achieve heat transfer with as high efficiency as possible and to prolong the overhigh time of temperature rise in the enclosed space as long as possible.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a radiation detection system which can comprise the radiation detection device in the embodiment, and the radiation detection system can analyze and process according to the detection result of the radiation detection device, so that the aim of geological resource exploration can be fulfilled. As to how the data analysis process performs the specific process of the image reconstruction process, reference may be made to the related description in the prior art, which is not described in detail herein.

When the radiation detection device/system provided by the invention detects, the radiation detection device is placed underground through a communication cable, a working instruction is sent out through a master controller to enable a radioactive source to start working and release neutron rays, when petroleum or other gas resources exist in a stratum, and the neutron rays collide with hydrogen nuclei, due to the fact that the mass of the neutron rays is close to that of the hydrogen nuclei, most kinetic energy of fast neutrons is transferred to the hydrogen nuclei to become slow neutrons, the slow neutrons are easy to be captured by the nuclei of various substances, a large number of gamma rays are released, the gamma rays are emitted to the periphery randomly and can be received by a radiation detector, and the structure in the stratum can be judged through analyzing detection data.

The radiation detection device/system provided by the invention allows the radioactive source and the electronic device to be opened for a longer time, is beneficial to acquiring more accurate and more continuous data, is still stable in performance under high environmental temperature and a wide ray energy range of 600 KeV-10 MeV, and can acquire more accurate detection information.

The above embodiments are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention, which are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and various changes may be made in the above embodiments of the present invention. All simple and equivalent changes and modifications made according to the claims and the content of the specification of the present invention fall within the protection scope of the claims of the present patent invention. The invention has not been described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the invention.