[Electronics] Interior-type Gamma-ray Spectrometer
>>> World's First!! <<< (Self-proclaimed)
An interior-type illuminated gamma-ray spectrometer that lets you check the status of normal conditions daily through a soothing experience.
[Exhibitions]
・Renesas Night 5 (Lightning talk)
・Maker Faire Tokyo 2014 (Exhibited at the Sakura Board User Group booth)
[Overview]
This is a proposal for an interior light that visually displays gamma-ray detection, allowing you to feel the normalcy of the environment as a soothing experience. The mechanism involves detecting gamma rays above a specified energy level (using NaI+PMT) and emitting light in a hue corresponding to that energy value. GR-SAKURA is used for control. Note that the specified energy level is adjusted to trigger detection at a frequency of about once every few minutes.
[Interior/Ornamental Gamma-ray Spectrometer with LED-Illumination] This work will display the gamma-ray detection visually and is the suggestion of the interior/ornamental light letting you feel normal as healing. NaI scintillator and a photomultiplier tube detect the gamma beam. The full color LED emits light with the hue mapping to the energy level for the detection with more than of given energy. GR-SAKURA measures the detection pulse from a photomultiplier tube through a pulse width extension circuit and controls LED illumination. While the given energy level will be adjusted with detecting a time par some minutes, because low level gamma rays are much in the nature.
[Videos and Slides, etc.]
http://www.slideshare.net/hirofumiinomata58/renesas-night-5
[Motivation and Reasons for Creation]
When things are normal, people stop actively measuring radiation levels, and the Geiger counters they bought just end up covered in dust. If an emergency were to occur, you wouldn't be able to complain, and you wouldn't even know if there was an abnormality. Therefore, just like with a thermometer or hygrometer, we should turn the state of normalcy into an interior item that can be checked daily through a soothing experience.
[Points of Focus and Challenges]
Realizing its appearance as an interior item for the living room.
[Message to those viewing this page]
The energy of the detected gamma rays is assigned to a color, and each time one is detected, it moves upward. Under normal conditions, the changes in color and movement speed are slow, allowing you to enjoy it as a kind of art piece in your daily life. I especially hope that various products inspired by this work will circulate in the market. The source code for the GR-SAKURA is available below.
https://github.com/digiponta/OGS_2014.git
By the way, the photo below shows the Geiger counter I built myself at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. My knowledge of electronic circuits at the time was low, and the battery only lasted 30 minutes. Also, the background CPM of the Geiger-Müller tubes available for purchase (manufactured by Hamamatsu Photonics, 10,000 yen each) was 1 CPM, so it could not measure low levels of radiation. It seems it still works today.
At the time of the Fukushima nuclear accident, I built a Geiger counter logger. This runs for a day and a half on a mobile battery. The Geiger-Müller tube I used for this has a background CPM of 12 CPM, which is 12 times more sensitive than the one mentioned above, and the price was about one-fifth.
