General Description
Military personnel endure dangerous conditions including drinking water during deployment. The armed services have strict rules for testing water to ensure portability. The radiation tests are rigorous. The Military Water Safety Test System –Portable, SSS-22RLX, measures water to these requirements as proven in U.S. Army testing conducted at White Sands Missile Base. The portable Military Water Safety Test System has on-board data log capability for easy export and PC interface with hard copy printer are optional. The Military Water Safety Test System has a 3 Vial capacity for faster thru-put and easy comparison sample to calibration standard or to background. This is an all-in-one unit thus enhancing portability. End Users: U.S. military drinking water quality units, state and federal health agencies, small labs.
Technical Description
The Military Water Safety Test System accurately quantitatively measures all Beta emitters, including Tritium below 10,000pC/L andCarbon-14 and low energy Gamma and Alpha emitters. The most sensitive method of detecting and quantitating beta emitting isotopes is to mix the sample with liquid scintillation fluor and count each individual scintillation event with a photomultplier counter. Scintillation counts detected by PM tubes are processed by a fully adjustable single channel analyzer centered on the energy peak of the isotope being measured. Followed by an energy analyzer which further selects the pulses and delivers the true signal. Detection cell optically coupled to selected photomultiplier tube. A 3 Vial capacity provides a faster thru-put and easy comparison sample to calibration standard or to background. The Military Water Safety Test System deletes both higher energy pulses from background radiation and lower energy counts from the PM tube or circuit noise. The pulses are then fed to a digital scaler and optional digital printer. (Thus allowing long count times for measurement of very minute samples as well as completely eliminating artifacts caused by rate meter time constants.) Optional USB interface to most scientific or personal computers or data stations.
Evaluation Criteria
THROUGHPUT:
- Between 2 and 15 minutes for detection
- Multiple samples, multiple tests/sample per run
- System is continuous and provides real time analysis with no defined tests/samples
- The system or device is currently fully automated
- Device or system is intended for multiple detection assays
- 0-1 solutions, buffer, eluents, and/or reagents
- 0 components
- Less than 5 minutes is required for set-up
- 3-5 steps are required for detection
LOGISTICS:
- An afternoon of training and some technical skills required
- Approximately the size of a carry-on luggage suitcase
- Between 1 and 5 kg
- Satellite and wired connections are available
- System or device uses batteries
- 4-8 hours battery life
OPERATIONS:
- Can be used from 4°C to 37°C
- Performance is not influenced by relative humidity
- Greater than 3 years shelf life
- Greater than 10 years expected life
- Results can be viewed in real-time
- The system is not capable of autonomy
- The system software is open and available for modification
- The system hardware is open and available for modification
DETECTION:
- Greater than 250 µL
- Excellent specificity. System has occasional false alarms under certain conditions (<2%)
- Only total dose and dose rate
- Down to background level radiation for dose rate
- System is used for surveying