• 비파괴검사학회지
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• 제29권6호
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• pp.591-602
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• 2009

The Compton backscatter technique has been applied to lap-joint in aircraft structure in order to determine mass loss due to exfoliative corrosion of the aluminum alloy sheet skin. The mass loss of each layer has been estimated from Compton backscatter A-scan including the aluminum sheet, the corrosion layer, and the sealant. A Compton backscattering imaging system has been also developed to obtain a cross-sectional profile of corroded lap-splices of aging aircraft using a specially designed slit-type camera. The camera is to focus on a small scattering volume inside the material from which the backscattered photons are collected by a collimated scintillator detector for interpretation of material characteristics. The cross section of the layered structure is scanned by moving the scattering volume through the thickness direction of the specimen. The theoretical model of the Compton scattering based on Boltzmann transport theory is presented for quantitative characterization of exfoliative corrosion through deconvolution procedure using a nonlinear least-square error minimization method. It produces practical information such as location and width of planar corrosion in layered structures of aircraft, which generally cannot be detected by conventional NDE techniques such as the ultrasonic method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권12호
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• pp.4080-4092
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• 2021

In this study, the performance of sequence tracking methods for multiple interaction events in specific CdZnTe Compton imagers was evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations. The Compton imager consisted of a 6 × 6 array of virtual Frisch-grid CZT crystals, where the dimensions of each crystal were 5 × 5 × 12 mm³. The sequence tracking methods for another Compton imager that consists of two identical CZT crystals arrays were also evaluated. When 662 keV radiation was incident on the detectors, the percentages of the correct sequences determined by the simple comparison and deterministic methods for two sequential interactions were identical (~80%), while those evaluated using the minimum squared difference method (55-59%) and Three Compton method (45-55%) for three sequential interactions, differed from each other. The reconstructed images of a 662 keV point source detected using single and double arrays were evaluated based on their angular resolution and signal-to-noise ratio, and the results showed that the double arrays outperformed single arrays.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제40권1호
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• pp.1-9
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• 2015

콤프턴 카메라는 검출 신호의 동시성 판단을 기반으로 한 전자적 집속방식을 이용하기 때문에, 기존의 물리적 집속기를 이용하는 감마선 영상 장비의 가시영역이 좁고 투과력이 높은 고에너지 감마선에 적용하기 어렵다는 한계를 극복할 수 있다. 특히 대면적의 콤프턴 카메라는 절대 검출 효율이 높아 영상 장비의 운반이 요구되지 않는 대규모 공정 시설내 핵물질의 모니터링용으로 매우 적합하다. 본 연구팀은 한국원자력연구원에서 개발 중인 파이로 시험 공정 시설에서의 안전조치 수립을 위해 대면적 콤프턴 카메라를 적용하고자 한다. 대면적 콤프턴 카메라를 구성하는 대면적의 검출기는 그 형태나 구성 방식에 따라 에너지 분해능이나 위치 분해능이 달라질 수 있다. 이는 콤프턴 영상의 질에 직접적으로 영향을 미치므로, 본 연구에서는 전산모사를 통해 그 영향을 예측하여 대면적 검출기의 설계 방향을 결정하였다. 또한 한국원자력연구원으로부터 파이로 시험 공정 시설의 정보를 전달받아 전산모사를 수행하였고, 여러 계측 환경에 대해 대면적 콤프턴 카메라의 성능을 예측하여 보았다. 그 결과 대면적 검출기는 에너지 분해능 측면에서의 손실을 최소화 할 수 있도록 구성하여야 한다는 결론을 얻었으며, 에너지 분해능 10%, 위치 분해능 7 mm 정도 성능의 검출기를 이용하여 콤프턴 카메라를 구성할 경우 1 m 거리에 위치한 감손우라늄 선원을 영상 해상도 16.3 cm(각도 분해능 $9.26^{\circ}$)으로 영상화할 수 있음을 확인하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권10호
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• pp.3822-3830
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• 2023

The large-area Compton camera (LACC), featuring significantly high detection sensitivity, was developed for high-speed localization of gamma-ray sources. Due to the high gamma-ray interaction event rate induced by the high sensitivity, however, the multiplexer-based data acquisition system (DAQ) rapidly saturated, leading to deteriorated energy and imaging resolution at event rates higher than 4.7 × 10³ s^-1. In the present study, a new simultaneous multi-channel DAQ was developed to improve the energy and imaging resolution of the LACC even under high event rate conditions (10⁴-10⁶ s^-1). The performance of the DAQ was evaluated with several point sources under different event rate conditions. The results indicated that the new DAQ offers significantly better performance than the existing DAQ over the entire energy and event rate ranges. Especially, the new DAQ showed high energy resolution under very high event rate conditions, i.e., 6.9% and 8.6% (for 662 keV) at 1.3 × 10⁵ and 1.2 × 10⁶ s^-1, respectively. Furthermore, the new DAQ successfully acquired Compton images under those event rates, i.e., imaging resolutions of 13.8° and 19.3° at 8.7 × 10⁴ and 10⁶ s^-1, which correspond to 1.8 and 73 μSv/hr or about 18 and 730 times the background level, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권4호
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• pp.1259-1265
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• 2021

