Toroid Cavity Imagers/Detectors

A family of rugged, versatile imaging devices, easy to make and simple to use

Argonne’s R&D 100 award-winning toroid cavity imager is suited to a wide range of uses, from “seeing” into packages to monitoring nuclear waste. In an experiment to quantify the amount of water in nuclear-waste stimulant (silicon oxide, the white material in the photo at left), the imager detected 0.056 wt% water, illustrating a sensitivity level equivalent to the most sensitive nondestructive evaluation methods currently being considered for nuclear-waste monitoring.

Scientists in Argonne’s Chemical Engineering Division have invented a device--a toroid cavity imager that uses nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology to reveal the location and characteristics of materials inside sealed metal containers. Moisture, degradation products, and other chemical reaction products can be detected and measured nondestructively. The device’s high resolution and sensitivity make it attractive for nuclear-waste monitoring, as well as for nondestructive evaluation of commercial packaged goods, and safety and security applications.

The inexpensive imaging device could point the way to improved ceramics, alloys, composites and coatings and could permit more detailed observations than ever before of the chemical near the surface of electrodes in batteries, fuel cells and similar devices.

Uses for Toroid Cavity Imager

Inspects contents of sealed packages without opening or damaging the package or its contents

• Manufacturing control and product storage lifetime
• Safety/security
  • Inspecting packages
  • Detecting explosives or hazardous/toxic chemicals
• Research
  • Detecting and measuring the products of chemical reactions within sealed environment
  • Study of battery and fuel cell chemistry
  • Materials research (ceramics, alloys, composites, coatings)
• Environment
  • Nuclear waste monitoring

Features/Advantages

• Simple to manufacture, easy to use, and robust
• High sensitivity
• Good ability to resolve/identify different chemical liquids and solutions
• Good ability to specify location of liquid chemicals
• Nondestructive