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Geiger counter

Radiation measurement device w/ Raspberry Pi Pico and STS-5 tube

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The core technical concept ("boost converter") for this microprocessor controlled radiation measurement device is copied from biemster's ESP8266 project.

https://hackaday.io/project/12933-esp8266-geiger-counter

There are drawbacks about that design albeit having the virtue of simplicity, since there is no control loop for the tube HV (that will be addressed here).

I use the Raspberry Pi Pico for prototypes, so connecting the device to the Internet will briefly be discussed yet is beyond the project scope (for the "classic" Pico has no IoT capabilities per se); this feature was not really necessary for me anyway.

1. Prototypes

Status as of February, 2023

With a commonplace 0.96'' OLED and a buzzer (on-board LED GP25 also used). 

2. G-M tube SBM-20 (or STS-5, Cyrillic CTC-5)

With this Soviet Union tube you can detect Beta and Gamma radiation (as with any Geiger tube, you cannot distinguish them), but not Alpha. For the tubes you are seeing on the pictures I paid around 30€ (in 2022, probably more expensive now), including shipment.

Technical data: SBM-20_GER1.pdf (mikrocontroller.net)

For registering pulses by the counting system proper working conditions have to be established. That means in practical terms generating a tube voltage within the Plateau area.

Beyond the characteristic "Knee" all pulses are (or ought to be) counted. Below the starting voltage, no pulses are counted at all.

Characteristic curve
Characteristic curve

3. Emitters, natural radiation and testing

To test the general viability of the assembly I use small pieces of Uranium glass that can be purchased online (this matter doesn't radiate intensely for obvious reasons).

The natural radiation is detected about 20 CPM (in 49°46' N, 11°12' E) with the most recent prototypes. There's of course inherent randomness in the measured data.

Note: for a reasonably accurate realization of the underlying probability distribution there are a lot of samples needed, the given graphs are just for illustration (for seldom events such as radioactive decay, Poisson distribution can be a helpful mathematical model).

4. Program development and display of data

4.1 Conceiving an algorithm from scratch

I use C language for program development. In order to work with it, I had to install the tool chain (the C development system) on my Raspberry Pi.

Necessary for the HV-generation is a PWM with a frequency of e.g. 10 kHz and a duty cycle of e.g. 60% (output here on GP3, see paragraph 5) - these are empirical parameters.

As we have an MCU connected there are several ways how to handle measurement data. 

Triggering IRQs and counting them (here on GP2) is one pragmatic method, for a pulse (gas discharge, i.e. counting event) has a duration of about 0.3 ms. Problems may arise with high counting rates for the interrupt handler might be unable to deal with them properly (up to about 500 CPM, a counting rate I'm able to generate with the emitters, everything seems alright).

4.2 Displays

For a more sophisticated display of data (statistical calculations, graphs etc.) than just flashing LEDs or triggering a buzzer, an attached off-the-shelf subassembly can be used. The Pico SDK makes common types of displays, e.g. a 16x2 LCD or a SSD1306 OLED, fairly easy to use - keeping in mind that an LCD/OLED connected to the I2C bus may or may not have its own pull-up resistors.

LCDs consume too much power for my taste, so I don't use them any more (though they look aesthetic).

With the OLED, a compromise has to be found between sophistication of display and power consumption. More characters i.e. activated pixels and more contrast equal higher consumption. Hacker NuclearPhoenix uses an identical  0.96'' OLED for his project and he generates intricate graphs on this actually tiny display. The OLEDs have a further advantage for you can use them in freezing cold conditions as well. 

4.3 Non-wireless data transfer

Just transmitting the data via cable to an other device is also an option, for instance via serial port to the Raspberry Pi (which in turn can provide the data on e.g. a webserver via php-script).

Raspberry-Pi/Project-6/CPMinfo.php at main · Florian-Wilhelm/Raspberry-Pi (github.com)

5. Schematic

The device comprises in essence the MCU board, the boost converter, a power supply network, the HV control loop and of course the Geiger tube.

Diode D1 prevents immediate discharge of capacitor C1 and tube voltage is building up quickly. The coil voltage peaks into the double, then triple digits every...

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  • 1 × Raspberry Pi Pico Microcontroller board
  • 1 × MPSA44 Discrete Semiconductors / Transistors, MOSFETs, FETs, IGBTs
  • 1 × BC337 BJT; SMD alternative: BC817
  • 2 × Resistor 240 Ohm Or similar, value not so critical
  • 1 × Resistor 100 kOhm

View all 20 components

  • Better robustness with external I2C PullUp resistors

    Florian Wilhelm Dirnberger06/26/2023 at 08:22 0 comments

    For components which have no onboard PullUps (e.g. the 16x2 LCD).

  • CPM calculation

    Florian Wilhelm Dirnberger04/18/2023 at 10:25 0 comments

    As for any purely statistical information (such as radioactivity) the question is what to do with cumulated data and in which manner present it to the user (on a display or other devices).

