A spent and/or decommissioned accumulator treatment plant and process, wherein a plurality of objects originating from separate waste collection of spent and/or decommissioned accumulators, nominally comprising lead-acid accumulators and accumulators and objects of a different type, are subject to an X-ray scan. If an analysis of the X-ray scan indicates that an object is not a lead-acid accumulator, and in particular is a lithium-ion battery or accumulator, it is deviated out of the treatment workflow, that comprises grinding the objects and separating lead from other materials.

A system for processing meat pieces includes a radiation inspection apparatus configured to receive a primary stream of meat pieces conveyed by a conveyor and to detect trim products containing undesired objects; a reject device; a control unit configured to operate the reject device using the detected undesired objects as an operation parameter such that the meat pieces containing the undesired objects are separated from the primary stream of trim products; an object remover configured to remove the undesired objects from the meat pieces separated from the primary stream of trim products; and a recirculation apparatus configured to receive the meat pieces after undergoing the object remover and recirculate it as a secondary stream into the radiation inspection apparatus. The secondary stream is separated from the primary stream, and the radiation inspection is configured to detect whether any remaining undesired objects are in the secondary stream.

According to an embodiment, a conveyance apparatus includes an upstream-side conveyance portion and a downstream-side conveyance portion. The upstream-side conveyance portion is configured to convey a test object from a conveyance direction deviating with respect to a conveyance direction of a conveyance path of a radiation inspection apparatus to the conveyance path. The radiation inspection apparatus is configured to irradiate the test object with radiation to inspect the test object. The downstream-side conveyance portion is configured to convey the test object from the conveyance path in a conveyance direction deviating with respect to the conveyance direction of the conveyance path. The upstream-side conveyance portion and the downstream-side conveyance portion respectively include a shielding section that is on an extension line of the conveyance direction of the conveyance path and is configured to block the radiation.

Method for automatic sorting of batteries, the method including generating a fan-shaped X-ray beam; scanning the batteries with the fan-shaped X-Ray beam; for each battery, capturing X-rays that pass though the battery with an X-ray detector and converting the X-rays into first and second digital images, wherein the first digital image represents X-rays at a first energy, and the second digital image represents X-rays at a second energy; automatically analyzing the first and second digital images to determine a type of the battery by identifying characteristic features of each battery type based on a gray spectrum of at least 8 bit resolution that is looked up in a model database branch; and sorting the batteries by type.

Apparatus and method for assigning a material value score to a waste printed circuit board or a portion thereof and system for sorting waste printed circuit boards.

A sorting system for inspected parts includes a storage assembly, a conveyance system, and a controller. The storage assembly has a plurality of bins configured to receive and store the inspected parts. The conveyance system is configured to deliver the inspected parts to the storage assembly. The controller programmed to, assign part types to each of the plurality of bins. The controller is further programmed to operate the conveyance system to deliver each of the inspected parts to one of the plurality of bins having a matching part type. The controller is further programmed to, in response to a full condition of the storage assembly, empty the inspected parts from a first the plurality of bins.

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.

A method includes irradiating an energy storage device using an input radiation characterized by a first electromagnetic spectrum and detecting an output radiation reflected or backscattered by the energy storage device. The method also includes determining a second electromagnetic spectrum of the output radiation and comparing the second electromagnetic spectrum with a reference electromagnetic spectrum. The method further includes generating a sorting instruction based on comparison of the second electromagnetic spectrum with the reference electromagnetic spectrum.

There is provided a microparticle sorting method including a procedure of collecting a microparticle in a fluid that flows through a main channel in a branch channel that is in communication with the main channel by generating a negative pressure in the branch channel. In the procedure, a flow of a fluid is formed that flows toward a side of the main channel from a side of the branch channel at a communication opening between the main channel and the branch channel.

The embodiments disclosed herein provide devices, systems and methods for produce scanning, wherein the produce scanning devices comprise a light source, a produce stage, and a detector array positioned on the opposing side of the produce stage to the light source, wherein the light source and the detector array form a scanning assembly, and the transmitted light from the light source can reach the detector array. In some embodiments, the light source is a collimated light source, and only the directly transmitted light may reach the detector array. In some embodiments, a collimating filter is positioned between the produce stage and the detector array.