Control device and control method

Abstract

A control device 20 comprises: a processing unit 21 that identifies the incoming direction of radiation using a detector 10 that uses a scintillator; and a control unit 22 that controls a solenoid coil so that the magnetic field null point does not face in the incoming direction of the radiation.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a control device and a control method. [Background technology]

[0002] Various types of radiation exist in outer space (e.g., protons, heavy particles, gamma rays), and because the radiation comes from a variety of sources (e.g., the sun, the galaxy, supernova explosions, gamma bursts), radiation arrives from a variety of directions. Therefore, artificial satellites, communication satellites, probes, and living organisms, including the human body, in outer space are affected by radiation, causing problems such as malfunctions and shortened lifespans of equipment, and radiation damage due to exposure to radiation. Therefore, a method has been proposed in which a strong magnetic field is generated by the solenoid coil of a solenoid-type magnetic field generator, and the strong magnetic field acts as a barrier to reduce the effects of cosmic radiation on equipment and living organisms (Non-Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0003] [Non-Patent Document 1] Romain Bruce, et al., “Cryogenic Design of a Large Superconducting Magnet for Astro-particle Shielding on Deep Space Travel Missions”, Physics Procedia, Vol. 67, 2015, doi:10.1016 / j.phpro.2015.06.085, p.264-p.269 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, since the magnetic field distribution of the solenoid coil has weak points (magnetic field null points), it is not possible to adequately protect devices and living organisms from radiation coming from various directions.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technology that can more reliably protect equipment and living organisms from radiation coming from various directions. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A control device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a processing unit that identifies the direction of radiation using a detector that uses a scintillator, and a control unit that controls a solenoid coil so that the magnetic field null point does not point in the direction of the radiation.

[0007] A control method according to one aspect of the present invention is a control method performed by a control device, and includes the steps of identifying the direction of radiation using a detector that uses a scintillator, and controlling a solenoid coil so that the magnetic field null point does not point in the direction of the radiation. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a technology that can more reliably protect equipment and living organisms from radiation coming from various directions. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a control system. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a detector. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation flow of the control device. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the incident direction of radiation. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the time difference between emission peaks. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing examples of radiation directions (including erroneously identified paths). [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the number of times the radiation path is identified. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of control of the solenoid type magnetic field generating device. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the control device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

[0011] 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a control system 1 according to this embodiment. The control system 1 includes a detector 10 that detects radiation, and a control device 20 that controls a solenoid-type magnetic field generator S based on the detection result of the radiation detected by the detector 10.

[0012] The control device 20 is capable of communicating with both the detector 10 and the solenoid type magnetic field generator S. The control device 20 includes a processing unit 21 that identifies the incoming direction and energy of radiation using the detector 10, and a control unit 22 that controls the solenoid coil of the solenoid type magnetic field generator S so that the magnetic field null point does not point in the incoming direction of the radiation. The control device 20 may be configured either outside or inside the detector 10.

[0013] Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the detector 10. Figure 2(a) is an external view of the detector 10. Figure 2(b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line AB in Figure 2(a).

[0014] The detector 10 has a plurality of rectangular parallelepiped sensors 11 that detect radiation. For example, the detector 10 has a 3x3x3 sensor group in which three sensors 11 are arranged in each of the horizontal direction (x-axis), depth direction (y-axis), and height direction (z-axis). However, as shown in FIG. 2(b), the center of the sensor group is hollow, and the sensor group has 26 sensors.

[0015] Each sensor 11 includes a scintillator 101 that emits light through a nuclear reaction when radiation is incident on it, a photomultiplier tube 102 that amplifies the light emitted by the scintillator 101, and a light-shielding thin film 103 that eliminates the influence of light incident on other scintillators 101 within the detector 10. As a result, each sensor 11 has the function of individually emitting light when radiation is incident on it and amplifying the emitted light.

[0016] The 3 x 3 x 3 sensor group is an example of the detector 10. The detector 10 may be configured with a 3 x 4 x 5 sensor group or a 5 x 5 x 5 sensor group. The more sensors there are, the more the radiation capture capability improves.

[0017] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the operation flow of the control device 20.

[0018] Step S1; First, the processing unit 21 inputs the light emission data detected by the sensor 11 of the detector 10 .

[0019] Step S2; Next, the processing unit 21 identifies the incident direction and energy of the radiation using the input light emission data. Specifically, the processing unit 21 identifies the incident direction and energy of the radiation that entered the detector 10 based on the positions of the two sensors 11 that detected the light emission and the time difference between the light emission peaks of the two sensors 11.

[0020] The processing unit 21 determines the incident direction of the radiation as the extension direction of the line segment connecting the two sensors 11 that detected the light emission. For example, as shown in Fig. 4, if sensors 11A and 11H emit light at a certain timing, the processing unit 21 determines the incident direction of radiation 1 as the extension direction of a line passing through the positions of sensors 11A and 11H. Similarly, if sensors 11D and 11E emit light at a different timing, the processing unit 21 determines the incident direction of radiation 2 as the extension direction of a line passing through the positions of sensors 11D and 11E.

