A COMPUTER-CONTROLLED AMBIENT DOSE-EQUIVALENT METER BASED ON A RECOMBINATION CHAMBER

This paper is devoted to a description of a microcomputer controlled d ose equivalent rate meter, based on a recombination principle and inte nded for routine use in radiation protection. The device displays, dir ectly, the ambient dose equivalent rate H(10), the absorbed dose rate and the quality factor. The ionisation chamber of REM-2 type serves a s a detector. An appropriate set of collecting voltages is sequentiall y applied to the chamber electrodes. Ions which have avoided initial r ecombination are collected at a capacitor connected to an electrometer . Then the collected charge is registered in the computer memory. The ambient dose equivalent is calculated in real time, taking into accoun t the dependence of the initial recombination of ions on linear energy transfer (LET). The device can be used in radiation fields of any com position, usually with an accuracy not worse than 30%.