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

Claim 13:
14. A system for sorting metal alloys comprising:
a conveyor system configured to convey a plurality of received metal alloy pieces at a predetermined speed, wherein first and second ones of the plurality of metal alloy pieces contain different aluminum alloys;
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 the aluminum alloy scrap pieces comprise at least two different cast aluminum alloys.