System Overview

Today's systems, as depicted in Figures 1 & 2, typically have the following major components and subsystems:

Figure 1. Conceptual layout of a 10 MeV 15 kW Electron Beam Linear Accelerator and Process Conveyor.

Figure 2. Conceptual layout of an Electron Beam Sterilization Facility with shielding removed, illustrating an overhead power and free conveyor system.

Linear Accelerator

The power source for the electrons is the linear accelerator available with energy levels from 3 to 10 MeV and power ranges from 1 to 50 kW (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Artist rendering of a small volume self shielded
in-line or stand-alone electron beam sterilization system.

Material Handling System
The modern material handling systems are typically comprised of four elements for maximum production efficiency and process integrity:

Product Carriers
Hold the product throughout the process and are designed and custom made to accommodate specific products and shipping case dimensions (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Product carrier and product loading station at the Titan Scan Technologies contract Service Center in San Diego, California.

The Transportation Conveyor
Moves the carriers into and out of the radiation shield from the load station to the unload station. These conveyors, typically overhead power and free or powered roller designs, run the carriers in and out at constant speeds, usually from 45 to 60 fpm, to keep the process conveyor continuously supplied with products, thus maximizing capacity.

The Closing Conveyor
Automatically moves the carrier from the transportation conveyor and "close packs" the carrier onto an independent process conveyor. This effectively increases the system throughput by more than 20%.

The Process Conveyor
Moves the carrier through the beam (Figure 5). The speed of this precision controlled device ranges from 1 to 20 fpm to deliver the precise dose to the product. The speed is monitored and controlled by the system programmable logic controller (PLC).

Figure 5. Photograph of Titan Scan Technologies San Diego Service Center and the 10 MeV 15 kW linear accelerator, process and closing conveyors.

Information and Control Systems
Are available to monitor and control the entire sterilization process, from monitoring the key process parameters, such as the process conveyor speed, to archiving the historical data for documentation maintenance. Such systems control the process parameters and verify the integrity of the overall process.

Safety System
Comprised of either concrete or steel, iron and lead biological shielding and the supporting monitoring devices that monitor and control access, radiation levels and ozone concentrations.