JP2001004758A - Radiation measuring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a radiation measuring apparatus in which a measuring range can be confirmed easily while an analog indication value is being observed by a method wherein a range display part which displays the measuring range selected at present is installed inside an analog display part. SOLUTION: For example, an analog pointer 42 which indicates a measured value, light emitting diodes(LEDs) 46 which indicate a measuring range and a multipurpose digital display part 44 which can display, e.g. various pieces of information are provided at the display part 40 of a survey meter. The multipurpose digital display part 44 is a liquid crystal display device of e.g. about 16 digits, and the various pieces of information are displayed according to the selection or the like of a measuring operator. The LEDs 46 are installed at respective selectable measuring ranges, and they are arranged in a prescribed sequence. Then, the LEDs 46 which correspond to a measuring range selected, e.g. by a range switch emit light, and the measuring range which is selected is displayed. When a measured value exceeds a preset threshold value, the LEDs 46 as a group are made to blink, and the LEDs are constituted so as to be used also as an alarm display.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a radiation measuring apparatus, and more particularly to a display mechanism thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a variety of radiation measuring devices such as a survey meter, a measured value display mechanism using an analog pointer has been often used. This is not only because of the historical background that the radiation measurement device itself originally started using analog pointers, but also because in the field of radiation measurement where measured values change rapidly, it may be difficult to read values on digital display. by.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the appearance of a main body of a conventional general survey meter. In this survey meter,
Insert the plug of the cord end of the detection probe (not shown) into the jack 112 of the main body, and use one hand to pull the handle 1 of the main body.
Hold 10 and carry out measurement while holding the detection probe with the other hand. A display unit 100 is provided on the main body, and a measured value is displayed based on a swing angle of the analog pointer 102.

In such a survey meter, a plurality of measurement ranges are generally prepared, and measurement is performed by selecting a measurement range according to an object to be measured. The measurement range is conventionally set by turning the selection switch 120 so that the indication mark is set to a desired measurement range position. In the illustrated example, the measurement range is 10 μSv / h.

[0005]

In the case of the above-mentioned conventional survey meter, if the unit of the scale (measurement range) indicated by the current pointer cannot be determined during measurement, the mark of the selection switch 120 at hand is displayed. I needed to check the position. For this reason, in the conventional survey meter, it is necessary to temporarily take an eye from the display unit 100 when checking the measurement range, which is inconvenient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily confirm a measurement range while viewing an analog indicated value in an analog pointer type radiation measuring apparatus. Aim.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the radiation measuring apparatus according to the present invention has a range display section which indicates a currently selected measurement range in an analog display section.

According to this configuration, since the measurement range is indicated in the analog display section, the user (measurer) can check the measurement range without taking his eyes off the pointer.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the range display section has a light emitting element group arranged in a predetermined order for each selectable measurement range, and the light emitting element corresponding to the currently selected measurement range. Is characterized by emitting light.

According to this aspect, since the measurement range is displayed by the light emission of the light emitting element, the visibility is good. In addition, since the light emitting element groups are arranged in a predetermined order in the order of the corresponding measurement ranges, the user can easily and intuitively recognize the measurement range based on which position of the light emitting element emits light.

Further, in a further preferred aspect, there is provided alarm control means for causing each light emitting element of the range display section to emit light in a predetermined light emitting pattern when the measured value satisfies a preset alarm condition.

In this embodiment, the light emitting element group for displaying the measurement range is also used for displaying the alarm. Since the alarm display is performed by the light emission of the light emitting element in the analog display unit that the user is watching, it is easy for the user to recognize the occurrence of the alarm state. Further, since the same light emitting element group and display control mechanism can be used for the measurement range display and the alarm display, an increase in the scale of the apparatus can be suppressed.

In a further preferred aspect, the alarm condition for determining the presence or absence of the alarm display can be set as an absolute value independent of the measurement range, so that the measurement range is changed during the measurement. Therefore, there is no need to change the setting of the alarm condition accordingly.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a multipurpose digital display for selectively displaying a plurality of types of information including a measured value and apparatus status information is provided in an analog display, so that a user can be provided with a multipurpose digital display. The type of information can be presented, and the information providing ability of the radiation measuring device can be enhanced.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a main part of a radiation measuring apparatus according to the present invention. The example shown in FIG. 1 is a main configuration of a main body of a survey meter which is a kind of a radiation measuring device.

As shown in FIG. 1, a display unit 40 of the survey meter according to the present embodiment has an analog pointer 42 indicating a measured value.
A multi-purpose digital display unit 44 capable of displaying various information including measured values, and a light emitting diode (LED) 46 indicating a measurement range. The mechanism for displaying the measured value by the analog pointer 42 is the same as the conventional one.

