A system classifies materials utilizing a vision system that implements an artificial intelligence system in order to identify or classify and then remove automotive airbag modules from a scrap stream, which may have been produced from a shredding of end-of-life vehicles. The sorting process may be designed so that live airbag modules are not activated, which may cause damage to equipment or persons.

The present invention concerns a method for the selection and separation of polymers originating from urban and/or industrial plastic waste to obtain plastic materials for recycling which comprises a first step of supplying a mixture of polymers composed of flakes of polymers having dimensions ranging from 6 to 100 mm; a step of identification by means of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy of the flakes of coloured and white plastic material and the flakes of black plastic material and subsequent separation from one other; several consecutive steps of identification by means of NIR spectroscopy of the different types of polymer from the coloured and white plastic material and subsequent separation of said polymer types.

Disclosed is a system for sorting copper-bearing ore to select portions having a desired target copper content. The system includes a first magnetic resonance analyzer for measuring the copper content of ore input into the system and a controller that controls a diverter to divert portions of the input ore to a collection path when the copper content meets or exceeds a predetermined cut-off value. The system also includes a second magnetic resonance analyzer to measure the copper content of the ore in the collection path. The measurements are then fed back to the controller where the controller can adjust the predetermined cut-off value above, up or down, to optimize the yield of ore with the targeted copper content.

The present invention relates to a process and to a system for eliminating the expandability of steel-plant slag, which comprises a primary crusher (3) to reduce the fragments according to their granulometry; a magnetic separator (4) to remove metallic fragments bigger than a determined granulometry (5); a rotary dryer (6) to dry slag free from bigger metallic fragments; an impact mill (11) to disaggregate and fragment slag particles that are bigger than a predetermined granulometry; a classifier (12) for aero-classification and drag of fine and superfine particles; a cooler (17) for cooling slag particles bigger than a predetermined granulometry by means of heat exchange and removal of the fine and superfine particles that were not collected by the impact mill (11); a vibrating sieve (21) provided with two or more decks (23, 24, and 25) with screens of predetermined sizes; low-intensity magnetic separators (26, 27 and 28), with generation of non-magnetic slag fractions free from metallic iron and from iron monoxide, and of magnetic fractions composed by metallic iron and iron monoxide; and low-intensity magnetic separators (35, 36 and 37) to reprocess the magnetic fractions with generation of concentrate with high metallic iron contents and a product with high concentration of iron monoxide.

A device for identifying materials on a conveyor belt (101) by means of X-ray fluorescence comprising an X-ray source (102), from which X-ray radiation (103) is guided onto material parts (104), comprising a detector head (107) containing an X-ray detector array (108) having a multiplicity of detector elements (113, 114, 115) arranged in a planar fashion for receiving X-ray radiation (105) and for converting said X-ray radiation into electrical charge signals, and also an electronic unit (109) for reading out and processing the charge signals, which comprises for each individual detector element a signal channel (120) having in each case: a discriminator unit (117) having at least two adjustable discriminator thresholds (116, 122) for detecting all Gaussian curve-like signals (119) whose amplitude is greater than one of the two or simultaneously greater than both discriminator thresholds, and also one counting unit (118, 121) per discriminator threshold for converting the signals into digital counting events,
wherein the individual detector elements of the X-ray detector array have a spatial resolution of 50 μm to 500 μm with a sensitivity to X-ray radiation in an energy range of between 500 eV and 30 keV, with an energy resolution of less than 0.5 keV at counting rates of up to 100 kcps and relative to an energy of 8.04 keV, the electronic unit comprises a signal channel for each individual detector element of the X-ray detector array,
and each discriminator unit for a specific detector element is in each case electrically connected to the discriminator units of the detector elements that are spatially directly adjacent to said detector element, wherein all the discriminator units are interconnected with one another via a digital and/or analog circuit in such a way that simultaneous occurrence of signals on more than one detector element can be identified and treated electrically separately.

An apparatus and a method for sorting, particularly chopped, aluminum scrap by alloy groups are disclosed, in which the aluminum scrap is separated into fractions, fractions of the aluminum scrap are irradiated by at least one neutron source, the gamma radiation that the individual fraction emits due to this neutron irradiation is detected by at least one detector, and based on this, an energy spectrum associated with the respective fraction is generated, based on which energy spectrum a relative ratio of the weight proportions of at least two alloy elements of this fraction is determined, and based on this relative ratio, this fraction is allocated to its corresponding alloy group, and then the fractions are sorted by the alloy groups to which they have been allocated.

There is provided an apparatus including a fluidic section that comprises an input section. The fluidic section receives a fluid including a plurality of machined particles at the input section. The fluidic section receives the fluid at an inlet port of the fluidic section. The fluidic section may include two branches extending from the input section, and each of these branches has an outlet through which the fluid or part of the fluid can be routed. The apparatus can include a set of sensors configured to capture information about the plurality of machined particles in the fluidic section. The apparatus can further include channels with flow in the same and opposite directions of gravity, with each of these having one or more branches extending from the channels oriented with gravity, and each of these branches can have an outlet through which the fluid or part of the fluid can be routed.

Disclosed is a system and method for sorting copper-bearing ore to select portions having a target copper content. The system includes an analysis and selection station including first magnetic resonance analyzer measuring the copper content of input ore and a controlled diverter to divert portions of the input ore to a collection path when the copper content meets or exceeds a predetermined cut-off value. The predetermined cut-off is adjusted by a controller in response to the first magnetic resonance analyzer. A second magnetic resonance analyzer measures the copper content of the ore in a product path. That measurement is fed back to the controller to fine tune the adjusted cut-off value above, up or down, to optimize the yield of ore having the targeted copper content. The system may include a station for sizing the input ore, a station for sizing the output ore, and a station for sizing waste produced by the system.

A method for manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament, the method comprising: (1) reducing a chamber pressure within a chamber to below about 5 millibars; (2) after reducing the chamber pressure to below about 5 millibars, providing a polymer melt to the chamber; (3) separating the polymer melt into at least eight streams; (4) while the at least eight streams of the polymer melt are within the chamber, exposing the at least eight streams of the polymer melt to the chamber pressure of below about 5 millibars; (5) after exposing the at least eight streams of the polymer melt to the chamber pressure of below about 5 millibars, recombining the at least eight streams into a single polymer stream; and (6) forming polymer from the single polymer stream into bulked continuous carpet filament.

Disclosed is a system and method for sorting copper-bearing ore to select portions having a target copper content. The system includes an analysis and selection station including first magnetic resonance analyzer measuring the copper content of input ore and a controlled diverter to divert portions of the input ore to a collection path when the copper content meets or exceeds a predetermined cut-off value. The predetermined cut-off is adjusted by a controller in response to the first magnetic resonance analyzer. A second magnetic resonance analyzer measures the copper content of the ore in a product path. That measurement is fed back to the controller to fine tune the adjusted cut-off value above, up or down, to optimize the yield of ore having the targeted copper content. The system may include a station for sizing the input ore, a station for sizing the output ore, and a station for sizing waste produced by the system.