Patent ID: 11964304
Assignee: SORTERA TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 15:
16. A system for sorting metal alloys comprising:
a conveyor system configured to convey a plurality of received metal alloy pieces at a predetermined speed;
a distance measuring device configured to determine an approximate length for each of the plurality of metal alloy pieces along a line parallel to a direction of travel of the plurality of metal alloy pieces;
an XRF system configured to emit x-rays from an x-ray source towards each of the plurality of metal alloy pieces and to detect x-ray fluorescence signals emitted by the plurality of metal alloy pieces in response to the x-rays emitted by the x-ray source;
the XRF system configured to determine separate XRF spectra for each of the plurality of metal alloy pieces only during a time period determined as a function of the approximate length and the predetermined speed so that only the XRF spectrum emitted from a respective metal alloy piece is measured and not from an environment surrounding the respective metal alloy piece;
circuitry configured to classify a first one of the plurality of metal alloy pieces as having the first metal alloy composition and classify a second one of the plurality of metal alloy pieces as having the second metal alloy composition, wherein metal alloy compositions of the plurality of metal alloy pieces are classified as a result of acquired x-ray fluorescence detected from each of the plurality of metal alloy pieces using the XRF system; and
a sorting device configured to sort the first one of the plurality of metal alloy pieces from the second one of the metal alloy pieces in response to (1) classifying the first one of the plurality of metal alloy pieces as having the first metal alloy composition, and (2) classifying the second one of the plurality of metal alloy pieces as having the second metal alloy composition, wherein one or more x-ray detectors of the XRF system acquire the XRF spectrum comprising energy counts for a plurality of channels of x-rays fluoresced by each of the plurality of metal alloy pieces as they travel within a proximity of the x-ray beam emitted from the XRF system, wherein each of the plurality of channels represents a different element within each of the plurality of metal alloy pieces, wherein the energy counts for each of the plurality of channels are accumulated as running total energy counts for the plurality of metal alloy pieces, wherein the energy counts for each of the plurality of channels for the particular one of each of the plurality of metal alloy pieces is determined by subtracting the accumulated running total energy counts received by the x-ray detector for previously scanned metal alloy pieces from the accumulated running total energy counts received by the x-ray detector for the particular one of the plurality of metal alloy pieces on a per channel basis.