Examination of Product Throughput Obtained from High Power Bremsstrahlung Sources

The Bremsstrahlung from high power electron accelerators provides an intense source of penetrating radiation for industrial processing. Applications include the sterilization of disposable medical products and radiation preservation of food. This paper reports on theoretical and experimental investigation of the Bremsstrahlung radiation processing throughput that can be achieved using 3 to 6 MeV electron accelerators with up to 300 kilowatts of electron beam power. The theoretical calculation integrates experimentally determined angular distributions of unscanned electron beams to calculate the fields produced by scanned beams. Absorbed dose distributions for continuous processes are calculated and the maximum-to-minimum dose ratio and product throughput are obtained as a function of package dimensions. Data are presented for multipass conveyors that move the product on linear or circular trajectories through the radiation field. Results of experimental measuring using thin film dosimeters to check the results of the calculation are also discussed.