Laboratoire de physique nucléaire et radioprotection, Unité de Formation et Recherche, Sciences des Structures de la Matière et Technologie, université Félix Houphouët Boigny, 22 BP 582 Abidjan 22, Côte d’Ivoire
This work focuses on evaluation the electronic stability of the Harshaw 6600 Plus reader. For this evaluation, a control procedure of electronic components of the reader was developed to quantify normal ranges of variation and annual average trends. These are: the temperature of the nitrogen regulator thermocouple, the high voltage, the reference light, and the background noise of the photomultiplier tubes. The results show that the optimal operating values specific to our working conditions were respectively for pellet ii of 23.460C - 31.98oC; 797.1V - 798.8V; 73.10 nC - 90.29 nC; 0.037 nC - 0.44 nC; respectively for pellet (iii) of 23.680C-32.230C; 810.8V-811.6V; 78.14nC-97.95 nC. ; 0.07nC-0.31 nC; an evolution rates, not significant below 0.5% and 1% for the background of the photomultiplier tubes and the temperature of the thermocouple; constant 0.05% of the high voltage; not significant above 2% for the reference light parameter for positions (ii) and (iii) were respectively observed between years.
The high voltage and the photomultiplier exhibited stability during all the time of our study, on the other hand certain parameters like the temperature of the thermocouple, the reference light sometimes presented instabilities. Overall, the current state of our system is satisfactory for its continued use.