Radiation Physics and Engineering
A peer-reviewed journal published by K. N. Toosi University of Technology

Low-cost active detectors for radon gas detection: some preliminary test results

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Ehsan Parsazadeh
Kamal Hadad
Mohammadreza Mohammadian Behbahani
Ahmad Pirouzmand

Department of Nuclear Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22034/rpe.2025.474882.1237
Abstract
Radon gas is a significant source of natural radiation exposure in humans. In this research, the responses of three different radiation detectors are compared by preliminary test results for Radon gas detection. First detector is a pulse-mode counter developed by using a BPW34 photodiode. To amplify and read out the output signal of the photodiode, a charge-sensitive preamplifier, based on a two-stage TLC272 operational amplifier is designed. In the following, a pulse counting circuit is implemented by using an ATmega32 microcontroller. The second developed detector is a current-mode air ionization chamber working at low applied voltages, with output signal enhanced by a current amplifier BC517 Darlington transistor, read out by an Arduino UNO module. Additionally, an alpha-sensitive Geiger-Mueller counter (model NT-960, Novin Teyf) with a mica entrance window is employed as the third detector. Soil samples containing natural Uranium, in companion with all three detectors were sealed in a chamber to study the detector responses to different concentrations of Radon gas. Findings indicate that all three detectors exhibit an increasing response as the concentration of Radon gas is increased. In the viewpoint of measurement accuracy, the Geiger-Mueller counter provides more accurate results due to a higher count rate and lower statistical fluctuations, with a concentration curve giving the half-life of Radon acceptably. The ionization chamber is shown to suffer from low sensitivity due to its current-mode operation.

Highlights

  • The study evaluates low-cost active detectors for Radon gas monitoring.
  • Three different detectors are studied.
  • The three detectors exhibit either an increasing or decreasing response as the concentration of Radon gas changes.

Keywords

Arduino-based ion chamber
Geiger-Mueller counter
Photodiode detector
Radon gas monitoring
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Radiation Physics and Engineering
Volume 6, Issue 3
Spring 2025
Pages 49-54

  • Receive Date 23 August 2024
  • Revise Date 13 December 2024
  • Accept Date 24 February 2025

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