[0021] The processing unit 21 identifies the energy of the radiation by the time difference between the emission peaks of the two sensors 11 that detected the light emission. For example, as shown in Fig. 5, the processing unit 21 identifies radiation 1 by the time difference t1 between the emission peak at sensor 11A and the emission peak at sensor 11H. Similarly, the processing unit 21 identifies radiation 2 by the time difference t2 between the emission peak at sensor 11D and the emission peak at sensor 11E. Since the higher the energy of radiation, the closer it approaches the speed of light, the energy can be identified by determining how long it takes for the radiation to travel a known distance between the sensors 11.

[0022] The processing unit 21 further identifies the type of radiation. For example, the processing unit 21 distinguishes the type of radiation by analyzing the emission characteristics (for example, the change in emission intensity over time).

[0023] Here, we will explain the operation when radiation 1 and radiation 2 are incident at approximately the same time. In this case, sensors 11A and 11D emit light at approximately the same time, and sensors 11E and 11H emit light at approximately the same time, so as shown in Fig. 6, there is a possibility that an incorrect path will be identified, such as radiation passing through sensors 11A and 11E (radiation 3) or radiation passing through sensors 11D and 11H (radiation 4), making it difficult to identify the incoming direction of the radiation.

[0024] On the other hand, cosmic radiation has the characteristic of continuously entering from a specific direction. Therefore, the processing unit 21 identifies the radiation path that connects two of the four sensors 11 that have emitted light due to the radiation with a straight line, and determines the direction of the radiation based on the number of times the path has been identified.

[0025] For example, processing unit 21 determines the actual direction of arrival by determining the number of times (accumulated value) that the straight-line path between sensors 11A and 11H is the path of ray 1, the straight-line path between sensors 11D and 11E is the path of ray 2, the straight-line path between sensors 11A and 11E is the path of ray 3, and the straight-line path between sensors 11D and 11H is the path of ray 4, and comparing these numbers of times that the paths have been identified, as shown in Fig. 7. Since the number of times that the paths have been identified for rays 3 and 4 is extremely low, it is determined that the paths have been erroneously identified.

[0026] Step S3; Finally, the control unit 22 controls the solenoid-type magnetic field generator S based on the incoming direction, energy, and type of radiation identified by the processing unit 21. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the control unit 22 changes the orientation of the ferromagnetic field barrier formed by the solenoid coil based on the incoming direction of the radiation so that the magnetic field null point does not point in the incoming direction of the radiation. The control unit 22 changes the strength of the ferromagnetic field barrier based on the energy and type of radiation. The control unit 22 optimizes the orientation and strength of the ferromagnetic field barrier to maximize the effect of the ferromagnetic field barrier.

[0027] According to this embodiment, the control device 20 identifies the direction and energy of radiation using a detector 10 that uses a scintillator, and controls the solenoid coil of the solenoid-type magnetic field generator S so that the magnetic field null point does not point in the direction of the radiation, thereby providing a technology that can more reliably protect equipment and living organisms from radiation coming from various directions.

[0028] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention.

[0029] The control device 20 of the present embodiment described above can be realized, for example, by using a general-purpose computer system including a CPU 901, a memory 902, a storage 903, a communication device 904, an input device 905, and an output device 906, as shown in Fig. 9. The memory 902 and the storage 903 are storage devices. In the computer system, the CPU 901 executes a predetermined program loaded onto the memory 902, thereby realizing each function of the control device 20.

[0030] The control device 20 may be implemented by one computer. The control device 20 may be implemented by multiple computers. The control device 20 may be a virtual machine implemented on a computer. The program for the control device 20 may be stored in a computer-readable recording medium such as an HDD, SSD, USB memory, CD, or DVD. The program for the control device 20 may also be distributed via a communication network. [Explanation of symbols]

[0031] 1: Control system 10: Detector 11: Sensor 101:Scintillator 102: Photomultiplier tube 103: Light-shielding thin film 20: Control device 21: Processing section 22: Control unit 901:CPU 902: Memory 903:Storage 904:Communication equipment 905: Input device 906: Output device

Claims

1. a processing unit that identifies the direction of radiation using a detector having a plurality of scintillators; a control unit that controls the solenoid coil so that the magnetic field null point does not face the direction of the radiation, The detector comprises: The control device has a plurality of scintillators arranged in the horizontal, depth and height directions, and is hollow inside.

2. In a control method performed by a control device, Identifying the direction of radiation by a detector having a plurality of scintillators; and controlling the solenoid coil so that the magnetic field null point does not point in the direction of the radiation; The detector comprises: A control method in which the plurality of scintillators are arranged in the horizontal, depth and height directions and are hollow inside.

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