GENERAL   EQUIPMENT   INC.                    

GAMMARAY

gamma-ray inspection system

The most important tool any inspector can have is a sharp eye. To complement this tool in manual inspections, fiber-optic scopes, hydraulic jacks, wet and dry vacuums, torches, magnesium arc cutter, chainsaws, drills, electronic stethoscopes, and many other common and specialized tools are utilized. It is unlikely that these tools differ too much internationally.
 

IG-SCAN Co-60 Fixed Container Inspection Systems

This system is based on a patented technology, suitable for use in the customs at seaport, land port ad air cargo port. It consists of Co-60 gamma radioactive source facility, array solid detector, information and image processing system, trailer system, automatic control system and the radiation protection and safety system. The key features include:

1. The patented technology with array solid detector has high detection efficiency, clear imaging and excellent inspection performance. The maximum penetration can reach 240mm.

2. The system is fast and easy in operation. It can scan twenty 40’ containers per hour compared with no more than five 40’ containers from other vendors.

3. The energy and intensity of gamma ray from co-60 is constant. The system performance is stable and reliable, and the failure rate is low.

4. Simple in operation, convenient and low cost in maintenance. The design allows maintenance without shut-off. The system can continuously work without any shut-off maintenance required.

5. The system has the function to automatically close the shutter when the power is off or it encounters an incident in order to ensure the personnel safety.

6. The system is compact and occupies small area. The structure required to house the unit is easy and low cost to construct. The manufacturer can provide constructional engineering design and technical service if required.
    

X-RAY INSPECTION SYSTEMS
 

X-ray based inspection systems are the most common form of non-invasive inspection technology in use today. X-rays detect differences in material densities in order to produce an image of the vehicle or container contents. Contraband detection actually occurs by the system operator who visually, sometimes with the help of sophisticated software, inspects the x-ray images for anomalies.

When cargo and contrabands have similar densities, contraband detection is very difficult. For example, the density of a plantain appears exactly the same as that of cocaine molded and painted to look like a plantain when both are put through an X-ray. The density differences are projected across the entire width of the container; if a container is very cluttered, then again detection of contrabands may be very difficult as the x-ray image will also be cluttered and visually complex. Additionally due to the projection methods, contrabands could be hidden in the shadow of a very dense piece of cargo. However, the use of multiple x-ray beams can erase most of the shadow effects. As an example, the above image is of a tractor-trailer filled with television sets; with such a complex image, it is clear that the detection of contraband may be very difficult. Due to the nature of x-ray methods, specific materials cannot be identified; more advanced technologies like gamma-ray systems can detect specific materials like drugs and explosives.

X-ray systems generally take a few minutes to scan a standard 40-foot container while some more advanced systems can take only a few seconds. However, total inspection cycle times may range from 7-15 minutes or longer due to image analysis. This could result in scanning less than 100 containers per day!

GAMMA-RAY INSPECTION SYSTEMS
 

Gamma-ray inspection systems are an alternative to standard x-ray inspection systems. These systems directly use gamma-rays or use pulsed fast neutrons to generate gamma-rays to produce images of the container's contents, 3-D mappings of content location, as well as other important information. For example, some systems can also determine certain types of material inside the container based on atomic characteristics; a few of these detectable materials are carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, silicon, chlorine, aluminum, and iron.

Claiming many benefits over x-ray technology, these gamma-ray systems may be a key step towards for efficient, 100% container inspection. Gamma-ray systems can scan standard 40-foot containers in a few seconds and generate a total inspection time of less than a minute. The average inspection throughput of gamma-ray systems is more than 10 times greater than the fastest x-ray system!

Fixed-site systems are pass-through where the inspection unit is stationary and trains, trucks, or containers pass through the inspection unit. Current vehicle pass-through speeds are approximately 4-5 miles-per-hour with future plans of more than 10 miles-per-hour. The systems can scan almost all types of cargo handled in the port including standard containers, bulk cargo containers, truck trailers, and rail cars.

Gamma-ray systems can cost from 3-20 times less than x-ray systems in terms of initial capital investment, 4-5 times less in terms of installation and when considering other benefits, gamma-ray systems can yield a cost per inspection that is 50 times less than that of conventional x-ray systems.

IG-SCAN GAMMA-RAY CONTAINER INSPECTION SYSTEMS
 

The IG-SCAN-2000 Container Inspection System has many excellent features. Its operation performance is excellent. It is easy to operate and maintain, also safe and very reliable. One of the systems has operated for six month continuously without problem. The operating cost is comparatively much lower. The successful scanning rate is closed to 100% and the overall scanning speed is 3 minutes per container.

IG-SCAN-2000 Container Inspection System can be installed in the seaport, the river port, the airport, the railway station, the trading port, the developing area, the protective area and the hub of communications, etc. Quite obviously, it is a powerful means for combating smuggling, preventing terror and ensuring shipping safety.

