A gas detector is a device which detects the

presence of various gases within an area, usually as

part of a safety system. This type of equipment is
used to detect a gas leak and interface with a control
system so a process can be automatically shut down.
A gas detector can also sound an alarm to operators
in the area where the leak is occurring, giving them
the opportunity to leave the area.
Gas detectors are usually battery operated. They
transmit warnings via a series of audible and
visible signals such as alarms and flashing lights,
when dangerous levels of gas vapors are detected.
As detectors measure a gas concentration, the
sensor responds to a calibration gas, which serves
as the reference point or scale. As a sensor’s
detection exceeds a preset alarm level, the alarm or
signal will be activated. As units, gas detectors are
produced as portable or stationary devices.
Originally, detectors were produced to detect a
single gas, but modern units may detect several
toxic or combustible gases, or even a combination
of both types
Gas detectors can be classified according to the
operation mechanism (semiconductors, oxidation,
catalytic, infrared, etc.).Gas detectors come in two
main types:
1- portable devices
2- fixed gas detectors.
Ionization Chamber
The ionization chamber consists of a gas-filled
detector energized by a relatively low dc voltage. We
will first of all make an estimate of the voltage pulse
height generated by this type of detector.
The ionization chamber is the simplest of all gas-
filled radiation detectors, and is widely used for the
detection and measurement of certain types of ionizing
radiation; X-rays, gamma rays and beta particles.
Because such a small voltage is generated it is
necessary to use a very sensitive amplifier in the
electronic circuitry connected to the chamber.
 Chamber types and construction

Free-air chamber:
This is a chamber freely open to atmosphere, where the
fill gas is ambient air.
The domestic smoke detector is a good example of this
Vented chamber:
These chambers are normally cylindrical and operate at
atmospheric pressure, but to prevent ingress of moisture
a filter containing a desiccant is installed in the vent line.
This is to stop moisture building up in the interior of the
chamber, which would otherwise be introduced by the
"pump" effect of changing atmospheric air pressure.
Sealed low pressure chamber:
These are similar in construction to the vented
chamber but are sealed and operate at or around
atmospheric pressure. They contain a special fill gas
to improve detection efficiency as free electrons are
easily captured in air-filled vented chambers by
neutral oxygen which is electronegative, to form
negative ions. These chambers also have the
advantage of not requiring a vent and desiccant.
High pressure chamber:
The efficiency of the chamber can be further
increased by the use of a high pressure gas. Typically
a pressure of 8-10 atmospheres can be used, and
various noble gases are employed. The higher
pressure results in a greater gas density and thereby
a greater chance of collision with the fill gas and ion
pair creation by incident radiation. Because of the
increased wall thickness required to withstand this
high pressure, only gamma radiation can be
detected.
 Instrument types

Hand held:
Ion chambers are widely used in hand held radiation
survey meters to measure beta and gamma radiation.
They are particularly preferred for high dose rate
measurements and for gamma radiation they give
good accuracy for energies above 50-100 keV.
Installed:
For industrial process measurements and interlocks with
sustained high radiation levels, the ion chamber is the
preferred detector. In these applications only the
chamber is situated in the measurement area, and the
electronics is remotely situated to protect it from
radiation and is connected by cable. Installed instruments
can be used for measuring ambient gamma for personnel
protection and normally sound an alarm above a preset
rate, though the Geiger Muller tube instrument is
generally preferred where high levels of accuracy are not
required.
 Applications

Nuclear industry:
Ionization chambers are widely used in the nuclear
industry as they provide an output that is
proportional to radiation dose They find wide use in
situations where a constant high dose rate is being
measured as they have a greater operating lifetime
than standard Geiger-Müller tubes
Smoke detectors:
A smoke detector is a device that detects smoke, typically
as an indicator of fire. Commercial, industrial, and mass
residential devices issue a signal to a fire alarm system, while
household detectors, known as smoke alarms, generally issue
a local audible or visual alarm from the detector itself
The ionization chamber has found wide and beneficial use in
smoke detectors.
The detector also has a reference chamber which is sealed
but is ionized in the same way. Comparison of the ion
currents in the two chambers allows compensation for
changes due to air pressure, temperature, or the ageing of
the source.
Medical radiation measurement:
In medical physics and radiotherapy, ionization
chambers are used to ensure that the dose delivered
from a therapy unit or radiopharmaceutical is what
is intended. The devices used for radiotherapy are
called “reference dosimeters”, while those used for
radiopharmaceuticals are called radioisotope dose
calibrators.
We will now learn about two applications of
ionization chambers.
The first one is for the measurement of radiation
exposures.
the unit of radiation exposure is defined in terms of
the amount of electric charge produced in a unit mass
of a air. An ionization chamber filled with air is the
natural instrument to use for such measurements.
The second application is the measurement of
radioactivity. The ionization chamber used here is
configured in what is called a re-entrant arrangement
so that the sample of radioactive material can be
placed within the detector using a holder and hence
most of the emitted radiation can be detected.
A range of ionization chambers of different volumes using for
measuring radiation exposur
An exposure meter used in radiography.
An exposure meter used in radiography.
 Geiger Counter

