Radiation Shielded Doors & Windows

Radiation Shielded Doors

Radiation shielded doors may just be your last line of defense.

At Matter Fabs, protecting people from radiation is our passion, and we follow strict guidelines when constructing radiation shielded rooms and doors. In all the industries we work in, we work hard to understand the needs of the operators, doctors, nurses, and physicists.

Radiation Shielded Door Applications

Radiation shielding is based on the principle of attenuation, which is the ability to reduce a wave’s or ray’s effect by blocking or bouncing particles through a barrier material. Charged particles may be attenuated by losing energy to reactions with electrons in the shielded barrier, while x-ray and gamma radiation are attenuated through photoemission, scattering, or pair production.

Most shielded rooms require a shielded door, and these doors are a very important part for keeping operators, patients, and anyone working around radiation machines safe. Radiation shielded walls and doors are in all industries; in medical they are found in clinics, imaging centers, dental offices, physical therapy, chiropractic practices, and veterinary clinics. In industrial applications, they are used in part suppliers, research labs, defense, and many other areas. Radiation provides a very important tool in medical and industrial areas and prolonged or repeated exposure to radiation will cause harm to the body on a cellular level.

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Our Radiation Shielded Door Process

Our job is to shield the room and doors from radiation to protect everyone in the area. We have many options for radiation shielded rooms, but we also have many options for radiation shielded doors as well. The amount of shielding in a door is equal to the shielding required by the wall around it in which it is installed into. Due to the increased weight of a heavily shielded door, we engineer special consideration for the hinging and supporting arrangements.

Our frames and doors are specially engineered to shield the radiation using many materials like lead, steel, and concrete. We make sure that all the areas that could cause a leak are addressed in our designs and engineering. Shielded doors and walls are shielded to block the radiation waves by absorbing the energy waves, dissipating it harmlessly into the shielding material.

Our doors are always matched with strong reliable hardware that works smoothly and quietly. Our hinges are engineered to handle the weight and usage on both light doors and super heavy doors that can weigh tens of thousands of pounds. Our door systems are engineered to work flawlessly under the most extreme conditions. We engineer the door openings to allow for the machine rigging and service. We also add borated polyethylene to the doors to block neutrons when needed and dictated by the physicist.

Radiation Shielded Door Hinge
Shielded Door Hinge
Radiation Shielded Door Hinge Part

Radiation Shielded Door Hinges by Matter Fabs

Radiation Shielded Doors for Radiation Leak Protection

Most radiation shielded doors require a bottom door sweep to close off the gap at the bottom of the door where leaks are common. Making this door sweep adjustable helps aid in the install with the fit of the sweep to the floor. A lead lined door contains sheets or blocks of lead situated inside a steel or wood core. Setting these lead sheets or blocks are very important to control any gaps that could cause a radiation leak.

When the door is closed, we design it to seat the frame so the shielded door overlaps the shielded frame, eliminating any radiation leaks. Upon customer request, we can install a special shielded glass window in the door to block radiation but allows viewing in the room. We also provide wood doors that are built with lead cores. Wood doors are also common in the healthcare industry using wood veneers and can be cleaned and sterilized easily.

Another feature in all doors is installing a high quality interlock switch that acts like a emergency stop on the radiation machine if the door is ever open during usage. The final part of the door is the appearance and function. Our swinging and sliding door systems are always constructed using high quality materials that blend in with the surrounding area and customized to meet all the customers needs.

Contact Us

To get started on your radiation shielded room project, contact the Matter Fabs team today at (216) 339-3311!