The multipurpose digital display section 44 has, for example, 16
It is a liquid crystal digital display device of about digits, and can display numbers, alphabets, kana characters, and the like. The multi-purpose digital display unit 44 displays the current device status of the measured value and the survey meter itself, time information, user instruction storage data, and the like.
Various types of information held or generated by the survey meter itself are displayed as numerical values or characters in accordance with a user (measurement person) selection. The device status information includes the current operation mode of the survey meter, the remaining amount of the battery, the quality of the voltage applied to the detection probe, the quality of the voltage applied to the detection probe, and the time constant for calculating the measurement value (this changes the intensity of the vibration of the pointer 42). ), Etc. There are various states and setting states of the survey meter. The time information includes time, calendar information (year, month, day, day of the week), time from the start of measurement, and the like. The user instruction storage data is data stored in a memory in accordance with a user instruction, and is, for example, a past measurement value. Multipurpose digital display 44
, These various pieces of information are displayed according to the user's selection operation.

One LED 46 is provided for each selectable measurement range. The numerical value shown above each LED 46 indicates the full scale value of the meter. For example, the rightmost LED 46 in the figure corresponds to a measurement range of 100k counts per minute (ie, 100,000 counts per minute). The illustrated example is a survey meter of a counting rate display type, and the numerical value of the measurement range indicates the number of counts per minute. The example in FIG. 1 is merely an example, and the present invention can be applied regardless of the measurement type of the radiation measurement device. In this case, it goes without saying that the numerical value shown in association with the LED 46 is a value corresponding to the measurement type (count rate, dose, dose equivalent, etc.).

The seven LEDs 46 are arranged in a line from left to right in order from the one corresponding to the range with the lowest (small count rate). In the present embodiment, these LEDs 46
The currently selected measurement range is displayed by causing the LED 46 corresponding to the measurement range selected by the user with a range switch (not shown) to emit light.

These LEDs 46 are also used for alarm display. That is, for example, when the measured value exceeds a preset threshold value, the user is notified by blinking the group of LEDs 46 or the like. In the present embodiment, the LED 46 and the control mechanism used for displaying the measurement range are also used for alarm display, so that the scale of the entire apparatus can be suppressed.

The display unit 40 has been described above. Next, the overall processing content of the apparatus will be described.

A detection signal sent from a detection probe (not shown) is subjected to predetermined signal processing required for calculating a measured value in a signal processing unit 10 and then input to a main control unit 12. The main control unit 12 is a module that controls the operation of the entire survey meter. In the main control unit 12, the measurement processing unit 14 performs predetermined arithmetic processing according to the measurement type of the survey meter, such as counting the input detection signal, and calculates a measured value. The main control unit 12 converts the calculated measurement value into a control signal of the analog pointer 42 and supplies the control signal to the analog display control unit 30. The control signal is determined based on the measured value and the currently selected measurement range. The analog display control unit 30 controls the analog hands 42 according to the control signal. As a result, the measured values are displayed in analog form. When the digital display of the measurement value is selected, the main control unit 12 sends the data of the measurement value to the digital display control unit 32. The digital display control unit 32 controls the multi-purpose digital display unit 44 according to the data.
Display the measured value in.

Input means for various setting items such as a selection switch for a measurement range, a selection switch for a survey meter operation mode, and a selection switch for a time constant are collectively represented as an operation input section 16 in FIG. ing. Information on the user's selection values and setting values input from the operation input unit 16 is input to the main control unit 12. The input selection value and setting value information is stored in the memory 20 as information constituting a part of the device status 24. The main controller 12 performs overall control of the survey meter based on the selected / set values.

For example, the main control unit 12 generates a control signal for causing the LED 46 corresponding to the selected measurement range to emit light based on the current selection value of the measurement range, and
It is supplied to the D display control unit 34. LED display control unit 34
Causes the LED 46 specified by the control signal to emit light. Accordingly, in the display unit 40, the LED 46 corresponding to the currently selected measurement range continues to emit light. The user can display the light emission of the LED 46 in the display unit 40,
Since the current measurement range can be visually recognized while looking at the analog pointer 42, it is easy to confirm the measurement range.

It should be noted that some radiation measuring devices can be displayed in a plurality of measurement units. In such a case, an LED corresponding to each measurement unit is provided on the display unit 40, and the LED corresponding to the measurement unit in the current display is caused to emit light, so that the user can be notified of the current measurement unit. Such unit information is also a kind of measurement range information.

When the measured value satisfies the preset alarm condition 22, the main controller 12 supplies a control signal for causing all the LEDs 46 to emit light in a predetermined pattern to the LED display controller 34. I do. LED4
As the light emitting pattern of No. 6, blinking light emission or the like is preferable from the viewpoint of visibility. For example, all the LEDs 46 are blinked simultaneously at a predetermined cycle. At the time of this blinking display, the LED corresponding to the selected measurement range
By inverting the blinking state between the LED 46 and another group of LEDs 46, the measurement range can be displayed even when an alarm is displayed. Of course, the light emission pattern at the time of the alarm is not limited to this.

