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An Irradiation Disinfection Automatic Conveyor Line is a highly sophisticated, industrial-scale system designed to sterilize or disinfect products using ionizing radiation, typically Gamma rays or Electron Beams (E-Beam), within a fully automated and enclosed process. Its primary purpose is to achieve a high and guaranteed level of microbial decontamination without using heat or chemicals, making it ideal for heat-sensitive items.
Think of it as a "sterilization tunnel" where products enter one end on a conveyor, travel through a powerful radiation field, and exit the other end completely sterilized, ready for packaging or use.
The system is composed of several integrated parts that work in unison.
1. Loading & Unloading Stations
Automatic Infeed Conveyor: Products are automatically fed onto the main conveyor line. This can be integrated with upstream packaging or assembly lines.
Automatic Offload Conveyor: Sterilized products are automatically conveyed out of the irradiation cell and directed to the next stage, such as packaging or storage.
2. The Conveyor System
This is the "automatic" heart of the line. It's not a single belt but a complex network designed to maximize exposure.
It consists of monorail systems (for Gamma plants) or flat-belt conveyors (for E-Beam plants).
The path is precisely engineered to transport products through the irradiation chamber in a controlled manner, ensuring every part of the product receives the exact required radiation dose. The speed of the conveyor is a critical control parameter for dose delivery.
3. The Irradiation Chamber / Cell
This is a heavily shielded room, typically made of thick concrete walls (often 1.5 - 2.5 meters thick), to contain the radiation and protect workers and the environment.
Access is strictly controlled via a labyrinthine entrance (a zigzag tunnel) that prevents radiation from escaping.
4. Radiation Source
For Gamma Irradiation: The source is Cobalt-60 (⁶⁰Co), and less commonly, Caesium-137 (⊃1;⊃3;⁷Cs). These radioactive isotopes are stored in a "source rack" submerged in a deep pool of purified water when not in use. Water acts as a perfect shield. For processing, the source rack is mechanically raised out of the water into the irradiation chamber.
For E-Beam Irradiation: The source is an electron accelerator. It generates a beam of high-energy electrons. There is no radioactive isotope, and the system can be turned on and off like a machine. Shielding is still required but is part of the accelerator unit itself.
5. Control & Monitoring System
This is the "brain" of the operation. A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or industrial computer manages everything.
It controls conveyor speed, source position (for Gamma), beam power (for E-Beam), and monitors safety interlocks, temperature, and pressure.
Dosimeters are placed on the products or within the chamber to continuously verify that the target sterilization dose is being achieved.
Let's follow a product, say a box of medical syringes, through a Gamma Irradiation plant.
Loading & Palletizing: Boxes of syringes are automatically placed on special carriers or totes on the infeed conveyor.
Entry and Safety Check: The loaded carriers enter the irradiation cell through the labyrinth. Multiple safety interlocks ensure the radiation source cannot be raised if a door is open or a fault is detected.
Irradiation Cycle
The control system signals the source rack to rise from its water pool into the irradiation position.
The conveyor system moves the carriers in a precise path around the raised source. The path is often a single or double pass to ensure all sides of the product are exposed.
The gamma rays penetrate the boxes and the syringes inside, disrupting the DNA of all microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, spores), rendering them sterile.
Dose Verification: Wireless dosimeters on the carriers transmit data to the control room, confirming the delivered dose in real-time.
Source Deactivation: After the programmed exposure time, the source rack is automatically lowered back into the protective water pool.
Exit and Unloading: The now-sterile carriers exit the cell through the labyrinth and are automatically directed to the offloading station. The boxes of syringes are removed, and the empty carriers are recirculated to the start of the line.
For an E-Beam system, the process is similar but much faster. The product passes under or in front of the scanning electron beam for a matter of seconds, as the disinfection effect is almost instantaneous.
High Efficiency & Throughput: Fully automated, allowing for continuous 24/7 operation.
Guaranteed Sterility: Delivers a precise, measured dose, providing a high Sterility Assurance Level (SAL).
Cold Process: Ideal for heat-sensitive materials like plastics, single-use medical devices, and some pharmaceuticals.
Excellent Penetration: Gamma rays, in particular, can penetrate dense and pre-packaged products, ensuring sterility throughout the entire package.
No Chemical Residues: Unlike ethylene oxide (EtO) gas sterilization, it leaves no toxic residues.
Comprehensive Traceability: The entire process is logged and monitored, providing complete batch records for regulatory compliance.
