No flow meter method for measuring radon exhalation from the medium surface with a ventilation chamber

Yanliang Tan; Hongzhi Yuan; Yuxi Xie; Can Liu; Xiaosong Liu; Zhongkai Fan; Kimberlee Kearfott

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109328

No flow meter method for measuring radon exhalation from the medium surface with a ventilation chamber

Appl Radiat Isot. 2020 Dec:166:109328. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109328. Epub 2020 Jul 27.

Authors

Yanliang Tan¹, Hongzhi Yuan², Yuxi Xie², Can Liu², Xiaosong Liu³, Zhongkai Fan², Kimberlee Kearfott⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, Hunan 421002, China. Electronic address: hytyl@163.com.
² College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, Hunan 421002, China.
³ School of Resource and Environmental and Safety Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, 421001, China.
⁴ Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.

PMID: 32795692
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109328

Abstract

The method for measuring radon exhalation rate from the medium surface with a ventilation chamber is un-replaceable when surveying the radon exhalation rate continuously. Generally, the pump flow rate is an important parameter to obtain the radon exhalation rate from the measurement model. Our previous research indicated that the results of those measurements are inaccurate when the air change rate is not far larger than the effective decay constant. A no flow meter method is proposed for measuring radon exhalation from the medium surface with a ventilation chamber. A constant K is used to replace the sum of the air change rate and the effective decay constant. The radon exhalation rate and the value of K can be obtained by nonlinear data fitting through a novel model. The air flow rate is not a parameter of this model, and the flow meter is unnecessary in this measurement. The radon exhalation rates obtained by verification experiments are within the accepted values for the reference value. This method can be applied to develop and improve the instruments for measuring radon exhalation rate.

Keywords: No flow meter method; Radon; Radon exhalation rate; Ventilation chamber.