Nuclear gauges and methods of configuration and calibration of nuclear gauges

摘要

Nuclear gauges and method of configuration and methods of calibrations of the nuclear gauges are provided. The nuclear gauges are used in measuring the density and/or moisture of construction-related materials. The nuclear gauge can include a gauge housing having a vertical cavity therethrough and at least one radiation detector located within the housing. The nuclear gauge can include a vertically moveable source rod and a radiation source operatively positioned within a distal end of the source rod.

主权项

1. A method for configuring a nuclear gauge, the method comprising:
(a) providing a nuclear gauge including a computing system and configurable to operate with different combinations of gauge features that are variable at manufacturing time, the computing system operable to enable and to disable the features of the nuclear gauge; (b) providing a nuclear gauge configuration system separate from the nuclear gauge and capable of communicating with the computing system of the nuclear gauge; (c) at the nuclear gauge configuration system, providing for selection from among the gauge features that are variable at manufacturing time, communicating commands to the computing system of the nuclear gauge for selectively enabling or disabling the selected features of the nuclear gauge; and
at the gauge, receiving the commands, utilizing an authentication scheme to determine whether the commands will be permitted to set flags in permanent gauge memory, the flags representing the gauge features that are variable at manufacturing time, and, in response to successful authentication, executing the commands to set the flags in the permanent gauge memory, and thereby to communicate to pre-existing software on the gauge the set of enabled features, from the features that are variable at manufacturing time, for the gauge, wherein the features that are variable at manufacturing time include source rod length, indexing positions, gauge type, and global positioning system (GPS) interoperability, and wherein, when the pre-existing software executes, the pre-existing software checks the flags to determine the source rod length, the indexing positions, the gauge type, and the GPS interoperability.