A method and a sorting plant for sorting out mineral-containing objects car plastic objects from a single layer material stream is shown. Here it is provided that objects (12) of the material stream are irradiated with stimulating light and the resulting fluorescent light is detected in the form of an image of the fluorescent points, the objects of the material stream are irradiated with object detection light outside the fluorescent light, and the transmitted light after passage between the objects or the reflected light of the objects is detected in the form of an image of the individual objects, an object is then defined as containing at least one specific mineral or one specific plastic if the fluorescent light of said object lies in a predetermined intensity range for at least one predetermined wavelength range, and the so defined objects are separated from other objects of the material stream.

A system for the online sorting of ore samples based on mineralogy analysis includes a conveyor moving a stream of the ore samples along a conveying path, a LIBS module, a height measuring device, a focus controller and an airflow system. The LIBS module projects a LIBS laser beam along an optical path focused on an analysis spot of dimensions of the order of one or a few mineral components of the ore samples, and collects a returning LIBS light signal. The height measuring device and focus controller collaborate to adjust in real-time the focus of the LIBS laser beam to move the analysis spot perpendicularly to the conveyor according to a height of the ore samples crossing the optical path. The air flow system moves particles away from the optical path. A processing unit performs the mineralogy analysis of the ore sample based on the LIBS light signal.

A system of multiple sets of optical Detection And Removal Assessment (DARA) (or Scannable Detection And Removal Assessment (DARA)) standards embedded with a foreign body of various compositions with known characteristics covering a broad gradation range relevant to end product application performance requirements, the standards being used for measuring the efficiency of an optical sorting system (or scannable sorting system) to remove product defectives from the processing stream. In addition, the DARA system of standards are endowed with specifically designed characteristics which stand out from normal products or materials after the sorter processing is complete to enable easy retrieval and reuse of the standards.

The present invention discloses a novel XRF analyzer capable of simultaneously identifying the presence of a marking composition in a plurality of objects by modulating/varying the intensity of the excitation beam on the different objects and measuring the secondary radiation thereof. The XRF analyzer comprises a radiation emitter assembly adapted for emitting at least one X-Ray or Gamma-Ray excitation radiation beam having a spatial intensity distribution for simultaneously irradiating the plurality of objects; a radiation detector for detecting secondary radiation X-Ray signals arriving from a plurality of objects in response to irradiation of the objects by X-Ray or Gamma-Ray radiation, and providing data indicative of spatial intensity distribution of the detected data X-Ray signals on the plurality of objects; and a signal reading processor in communication with the detector, the processor being adapted for receiving and processing the detected response X-Ray signals to verify presence of the marking composition included at least one surface of each object of the plurality objects.

A process for detecting oil or lubricant contamination in a manufactured product, the process comprising adding a fluorescent taggant to oils or lubricants contained in processing machinery for said product, conveying said product past an infrared detection apparatus, irradiating said product with infrared radiation from said detection apparatus as it passes the detection apparatus, and detecting infrared radiation emitted from said irradiated product.

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.

An inspection station for detecting oil or lubricant contamination in a manufactured product, the inspection station having (a) a conveyor for advancing manufactured product, and (b) an infrared detection apparatus, including (i) a high intensity infrared light source for directing at the manufactured product, and (ii) a high speed NIR spectrometer sensor tuned to detect an emitted signal from a taggant disposed in the oil or lubricant.

Disclosed is a method for sorting of scrap metal in which a composition analysis is carried out on a scrap fragment. Surface composition information about the local composition of the scrap fragment is determined, and associated volumetric composition information about the composition of the scrap fragment is assigned to the scrap fragment depending on the surface composition information determined by measurement and on a given assignment rule. Also disclosed is an apparatus for sorting scrap metal having a conveyor designed to convey a quantity of scrap fragments, an analysis device designed to carry out composition analyses on scrap fragments, and a control device designed to assign associated volumetric composition information about the composition of the scrap fragment. A composition analysis of a scrap fragment includes determining surface composition information about the local composition of the scrap fragment by measurement.

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.

Tandem methods and devices for separating coal and gangue based on visible light and an X-ray are provided. The method comprises: determining, based on a visible light image, an image feature set and a target region of coal gangue; recognizing the coal gangue and removing large gangue in the coal gangue; performing imaging on the coal gangue after the large gangue is removed; extracting a target image and determining a gray scale value of the target image; obtaining samples of coal and gangue of different granularity levels by performing sampling; establishing a database and obtaining a separation threshold of coal and gangue of each granularity level of the current mining area; forming a mapping set and storing the database in a storage space; and obtaining a gray scale value of subsequent coal gangue, importing the gray scale value of the subsequent coal gangue into the mapping set to subsequently separate coal and gangue.