Creators of APOC demonstrate the power of in-house engineering projects

The amount of radioactive things we encounter in our everyday lives is quite astonishing. It can be found in everything from rocks to ceramic kitchenware and even food. In some parts of the world, radiation can be exceedingly rampant. So, who wouldn’t want their very own portable radioactivity-detecting device?

The APOC mini radiation detector is a unique product that promises to be both fun and practical. A soon to be funded project on Kickstarter, the device was launched by ExcelPhysics. The project’s founder, Matt Chapman, was inspired to create APOC during one of his near space balloon projects. While building a tracking and sensor system with Bellevue College, he saw an opportunity to detect certain cosmic particles known as muons, which are the largest of all negatively charged particles.

Since typical detectors using photomultiplier tubes and scintillators were over 4 kilos, they were not particularly light or efficient for travel. Also adding to the weight issue of the mechanism was the Geiger Counter, which required a hefty voltage supply and also posed additional issues at low pressure, causing harmful arcing and corona discharge to the electronics system.

These issues gave Chapman the challenge to create a new device altogether. But his ideal particle detector had to meet a few basic requirements: it had to be a portable, light-weight device that used lower voltages with the ability to measure the approximate energy of gamma particles and x-rays. Armed with the drive to create a new product that people would actually use, Chapman and his team at ExcelPhysics set about designing the APOC.

ExcelPhysics began creating the prototypes using standard parts from Mouser. One of the main challenges in creating the APOC was to produce a truly practical and portable device, while ensuring that the detector’s main function was not compromised. Thus, they ultimately decided to make the device easy to interface, with microcontrollers and Bluetooth connectivity in order to increase the product’s overall versatility.

Another design challenge arose when the team struggled with creating a necessary shielding component for the device in order to protect it from radio interference and other outside noise that would compromise the device’s accuracy. They tested several materials and methods and eventually found a combination that would block undesirable particle noise and RF.

ExcelPhysics completed all aspects of the design and engineering phases entirely in-house. This point seemed to be of particular importance to Chapman, as he stated: “We believe that it is still viable to build most things in-house through automated and robotic systems, allowing us to maintain a firm control over the quality and design of our products.” Surely this is true with most projects on crowd funding sites such as Kickstarter, but it is perhaps one of the greatest factors behind APOC’s overnight success.

ExcelPhysics is offering a variety of models and fantastic rewards for those interested. You can order a DIY kit, a base model, or a fully-loaded version that even allows you to reprogram and relay data through Bluetooth to a computer or smartphone. Since hitting their original funding target, the team has provided consistent updates to the APOC, while they plan on continuing with further improvements in the future.

Though the product may sound intriguing enough to warrant its funding success, many interesting projects come and go on Kickstarter with little to no recognition. I asked Chapman to explain why he thought their APOC was so successful and he concluded that it was largely in part to their DIY offering. “By making the APOC an open source hardware and software project, we were able to attract a lot of interest from the open source portion of the Kickstarter community. Also, through offering a DIY APOC kit, many hardware hobbyists and kit enthusiasts were able to get involved with our project,” says Chapman.

Are you a fellow engineer who has considered launching a project on Kickstarter? The idea may be slightly intimidating to some, but the kind of support and community found in these crowd funding venues is of great value. When asked if he had any words of advice for those pondering such an adventure, Chapman said simply: “Tell your story. Share what makes you most excited about your project. If it is enough to make you excited, it will make others too.” And isn’t that truly what Kickstarter is all about?

For more information, visit: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/excelphysics/apoc-mini-radiation-detector