In the present study, a large-area hybrid gamma imaging system was designed by adopting coded aperture imaging on the basis of a large-area Compton camera to achieve high imaging performance throughout a broad energy range (100-2000 keV). The system consisting of a tungsten coded aperture mask and monolithic NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors was designed through a series of Geant4 Monte Carlo radiation transport simulations, in consideration of both imaging sensitivity and imaging resolution. Then, the performance of the system was predicted by Geant4 Monte Carlo simulations for point sources under various conditions. Our simulation results show that the system provides very high imaging sensitivity (i.e., low values for minimum detectable activity, MDA), thus allowing for imaging of low-activity sources at distances impossible with coded aperture imaging or Compton imaging alone. In addition, the imaging resolution of the system was found to be high (i.e., around 6°) over the broad energy range of 59.5-1330 keV.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.69-76
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• 2010

현재 개발중에 있는 이중 산란형 컴프턴 카메라는 두 대의 산란부 검출기(양면 실리콘 스트립 검출기, DSSD)와 하나의 흡수부 검출기(NaI(Tl) 섬광 검출기)로 구성되며, 소형이면서도 높은 영상해상도를 제공할 수 있는 구조를 가지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 이중 산란형 컴프턴 카메라를 구성하고 있는 감마선 검출기들의 에너지 분해능 및 시간 분해능을 평가하고, 산란부 검출기의 에너지 분해능에 영향을 미치는 인자들을 등가 노이즈 전하(equivalent noise charge)를 통하여 분석하였다. DSSD-1은 평균적으로 59.5 keV 피크($^{241}Am$)에 대하여 $25.2keV{\pm}0.8keV$ FWHM의 에너지 분해능을 보였으며, DSSD-2는 $31.8keV{\pm}4.6keV$ FWHM의 에너지 분해능 지니고 있는 것으로 확인되었다. DSSD의 시간 분해능은 57.25 ns FWHM으로 평가되었고, NaI(Tl) 섬광 검출기의 시간 분해능은 7.98 ns FWHM이었다. 또한 이중산란형 컴프턴 카메라를 이용하여 $^{137}Cs$ 점선원에 대한 컴프턴 영상을 획득한 후 성능을 평가하였다. 이번 실험을 통해서 영상해상도 8.4 mm FWHM (각 분해능 $8.1^{\circ}$ FWHM)을 획득하였고, 영상감도는 $1.5{\times}10^{-7}$(고유 효율=$1.9{\times}10^{-6}$)으로 나타났다.

• 비파괴검사학회지
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• 제26권6호
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• pp.417-426
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• 2006

A Digital X-ray imaging system using Compton backscattering has been developed to obtain a cross-sectional profile and mass loss of corroded lap-splices of aging aircraft from density variation. A slit-type camera was designed to focus on a small scattering volume inside the material, from which the backscattered photons are collected by a collimated scintillator detector for interpretation of material characteristics. The cross section of the lap-joint is scanned by moving the scattering volume through the thickness direction of the specimen. The mass loss of each layer has been estimated from a Compton backscatter A-scan to obtain the thickness of each layer including the aluminum sheet, the corrosion layer and the sealant. Quantitative information such as location and width of planar corrosion in the lap splices of fuselages is obtained by deconvolution using a nonlinear least-square error minimization method(BFGS method): A simple reconstruction model is also introduced to overcome distortion of the Compton backscatter data due to attenuation effects attributed to beam hardening and quantum noise.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권5호
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• pp.1417-1427
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• 2019

In this study, we evaluated the performance of a commercial pixelated cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector for spectroscopy and identified its feasibility as a Compton camera for radiation monitoring in a nuclear power plant. The detection system consisted of a $20mm{\times}20mm{\times}5mm$ CZT crystal with $8{\times}8$ pixelated anodes and a common cathode, in addition to an application specific integrated circuit. The performance of the various radioisotopes $^{57}Co$, $^{133}Ba$, $^{22}Na$, and $^{137}Cs$ was evaluated. In general, the amplitude of the induced signal in a CZT crystal depends on the interaction position and material non-uniformity. To minimize this dependency, a drift time correction was applied. The depth of each interaction was calculated by the drift time and the positional dependency of the signal amplitude was corrected based on the depth information. After the correction, the Compton regions of each spectrum were reduced, and energy resolutions of 122 keV, 356 keV, 511 keV, and 662 keV peaks were improved from 13.59%, 9.56%, 6.08%, and 5%-4.61%, 2.94%, 2.08%, and 2.2%, respectively. For the Compton imaging, simulations and experiments using one $^{137}Cs$ source with various angular positions and two $^{137}Cs$ sources were performed. Individual and multiple sources of $^{133}Ba$, $^{22}Na$, and $^{137}Cs$ were also measured. The images were successfully reconstructed by weighted list-mode maximum likelihood expectation maximization method. The angular resolutions and intrinsic efficiency of the $^{137}Cs$ experiments were approximately $7^{\circ}-9^{\circ}$ and $5{\times}10^{-4}-7{\times}10^{-4}$, respectively. The distortions of the source distribution were proportional to the offset angle.

• 공학논문집
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.51-57
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• 2006

We propose efficient methods for implementing 3-D reconstruction algorithms for Compton camera. Since reconstructing Compton scattered data involves the surface integral over the cone associated with the measurement bin, it is crucial to develop a computationally efficient surface integration method. In this work we assume that a cone is made up of a series of ellipses (or circles) stacked up one o top of the other. In order to reduce computational burden for tracing ellipses formed by the intersection of a cone and an image plane, we construct a series of imaginary planes perpendicular to the cone axis so that each plane contains a circle, not an ellipse. In this case the surface integral can be performed by adding uniform samples along each circle. The experimental results demonstrate that our method using imaginary planes significantly improves computational efficiency while keeping reconstruction accuracy.

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2018년도 춘계학술논문요약집
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• pp.359-360
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• 2018