The alarm condition 22 is, for example, an upper limit value or a lower limit value of a measured value. For example, when it is desired to know a place where the count rate or the like is higher than a certain value, the value is designated as the upper limit of the measured value. Then, when the calculated measurement value exceeds the upper limit, the main control unit 12 issues a control signal for alarm display to the LED display control unit 34. In the case of a survey meter, a certain number of counts can usually be obtained even when there is no contamination source due to the influence of background radiation. If the measured value is too small, there is a possibility that a malfunction has occurred in the device itself. In order to detect such a defect, the lower limit of the measured value may be set as the alarm condition 22. Thus, when the measured value is unnaturally small, the LEDs 46 emit light in a predetermined pattern for alarm, and the user can recognize such a situation.

As the alarm condition 22, a plurality of thresholds such as an upper limit and a lower limit may be set.
In this case, if the light emission pattern of the group of LEDs 46 when the condition is satisfied is set for each alarm condition, it is possible to know what situation has occurred based on the light emission pattern of the group of LEDs 46 at the time of the alarm. For example, it is conceivable to specify a plurality of threshold values of the measured value, and to increase the blinking speed of the group of LEDs 46 each time the measured value increases and exceeds each threshold value. Further, instead of blinking all the LEDs 46 all at once, it is also possible to blink them individually in a predetermined order.

The alarm condition 22 is set by the user from the operation input unit 16. In the apparatus of the present embodiment, the alarm condition is an absolute upper limit value that does not depend on the measurement range,
Lower limit (e.g., 2500 counts per minute as upper limit,
Etc.).

A meter relay is conventionally known as a type of radiation measuring device that emits an alarm display and an alarm sound. In this meter relay, an upper limit value and a lower limit value are indicated on a meter of an analog display. An alarm pointer was provided, and the alarm pointer was set at a desired position. When the pointer of the measured value swings and exceeds the position of the alarm pointer, an alarm is issued. At this time, the threshold value indicated by the alarm pointer is a relative value depending on the measurement range. Therefore, in the conventional meter relay, when the measurement range is changed, the threshold value (absolute value) indicated by the alarm pointer changes. Therefore, in the case of the meter relay, if it is not desired to change the threshold value of the alarm even if the range is changed, the alarm pointer must be reset, and a complicated operation is required. On the other hand, in the apparatus of the present embodiment, the threshold value of the alarm condition can be specified by an absolute value independent of the measurement range. Therefore, even if the measurement range is changed during the measurement operation, it is necessary to change the alarm condition. There is no need to reset alarm conditions.

In this embodiment, the display items of the multipurpose digital display unit 44 can be selected from the operation input unit 16. The user can check the measured values, various device statuses 2
4. The operation input unit 16 selects which of the display items such as the time information and the user-specified storage data 26 is to be displayed on the multipurpose digital display unit 44. This selection can be made, for example, by switching display items by pressing a toggle button or the like. If the information of the display item selected in this way exists in the memory 20 (for example, the user-specified storage data 26
And the alarm condition 22 and the device status 24) are read out and transmitted to the digital display control unit 32. If the selected display item is one that needs to be calculated or detected each time, such as “measured value” or “remaining battery”, the main control unit 12 performs calculation or detection control necessary for that and displays the display information. Acquisition and digital display control unit 32
Tell As a result, the display items selected by the user are displayed on the multipurpose digital display unit 44. When digitally displaying measured values, it is also preferable to change the time constant of measurement between digital display and analog display. For example, if the time constant of the analog display is set short and the time constant of the digital display is set long, the change of the measured value in a short cycle is read from the analog pointer 42, and the average of the measured value in a long span is read from the digital display. be able to.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the analog display section has a range display section indicating the current measurement range, the user can simultaneously check the current measurement range while viewing the analog display of the measured values.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a radiation measuring apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the appearance of a main body of a conventional survey meter.

[Description of Signs] 10 signal processing unit, 12 main control unit, 14 measurement processing unit, 16 operation input unit, 20 memory, 22 alarm conditions, 24 device status, 26 user-specified storage data, 30 analog display control unit, 32 digital Display control unit, 34 LED display control unit, 40 display unit, 42
Analog pointer, 44 Multipurpose digital display, 46
LED.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A radiation measuring apparatus having an analog display unit that indicates a measured value with a pointer, wherein a range display unit that indicates a currently selected measurement range is provided in the analog display unit. . 2. The radiation measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the range display section has a light emitting element group arranged in a predetermined order for each selectable measurement range, and is currently selected. A radiation measuring device for emitting light from a light emitting element corresponding to a measurement range. 3. The radiation measuring apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the measured value satisfies a preset alarm condition, the alarm control means causes each light emitting element of the range display section to emit light in a predetermined light emitting pattern. A radiation measuring device comprising: 4. The radiation measuring apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the alarm condition can be set as an absolute numerical value independent of a measurement range, and the measured value is compared with the numerical value to determine the alarm condition. A radiation measuring apparatus characterized in that it is determined whether the condition is satisfied or not. 5. The radiation measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of types of information including the measured value and apparatus status information are selectively displayed in the analog display unit. A radiation measuring apparatus further comprising a multipurpose digital display unit for performing the above.