Technical Characteristics

IG-SCAN-2000 Container Inspection System is cost effective and at the same time, its operating performance is very stable and rather convenient to maintain. A big gamma ray source of Cobalt-60 is installed in the system. Of course, gamma ray source is much cheaper than an accelerator with the same grade flux and its energy is kept constant for a long period of time, therefore there is no need for any daily

maintenance. The solid detectors installed in the system have high detection efficiency and many advanced features. They are very stable and reliable in the course of inspecting operation, steady and durable in the service life and not subject to interference from the surrounding environments.

IG-SCAN-2000 is based on the patented technology of combining Cobalt-60 gamma ray source with solid detectors in the same inspection system. The Container Inspection System is made up of several units, such as sealed Cobalt-60 gamma ray source and its collimator, solid detectors and their electronic circuits, signal and image processing subsystem, platform trail and control subsystem.

During the course of the inspection, a beam of gamma ray emitted from the source is confined by the collimator to form a vertical narrow beam with a shape of slice. After penetrating the articles to be checked in the container, the beam of gamma ray is separately emitted into the solid detectors that are arrayed in the signal and image processing subsystems. Once detected, the beam of gamma ray is separately processed by its electronic circuit to obtain their respective image of the article shape loaded in the container. In this way, all the articles to be inspected in the container are continuously scanned by gamma ray as platform trailer subsystem is moving from the starting point to the end point at a constant speed till the inspecting work is completely finished.

During the image scanning, one shape of the image showed on the CRT screen can be transformed by computer image processing techniques such as local amplification, edge enhancement, zoom enlargement, pseudo color in manual, fine details in the different order of the image, and etc...

Main Advantages of the Container Inspection System with Cobalt-60 Source

1. The energy of gamma ray emitted from the Cobalt-60 Source remains constant for a long period of time, therefore the system operation is stable and reliable.

2. With the Cobalt-60 source, there is no need for any adjustment and maintenance during daily operations thus the system is cheaper to operate and to maintain compare to equivalent systems with an accelerator which require daily maintenance.

3. The Cobalt-60 source has no need for very high power supply, because it is not a large scale device with large power consumption for its daily operation, consequently the interference suffered from high voltage and microwave are avoided. This explains why the system with cobalt-60 is much more stable and reliable than the equivalent system with an accelerator.

4. The radiation output emitted from Cobalt-60 Source is equal to about one over hundreds of the system with the old type of X-ray accelerator. Of course such a low radiation is very easy to protect.

5. Referring to the radiation dose that is received by the article in the container during inspection, it is only about 5μGy. Under the dose, an article like as photo films will not be damaged.

6. The area occupied by the system is very small( only need some 1,000 m^{2 ),} while floor area of the system building is about 500 m2 and protection area is only 60 m2, thus the construction cost of the system is also quite low.

^{Comparison between a system with Cobalt-60 and with an accelerator}
 

The Main Advantages of Solid Detector

1. In comparison with the gas detector, the efficiency of the solid detector can be over 80%, much more than the gas detector (about 30%).

2. The solid detector is not sensible to any outside disturbing influence, such as temperature, pressure, humidity, electronic wave and etc…

3. The solid detector is made of ruggedness material.

4. The solid detector use low voltage compare to the gas detector which requires high voltage with the problem of sparking (require to checking during operation).

5. The service life of the solid detector is estimated to be over 10 years and it is much longer than the gas detector.
    

Comparison between the Solid Detector and the Gas Detector
 

Comparison between the Fixed Inspection System and the Mobile Inspection System

• High quality images

Any small articles that are concealed between the goods in a container can be detected immediately. A 2.5 mm diameter iron wire placed behind a 100mm thick iron plate in a container can be detected.

• High sensitivity contrast

The articles loaded in a container are clearly showed in their original shape. A 0.7mm thickness iron plate placed behind a 100 mm thick iron plate can be detected.

• High penetrating power

All of the articles loaded in a container are clearly observed. Referring to some small articles, even if those are placed behind 230mm thick steel plate, the articles are still recognized.

• Low dose of radiation

Specification and photos are not contractual and are subject to verification upon inspection

TAKE NOTICE!

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT INFORMATION INCLUDED IS CONFIDENTIAL IN NATURE AND IS BASED ON PREXISTING BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LEGAL OWNER OF PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN (IF APPLICABLE). AS SUCH, UPON RECEIPT OF SAID INFORMATION THE RECEIVER AKNOWLEDGES THAT ANY UNAUTHORIZED CONTACT WITH SAID LEGAL SELLER WILL BE CHARACTERIZED AS A BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY AND SAID AGREEMENT MAY BE ENFORCED UNDER EXISTING LAW OR IN EQUITY.

This paper was prepared by General Equipment Corp.
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