    A straightforward way would be composing an arithmetic mean of extrapolated CPM values over a fixed time frame. For instance: 2s measurement, extrapolation, then take 5 extrapolated values and generate a mean value. 

    The most recent value replaces the oldest value (FIFO), what is basically a ringbuffer principle.

    for (int i=0; i < ringbuffer_elements; i++)
         {          
              sum += ringbuffer[i]; 
         }
    mean = sum/ringbuffer_elements; 

  • Battery indication

    Florian Wilhelm Dirnberger04/10/2023 at 12:08 0 comments

    Simple battery indication with a voltage divider (5MOhm and 2.2MOhm), using Pico's ADC2. Shows for a few seconds whether battery is nearly full, half empty or nearly empty (only applicable for alkaline batteries with their characteristic discharge curve).  

  • New PCB revision

    Florian Wilhelm Dirnberger04/05/2023 at 13:43 0 comments

    New PCB revision with some improvements.

  • HV measurement

    Florian Wilhelm Dirnberger11/12/2022 at 13:34 2 comments

    Simple HV measure arrangement: consisting of four 82V Zener diodes, one 10 MOhm and one 2.2 MOhm resistor (series connection). These are parallel to the tube Anode and GND.

    The Voltmeter is parallel to the 2.2 MOhm resistor.

    On the picture you see a voltage of some 11V, what means the HV amounts in this case to:

    HVtube = 11 + (11/2.2)*10 + 4*82 = 390V 

    (actually it is slightly higher since the Voltmeter has an internal resistance in the 10 MOhm range what affects the measured value)

    Varying the PWM parameters in the SW would lead to higher and lower voltages, respectively.

    The assembly described here could be the basis for a control loop design.

View all 5 project logs

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Discussions

tormozedison wrote 05/24/2022 at 19:22 point

The counter on some of your photos is not SBM-20, but STS-5, an older version with similar specifications.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Florian Wilhelm Dirnberger wrote 05/25/2022 at 04:06 point

Ah, you are apparently right. Then the seller from ebay kinda cheated me :-D. I will add a note on this project page.

  Are you sure? yes | no

tormozedison wrote 05/25/2022 at 06:26 point

I won't call it cheating, STS-5 is more vintage and therefore rare.

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Nazwa wrote 04/17/2022 at 17:22 point

this will be working with radioactive @home?

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biemster wrote 04/07/2022 at 12:43 point

Nice! I've been looking to revive the project you've based this on, so if you find improvements over that previous schematic please add that to the logs!

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Florian Wilhelm Dirnberger wrote 04/07/2022 at 12:49 point

Hi :) hope your project gets en route a little boost in attention as well.

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Florian Wilhelm Dirnberger wrote 04/04/2022 at 15:22 point

Thanks Alan for your comprehensive answer. You spotted a flaw in the design that wasn't really obvious to me. I'll try out different transistors in future prototypes.

  Are you sure? yes | no

agp.cooper wrote 03/31/2022 at 04:36 point

Does not work that way. Your particular transistor is breaking down at 400v.

Providing the power is low, it should not hurt the transistor.

Better if you used a voltage doubler or a transformer.

Alan

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Florian Wilhelm Dirnberger wrote 04/02/2022 at 17:25 point

What exactly is the problem with the µC/transistor combination for I can effortlessly diminish or increase voltage by changing duty cycle and frequency via SW.

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agp.cooper wrote 04/04/2022 at 12:32 point

Hi Florian,

I had a closer look at the CE breakdown voltage and I see it is rated at 1mA. This means the transistor parameter is for avalanche breakdown mode, so yes the zero current (peak) breakdown would be higher, as you have found.

So what is the problem? Basically you are operating the transistor in an area of its operating envelop that has not been defined.

Often a MOSFET is used in this application. One reason is that the breakdown voltage is better defined and the maximum "inductive power" the transistor can absorb is stated. For an IRF470 it is 500v and 30 mJ. So providing you dissipate the power there is problem operating in avalanche breakdown.

So at some point above the 300v the MPAS42 transistor will go into avalanche breakdown mode. Your circuit will need to limit the power to some unknown amount.

That is why I don't like this type of circuit.

If you use a diode double then avalanche  breakdown will not be a problem. 

Regards Alan

  Are you sure? yes | no

agp.cooper wrote 03/26/2022 at 10:34 point

I doubt you will get 400v to 500v from this circuit as required for a geiger tube to operate.

The breakdown voltage of the MPSA42 is only 300v. 

Circuit simulators do not always model transistor breakdown voltage. 

  Are you sure? yes | no

Florian Wilhelm Dirnberger wrote 03/26/2022 at 10:55 point

Yes you are correct. MPSA44 would be better but wasn't available for my first prototype. Next prototype will have different transistor.

Edit 03.04.: Carried out a further measurement. MPSA42 works even with >400V since that voltage is actually (i. e. steady-state) present on the cathode of the diode, not on the anode. I am gauging some 400V, what is the voltage's under limit in any case (oscilloscope with probe has 10 MOhm impedance). 

  Are you sure? yes | no

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