A device for identifying materials on a conveyor belt by means of X-ray fluorescence comprises an X-ray source, from which X-ray radiation is guided onto material parts, a detector head containing an X-ray detector with a multiplicity of detector elements arranged in a planar fashion for receiving X-ray radiation and converting it into electrical charge signals, and an electronic unit for reading out and processing the charge signals, which comprises for each individual detector element a signal channel having a discriminator unit with a plurality of energy thresholds and a counting unit apparatus for converting the signals into digital counting events, wherein the electronic units are interconnected such that simultaneous occurrence of signals on more than one detector element can be identified and treated separately.

A method of obtaining cullet from a thin film solar module unit is disclosed. The method involves applying a detectable tagging material onto an exposed outer surface of a glass substrate of the thin film solar module unit over one or more electrically conductive contact strips located beneath and visible through the glass substrate. Thereafter, the thin film solar module unit is crushed into assorted module pieces. The assorted module pieces are then sorted by detecting module pieces that include the detectable tagging material and separating the assorted module pieces into a collection of accepted module pieces and a collection of rejected module pieces. The collection of accepted module pieces has module pieces determined not to include the detectable tagging material. Recycled glass is then obtained from the collection of accepted module pieces.

According to one embodiment, a cell sorter includes a flow channel which supplies a sample liquid containing particles, a plurality of branch channels connected to the flow channel, an image sensor which has a pixel region covering the flow channel and the branch channels, a determination unit which determines the characteristics of the particles in the sample liquid from a measurement signal of the pixel region, and a separation unit guides the particles in the sample liquid to any of the branch channels based on the determination result of the determination unit.

A system for sorting reusable raw-material pieces, where the chemical composition of the raw-material pieces is analyzed by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), where the raw-material pieces in a first step are subjected to a plurality of first laser pulses in order to remove surface coatings and/or contaminants from the raw-material pieces, and in a second step, one or more further laser pulses from the same laser are used to generate a plasma.

There is disclosed an apparatus and method for sorting gemstones from a batch of gemstones. The apparatus comprises one or more measurement locations, each comprising at least one measurement device configured to measure one or more properties of a gemstone. A continuously moveable surface supports the gemstones thereon and transports the gemstones to the one or more measurement locations. A separation device separates the gemstones from one another as they are transported on the moveable surface to the one or more measurement locations. A location trigger at a sensor location comprises a sensor for identifying when the gemstone passes through the sensor location. A controller receives a signal from the location trigger, records the position of the moveable surface when the signal is received, and tracks the subsequent location of the gemstone by monitoring the movement of the moveable surface such that a measurement of the one or more properties of each gemstone can be correlated with a location of the respective gemstone on the moveable surface. Specific markers in the luminescence properties of the gemstone may be used to identify properties of the stone.

The composition of articles can be identified using luminescent codes printed or coated onto the articles (or labels on the articles) by means of an ink which contains long persistence luminescent materials. Radiation is used to excite the luminescent materials and this is then extinguished before the article passes beneath a spectrometer. An infrared beam then strikes the article in order to stimulate emission from the long persistence luminescent materials, via a detrapping mechanism, and the spectrometer detects the emission in order to identify the article.

The invention provides a method for identifying plastics and/or the additives therein, wherein at least some of the plastic material is irradiated with light of at least one wavelength, at least some of the light reflected by the plastic material is detected and analyzed, and the plastic material and/or the additive therein is/are identified on the basis of the result of the analysis. The disclosed method utilizes a fluorescence decay time constant of the intrinsic fluorescence of the plastic material and, if applicable, of the additive(s) therein, which is determined on the basis of the detected light, and the plastic material and/or the additive(s) therein is/are identified on the basis of the determined fluorescence decay time constant.

Methods and systems for detecting foreign material within a product stream in real-time, involve illuminating a portion of the agricultural product stream with light spanning a wavelength range including or within near-infrared and/or shortwave infrared wavelengths; scanning a line of the illuminated agricultural product stream to acquire a hyperspectral image of the line, the hyperspectral image of the line having a width of a single pixel; processing the hyperspectral image of the scanned line to obtain spectrum data for one or more pixels of the hyperspectral image of the scanned line; comparing the obtained spectrum data of the one or more pixels to predetermined spectrum data to determine whether the obtained spectrum data is indicative of foreign material within the scanned line of the agricultural product stream.

A method for sorting of items (1) based on material type, comprising: depositing an array of nanostructures (3) onto a surface portion of an item (1) to form a material identification tag (2), the nanostructures having an optical response dependent on the material type of the item onto which they are deposited, illuminating the material identification tag using a light source (30), determining at least one optical extinction and/or reflectance peak of the illuminated material identification tag, which peak is dependent on a material type of the item, categorizing the item based on the detected optical extinction and/or reflectance spectrum, and sorting the item in accordance with the categorization.

The present invention relates to a method of identifying and/or distinguishing materials by means of luminescence, wherein at least one luminescent substance is incorporated into the material and/or applied onto the material and the luminescence behaviour of the substance is analysed after excitation by means of radiation, and the use thereof for identifying and/or sorting and/or recycling and/or authenticating and/or performing a quality check and/or formulation check on materials.