Automatic leak detection system for sealed radioactive sources

A practical automatic system called ALDS (automatic leak detection system) is presented in this paper, which is implemented for leak detection of sealed radioactive sources used for oil well logging in oilfields. This ALDS is able to accomplish the work of leak detection automatically, which not only guarantees the safety of staff but also offers better quality and reliability. Furthermore, ALDS is faster and easier to use than the remote control system that has been employed in some oilfields. The ALDS includes two parts: field station and base station. The field station located in the radioactive zone is responsible for the manipulator control and contamination detection, and the base station is in charge of delivering high-level control commands and monitoring the operation of the manipulator. A programmable logic controller is used as cell controller of the field station. A visual servo subsystem is introduced to grasp or put back the source correctly with the camera attaining information of the orientation and position of the radioactive source. Specific vision algorithm is developed for different types of radioactive source