1. Electrons are generated by a heated filament (the electron source).
2. A voltage gradient draws the electrons away from the source and accelerates them through the vacuum tube.
3. As the high voltage beam of electrons passes from the beam tube through the scan magnet, an oscillating magnetic field sweeps the beam back and forth across the scan window.
4. The electrons pass through the metal foil of the scan window and irradiate the products passing beneath.
Basic Principle Is The Same As A TV |
Accelerators, such as the Dynamitron, work on the same principle as a television tube.
Electrons are generated by a heated filament which forms the electron gun. A voltage gradient draws the electrons away from the gun and accelerates them through the vacuum tube. As the high voltage beam of electrons passes from the beam tube and through the scan magnet, an oscillating magnetic field sweeps the beam back and forth across the scan window.
...With A High Accelerating Voltage |
A television operates at about 25 kV, which is enough to generate images from the electrons striking the fluorescent screen of the picture tube. The voltage of the Dynamitron, however, ranges from 500kV to 5 MeV which is great enough to accelerate the electrons through the metal foil of the scan window and irradiate product passing beneath. Electrons accelerated under a voltage of 5 MeV are traveling at approximately 99.6% of the speed of light, or nearly 300,000 km/sec, when they enter the scan window.
...And A High Beam Current
|
Beam current is an indication of the number of electrons being accelerated. In a television set, beam current is on the order of several microamps. In a Dynamitron, the beam current is a thousand times greater. It is interesting to note that 1 mA of beam current represents about 6 million billion electron particles every second.
The Real Difference Is The Result |
Where the objective of a television is to create a picture, a Dynamitron bundles electrons into a 3 to 5 cm diameter beam to irradiate industrial products. The enormous number of electrons and the high acceleration voltage produces rapid reactions by operating directly on the molecules within the product. This produces an efficiency that is outstanding when compared with other methods such as heat, light, and chemical reagents.
Overview |
The Millennium Control System was designed as a direct replacement for the older model Analog Console Systems. It essentially will modernize your Dynamitron system and extend its useful life.
The Millennium is an advanced, state-of-the-art, flexible and easy to use control system. The operator has a full range of display screens available on the system monitor that displays the complete status and condition of the machine at any time during operation. There are clear prompting messages to the operator for start up and operating sequences.
In addition, the Millennium builds upon our 30 years of experience with the Dynamitron, making improvements that are user friendly and of major cost savings benefits. When compared to the analog console the Millennium represents a significant improvement in everything from operating speed to ease of maintenance.
What this means to the user is :
- Increased reliability.
- Easier Setup.
- Reduced Troubleshooting Time.
- Faster Repairs.
- Increased Availability.
- Reduced Unscheduled Downtime.
Benefits |
The operator no longer has to manually adjust scan or beam optics (focus, steering). Once the system is set up and calibrated, the Millennium automatically calculates these values and controls critical beam optics while continually checking for errors.
The operator has a choice of operating the Dynamitron system in manual mode or in one of three automatic modes. Two of the automatic modes, keyboard and the optional menu mode, are fully integrated with the product handling system. The third, conditioning mode, allows the Dynamitron to be run without the product handling system. In menu mode, the operator chooses from recipes stored in the Millennium Control System. Recipes can be loaded several ways, for example, from a host computer, a floppy disk, Etc..
Each system contains a modem which allows the Millennium to be connected directly via phone lines to RDI's Technical Assistance Center. The modem is used not only to download control program updates or modifications, but also enables RDI's control engineer to assist the user in troubleshooting the system. This eliminates costly and time consuming service calls, and dramatically decreased repair times and minimizes unscheduled outages, not to mention reduced stress on all concerned.
Other troubleshooting aids that are accessible when the system is operating are:
- Digital Display, showing the status of input/output blocks
- Analog Display, which show the value of the analog inputs and outputs
- Program Display, which permits the operator to display up to sixteen control program variables.
Besides the information available to the operator, another series of aids, known as the Set Up Program, are available to your technician or engineer. The Set Up Program provides several different routines to facilitate quick and ease setup of the Dynamitron. For Example: The Millennium gives the technician the ability to set up the Dynamitron via the keyboard, the sub-system line the beam optics or the beam scan, and to test parameters likeanalog signals and DOM signals. All are aimed at reducing troubleshooting and repair time.
Summary |
The Millennium upgrade has significant benefits to you with increased Reliability, Ease of Operation, Enhanced Troubleshooting, Ease of Maintenance, and many hidden benefits that will help offset your operating costs. For Example: The upgrade package often includes Dynamitron Enhancements that have been implemented since you purchased you original Dynamitron.
Since the Millennium was designed to interface the Dynamitron in a similar way to the analog console, and because the Millennium hardware is simpler and easier to install, we believe that the change over can be completed in approximately one to two weeks. This of course assumes that proper Pre-Installation planning has been completed.