A Geiger–Müller counter, also called a Geiger

counter, is a type of particle detector that measures
ionizing radiation. It detects the emission of nuclear
radiation — alpha particles, beta particles, or gamma
rays — by the ionization produced in a low-pressure
gas in a Geiger–Müller tube, which gives its name to
the instrument.
We saw earlier that the Geiger Counter operates at
relatively high dc voltages
 Principle of operation

Geiger counter instruments consist of two main

elements; the Geiger-Muller tube, and the
processing and display electronics. The radiation
sensing element is an inert gas-filled Geiger-Muller
tube (usually containing helium, neon or argon with
halogens added) which briefly conducts electrical
charge when a particle or photon of radiation makes
the gas conductive by ionization. The tube has the
property of being able to amplify each ionization
event by means of the Townsend avalanche effect
and produces an easily measured current pulse
which is passed to the processing electronics.
 Readout

There are fundamentally two types of radiation

readout; counts or radiation dose. The counts display
is the simplest and is the number of ionizing events
displayed either as a count rate, commonly "counts
per second", or as a total over a set time period (an
integrated total). The counts readout is normally
used when alpha or beta particles are being detected.
 Types and applications
Particle detection:
The first historical uses of the Geiger principle were for the
detection of alpha and beta particles, and the instrument is
still used for this purpose today. For alpha particles and low
energy beta particles the "end window" type of GM tube is
used as these particles have a limited range even in free air
and are easily stopped by a solid material.
Geiger detectors are still used as a general purpose
alpha/beta portable Radioactive contamination
measurement and detection instrument, owing to their
relatively low cost, robustness and their relatively high
detection efficiency.
These instrument types can also have much larger detector
areas, which means that checking of surfaces for
contamination is much quicker.
 Gamma and X-ray detection

Geiger counters can be used to detect gamma

radiation, and for this the windowless tube is used.
Efficiency is only about 1%.
This design gives an additional gas volume, and
thereby increased chance of particle interaction, but
still allows low energy photons to enter the gas
through the thin wall. Energy compensation of the
tube is normally applied to increase the accuracy
over a range of photon energies.
 Gamma measurement—personnel protection and
process control

The term "Geiger counter" is commonly used to

mean a hand-held survey type meter, however the
Geiger principle is in wide use in installed "area
gamma" alarms for personnel protection, and in
process measurement and interlock applications. A
Geiger tube is still the sensing device, but the
processing electronics will have a higher degree of
sophistication and reliability than that used in a
hand held survey meter.
 Gas detector calibration

All gas detectors must be calibrated on a schedule. Of the

two types of gas detectors, portables must be calibrated
more frequently due to the regular changes in
environment they experience. A typical calibration
schedule for a fixed system may be quarterly, bi-annually
or even annually with some of the more robust units. A
typical calibration schedule for a portable gas detector is
a daily bump test accompanied by a monthly calibration.
Almost every portable gas detector out there has a
specific calibration gas requirement which is available
from the manufacturer you purchased your monitor
from.
The second type of detector utilized for CT imaging system
is a gas detector.
The gas detector is usually constructed utilizing a chamber
made of a ceramic material with long thin ionization plates
usually made of Tungsten submersed in Xenon gas.
The long thin tungsten plates act as electron collection
plates. When attenuated photons interact with the charged
plates and the xenon gas ionization occurs.
The xenon gas detectors are generally fixed with the
position of the x-ray tube which occurs with 3rd generation
scanner geometry designs.
Thank you