Medical Devices: Syringes, surgical gloves, gowns, implants, sutures.
Pharmaceuticals: Sterilizing components and some finished products.
Food Preservation: "Cold Pasteurization" of spices, herbs, and certain fruits/vegetables to kill pathogens and extend shelf life.
Laboratory Supplies: Petri dishes, pipettes, and animal feed.
Packaging Materials: For aseptic packaging in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
The irradiation disinfection automatic conveyor line, including anti - ray shell, mounting plate, turnover mechanism, height adjustment structure and distance adjustment mechanism, anti - ray shell is provided on both sides of the material port, material port is provided with a conveyor belt, anti - ray shell is fixed on the top of the inner irradiation equipment. The irradiation disinfection automatic conveyor line, convenient intermittent transfer of materials to be turned over processing, avoid the follow-up need to manually turn it over and again for radiation disinfection cumbersome, indirectly reduce the cost of radiation disinfection operations, and improve the efficiency of radiation disinfection operations, secondly, convenient delivery of materials for positioning processing, Thus, it avoids the situation that the material deviation is too serious, which leads to insufficient irradiation disinfection, and effectively improves the mobility and practicability of the conveyor line.
In terms of structure, innovative designs have been made for optional plate turnover and transfer conveyors, including chain conveyor, roller conveyor, plate turnover, transfer conveyor, frequency converter, etc., which can supplement the shortcomings of traditional irradiation conveyor lines.
Equipped with self-diagnosis function: the executing mechanism can diagnose and handle abnormal situations, software and hardware faults, etc. during operation.
3. Through the operation panel, the actuator can achieve on-site setting and adjustment of parameters.
4. Can automatically display the working output, turnover rhythm, and transfer conveyor rhythm.
In essence, an Irradiation Disinfection Automatic Conveyor Line is a masterpiece of industrial engineering and nuclear physics. It combines robust material handling, precise process control, and powerful radiation physics to deliver a safe, reliable, and highly effective sterilization method critical to modern healthcare, food safety, and manufacturing industries.
The main function of the irradiation conveyor system is to automatically transport the objects from the entrance, and after irradiation scanning, the irradiated objects will be transported to the exit, so as to realize the automatic transmission of the objects irradiated.
An Irradiation Disinfection Automatic Conveyor Line is a highly sophisticated, industrial-scale system designed to sterilize or disinfect products using ionizing radiation, typically Gamma rays or Electron Beams (E-Beam), within a fully automated and enclosed process. Its primary purpose is to achieve a high and guaranteed level of microbial decontamination without using heat or chemicals, making it ideal for heat-sensitive items.
Think of it as a "sterilization tunnel" where products enter one end on a conveyor, travel through a powerful radiation field, and exit the other end completely sterilized, ready for packaging or use.
The system is composed of several integrated parts that work in unison.
1. Loading & Unloading Stations
Automatic Infeed Conveyor: Products are automatically fed onto the main conveyor line. This can be integrated with upstream packaging or assembly lines.
Automatic Offload Conveyor: Sterilized products are automatically conveyed out of the irradiation cell and directed to the next stage, such as packaging or storage.
2. The Conveyor System
This is the "automatic" heart of the line. It's not a single belt but a complex network designed to maximize exposure.
It consists of monorail systems (for Gamma plants) or flat-belt conveyors (for E-Beam plants).
The path is precisely engineered to transport products through the irradiation chamber in a controlled manner, ensuring every part of the product receives the exact required radiation dose. The speed of the conveyor is a critical control parameter for dose delivery.
3. The Irradiation Chamber / Cell
This is a heavily shielded room, typically made of thick concrete walls (often 1.5 - 2.5 meters thick), to contain the radiation and protect workers and the environment.
Access is strictly controlled via a labyrinthine entrance (a zigzag tunnel) that prevents radiation from escaping.
4. Radiation Source
For Gamma Irradiation: The source is Cobalt-60 (⁶⁰Co), and less commonly, Caesium-137 (⊃1;⊃3;⁷Cs). These radioactive isotopes are stored in a "source rack" submerged in a deep pool of purified water when not in use. Water acts as a perfect shield. For processing, the source rack is mechanically raised out of the water into the irradiation chamber.
For E-Beam Irradiation: The source is an electron accelerator. It generates a beam of high-energy electrons. There is no radioactive isotope, and the system can be turned on and off like a machine. Shielding is still required but is part of the accelerator unit itself.
