Fusion Message Board

In this space, visitors are invited to post any comments, questions, or skeptical observations about Philo T. Farnsworth's contributions to the field of Nuclear Fusion research.

Subject: Re: Neutron Counter interface
Date: Oct 27, 8:46 am
Poster: Richard Hull

On Oct 27, 8:46 am, Richard Hull wrote:

>I have an interface working between the ludlums BF3 counter and LabView.

Good going Carl!!

It is always gratifying to hear of the work of others. You may check to see if you have a discriminator adjust on the Ludlum. I have one on two of my four BF3 counters. I find my count rate is on the order of 1 count every 2-3 minutes, but it varies with time of day and solar activity.

I am sure some are due to highly energetic cosmic ray mesons, but on average they are due to true secondary neutrons (most epithermal or thermal) associated with cosmic ray stars.

Adjusting the discriminator can be daunting with no real neutron source of certainty. It sounds like you are pretty much OK as is. If you locate a discrimator pot you might tweek it to up your count rate to 1 count every 3-5 minutes. This will prep it for detecting all of the neutrons from a fusor. Before tweeking, mark its current position so you can return to your base line later if need be. This improved sensitivity will up the background and allow a more easily obtained statistical analysis of the dirunal nature of earth bound neutrons. You can always subtract the background from your fusor run data figures.

Richard Hull