Electron beam irradiation device and electron beam irradiation method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10916402-B2
Application number	US-201616067872-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 1, 2016
Priority date	Jan 8, 2016
Publication date	Feb 9, 2021
Grant date	Feb 9, 2021

Abstract

An electron beam irradiation device includes: an electron beam generation part; a housing part that provides a vacuum space in which the electron beam generation part is accommodated; an electron beam guide part in which a base end side is connected to the housing part and communicates with the vacuum space, in which a tip end side is provided with a long tubular member capable of being inserted into a container via a mouth portion of the container, and in which the electron beams pass through an inside; an electron beam emission window which is provided on the tip end side of the electron beam guide part; and an adjustment part that adjusts a trajectory of the electron beams in the electron beam guide part. The adjustment part is disposed on the base end side of the electron beam guide part on an outside of the vacuum space.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electron beam irradiation device, comprising:
an electron beam generation part that generates electron beams;
a housing part that provides a vacuum space in which the electron beam generation part is accommodated;
an electron beam guide part in which a base end side is connected to the housing part and communicates with the vacuum space, in which a tip end side is provided with a long tubular member capable of being inserted into a container via a mouth portion of the container, and in which the electron beams generated in the electron beam generation part pass through an inside;
an electron beam emission window which is provided on the tip end side of the electron beam guide part, and through which the electron beams are emitted; and
an adjustment part that adjusts a trajectory of the electron beams in the electron beam guide part,
wherein the adjustment part is disposed on the base end side of the electron beam guide part on an outside of the vacuum space, and
wherein the adjustment part is disposed between the electron beam generation part and the tubular member to surround the base end side of the electron beam guide part.

2. The electron beam irradiation device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the adjustment part is an electromagnetic coil.

3. The electron beam irradiation device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a focusing part that is disposed on an outside the vacuum space, and controls focusing of the electron beams in the electron beam guide part.

4. The electron beam irradiation device according to claim 3 ,
wherein the focusing part is an electromagnetic coil.

5. The electron beam irradiation device according to claim 3 ,
wherein the focusing part focuses the electron beams so that a focusing point is not formed on the inside of the electron beam guide part.

6. The electron beam irradiation device according to claim 3 ,
wherein the adjustment part is disposed closer to the base end side of the electron beam guide part than the focusing part.

7. The electron beam irradiation device according to claim 3 ,
wherein the focusing part is disposed closer to the base end side of the electron beam guide part than the adjustment part.

8. The electron beam irradiation device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the electron beam generation part is configured so that an electron beam amount of the electron beams emitted from the electron beam emission window of the tip end side of the electron beam guide part is reduced in a case where the adjustment part is not provided in comparison to a case where the adjustment part is provided.

9. An electron beam irradiation device, comprising:
an electron beam generation part that generates electron beams;
a housing part that provides a vacuum space in which the electron beam generation part is accommodated;
an electron beam guide part in which a base end side is connected to the housing part and communicates with the vacuum space, in which a tip end side is provided with a long tubular member capable of being inserted into a container via a mouth portion of the container, and in which the electron beams generated in the electron beam generation part pass through an inside;
an electron beam emission window which is provided on the tip end side of the electron beam guide part, and through which the electron beams are emitted;
an adjustment part that adjusts a trajectory of the electron beams in the electron beam guide part;
a focusing part that is disposed on an outside the vacuum space, and controls focusing of the electron beams in the electron beam guide part; and
a control unit that controls the focusing part,
wherein the adjustment part is disposed on the base end side of the electron beam guide part on an outside of the vacuum space, and
the focusing part is an electromagnetic coil in which flows a current controlled by the control unit so as to perform a focusing control to suppress scattering of the electron beams while focusing the electron beams so that a focusing point is not formed on the inside of the electron beam guide part, and to make an irradiation range of the electron beams on the electron beam emission window constant.

10. The electron beam irradiation device according to claim 9 ,
wherein the adjustment part is an electromagnetic coil.

11. The electron beam irradiation device according to claim 9 ,
wherein the adjustment part is disposed closer to the base end side of the electron beam guide part than the focusing part.

12. The electron beam irradiation device according to claim 9 ,
wherein the focusing part is disposed closer to the base end side of the electron beam guide part than the adjustment part.

13. A method of irradiating an inner surface of a container with electron beams by using an electron beam irradiation device including an electron beam generation part that generates the electron beams, a housing part that provides a vacuum space in which the electron beam generation part is accommodated, an electron beam guide part in which a base end side is connected to the housing part and communicates with the vacuum space, in which a tip end side is provided with a long tubular member capable of being inserted into a container via a mouth portion of the container on the tip end side, and in which the electron beams generated in the electron beam generation part pass through an inside, an electron beam emission window which is provided on the tip end side of the tubular member of the electron beam guide part, and through which the electron beams are emitted, an adjustment part that is disposed on the base end side of the electron beam guide part on an outside of the vacuum space, and adjusts a trajectory of the electron beams in the electron beam guide part, and a focusing part that controls focusing of the electron beams in the electron beam guide part, the method comprising:
a step of generating the electron beams from the electron beam generation part, and adjusting a trajectory of the electron beams passing through the electron beam guide part by the adjustment part while allowing the electron beams to pass through the inside of the electron beam guide part, thereby allowing the electron beams to reach the electron beam emission window and emitting the electron beams therefrom; and
a step of setting the electron beams to an emission state, then inserting the tubular member into the inside of the container via the mouth portion of the container, and irradiating the inner surface of the container with the electron beams while constantly varying a relative positional relationship between the container and the electron beam emission window,
wherein the irradiating step with the electron beams includes a step of positioning the tip end of the tubular member on the inside of the container, and irradiating a bottom surface of the container with the electron beams, and
the emitting step includes adjusting the trajectory of the electron beams by the adjustment part to match with the central axis line of the tubular member, and focusing the electron beams by the focusing part so that a focusing point is not formed on the inside of the electron beam guide part.

Assignees

• Hamamatsu Photonics Kk

Inventors

• Matsumura Tatsuya

Classifications

• A61L2103/23

  Containers other than laboratory or medical, e.g. bottles or mail · CPC title

• H01J33/04

  Windows · CPC title

• A61L2/087

  Particle radiation, e.g. electron-beam, alpha or beta radiation · CPC title

• A61L2202/11

  Apparatus for generating biocidal substances, e.g. vaporisers, UV lamps · CPC title

• B65B55/08 Primary

  by irradiation · CPC title