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Low-Cost Radon Detector with Low-Voltage Air-Ionization Chamber

This paper describes the design of a low-cost radon detector that can easily be fabricated in large quantities for the purposes of earthquake prediction. The described detector can also be used for monitoring radon levels in houses because high radon levels pose a great health risk. A very simple ai...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Studnička, Filip, Štěpán, Jan, Šlégr, Jan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6749372/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31466262
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19173721
Descripción
Sumario:This paper describes the design of a low-cost radon detector that can easily be fabricated in large quantities for the purposes of earthquake prediction. The described detector can also be used for monitoring radon levels in houses because high radon levels pose a great health risk. A very simple air-ionization chamber for alpha particles was used, considering the experimental results. Chamber current-sensing circuitry is also suggested, and an Internet of Things (IoT) sensor grid is described. The main advantages of this detector are the low cost, low power consumption, and complete elimination of high-voltage power sources. The minimum detectable activity achieved with the proposed detector for one measurement was around [Formula: see text] , with time of measurement comparable to that featured on commercial devices, while the price of the described detector is one order of magnitude lower.