To all you smart ones..

Yes, you're getting closer :) I am now thinking about a transceiver on the ion gauge :)

Jamie

we have up to 2.5 Mev irradiation process units. some large ones. the scan chamber is all stainless and aluminum.

We already have ion detection and thermo units in the dyno section just above the bellows out side the protected process room.

Yes, we know about He. we use it all the time in the process of detecting leaks.

We use a RGA system because we also detect other gases which gives us information that is not directly related to leaks.

I only wanted to make a hand held tool that a tech could use while crawling around with out the need of a army of people monitoring and flagging results back.. The way we do it now isn't much better than smoke signals.

we have to be careful with the use of RF equipment in that area.

Jamie

Use a hardwire com link set. We had one. Headphones + boom mic w/

Heck, amplify the leak detector's or RGA's audio signal so you can hear it from a distance. Run a hardwire remote spkr. Mike it to the PA. Make a remote hardwire meter. Make a really big remote h/w meter. Jes spittballing, here, but there IS a way one person can do it.

Have you tried an ultrasonic detector?

We used them on a 100 yd long linear accelerator to find gross leaks. A leak sounds like a high pitched screach. The closer, the louder, the smaller the higher pitched. The one we used was no bigger than a regular stage microphone. They will get you within a few inches, then you can use gas or whatever. An RGA will dectect any gas you choose and N2 can be sprayed from small soda/BB/paint gun cartridges and digital TC gauges (Leybold) will detect N2 on small digital readouts.

As for He, not like you hafta lug around a welding size bottle:

Pull it up with a rope and let tank hang from scaffold. Whoa! Check this out. Is a 5" cartridge too big?:

C'mon! There's a way. Get creative. We hadda leak detect some strange vessels. One 5 stories high. Another large enough to hold 2 garbage trucks. Rent a cherry picker. Block and tackle. What? No overhead crane with personnel basket? If you can afford an RGA, you can afford the right tools. Good luck. ;)

nb

Tim

The ultrasonic method sounds good, to put it bluntly ;)

THe techs carry small bottles with them now when they get up there.

Jamie