5. Control & Monitoring System
This is the "brain" of the operation. A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or industrial computer manages everything.
It controls conveyor speed, source position (for Gamma), beam power (for E-Beam), and monitors safety interlocks, temperature, and pressure.
Dosimeters are placed on the products or within the chamber to continuously verify that the target sterilization dose is being achieved.
Let's follow a product, say a box of medical syringes, through a Gamma Irradiation plant.
Loading & Palletizing: Boxes of syringes are automatically placed on special carriers or totes on the infeed conveyor.
Entry and Safety Check: The loaded carriers enter the irradiation cell through the labyrinth. Multiple safety interlocks ensure the radiation source cannot be raised if a door is open or a fault is detected.
Irradiation Cycle
The control system signals the source rack to rise from its water pool into the irradiation position.
The conveyor system moves the carriers in a precise path around the raised source. The path is often a single or double pass to ensure all sides of the product are exposed.
The gamma rays penetrate the boxes and the syringes inside, disrupting the DNA of all microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, spores), rendering them sterile.
Dose Verification: Wireless dosimeters on the carriers transmit data to the control room, confirming the delivered dose in real-time.
Source Deactivation: After the programmed exposure time, the source rack is automatically lowered back into the protective water pool.
Exit and Unloading: The now-sterile carriers exit the cell through the labyrinth and are automatically directed to the offloading station. The boxes of syringes are removed, and the empty carriers are recirculated to the start of the line.
For an E-Beam system, the process is similar but much faster. The product passes under or in front of the scanning electron beam for a matter of seconds, as the disinfection effect is almost instantaneous.
High Efficiency & Throughput: Fully automated, allowing for continuous 24/7 operation.
Guaranteed Sterility: Delivers a precise, measured dose, providing a high Sterility Assurance Level (SAL).
Cold Process: Ideal for heat-sensitive materials like plastics, single-use medical devices, and some pharmaceuticals.
Excellent Penetration: Gamma rays, in particular, can penetrate dense and pre-packaged products, ensuring sterility throughout the entire package.
No Chemical Residues: Unlike ethylene oxide (EtO) gas sterilization, it leaves no toxic residues.
Comprehensive Traceability: The entire process is logged and monitored, providing complete batch records for regulatory compliance.
Medical Devices: Syringes, surgical gloves, gowns, implants, sutures.
Pharmaceuticals: Sterilizing components and some finished products.
Food Preservation: "Cold Pasteurization" of spices, herbs, and certain fruits/vegetables to kill pathogens and extend shelf life.
Laboratory Supplies: Petri dishes, pipettes, and animal feed.
Packaging Materials: For aseptic packaging in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
The irradiation disinfection automatic conveyor line, including anti - ray shell, mounting plate, turnover mechanism, height adjustment structure and distance adjustment mechanism, anti - ray shell is provided on both sides of the material port, material port is provided with a conveyor belt, anti - ray shell is fixed on the top of the inner irradiation equipment. The irradiation disinfection automatic conveyor line, convenient intermittent transfer of materials to be turned over processing, avoid the follow-up need to manually turn it over and again for radiation disinfection cumbersome, indirectly reduce the cost of radiation disinfection operations, and improve the efficiency of radiation disinfection operations, secondly, convenient delivery of materials for positioning processing, Thus, it avoids the situation that the material deviation is too serious, which leads to insufficient irradiation disinfection, and effectively improves the mobility and practicability of the conveyor line.
In terms of structure, innovative designs have been made for optional plate turnover and transfer conveyors, including chain conveyor, roller conveyor, plate turnover, transfer conveyor, frequency converter, etc., which can supplement the shortcomings of traditional irradiation conveyor lines.
Equipped with self-diagnosis function: the executing mechanism can diagnose and handle abnormal situations, software and hardware faults, etc. during operation.
3. Through the operation panel, the actuator can achieve on-site setting and adjustment of parameters.
4. Can automatically display the working output, turnover rhythm, and transfer conveyor rhythm.
In essence, an Irradiation Disinfection Automatic Conveyor Line is a masterpiece of industrial engineering and nuclear physics. It combines robust material handling, precise process control, and powerful radiation physics to deliver a safe, reliable, and highly effective sterilization method critical to modern healthcare, food safety, and manufacturing industries.
The main function of the irradiation conveyor system is to automatically transport the objects from the entrance, and after irradiation scanning, the irradiated objects will be transported to the exit, so as to realize the automatic transmission of the objects irradiated.
