Patent ID: 8030589

Claim:
A method for detecting and sorting glass in a scrap glass stream comprising the steps of: emitting light rays from a radiation source in a direction traverse to the scrap glass stream wherein said light rays impinge on a detector unit; processing said light rays by an evaluation and control unit in data communication with said detector unit; activating, a removal apparatus comprising blowing nozzles disposed downstream of said detector unit, upon the detection of undesired matter in the scrap glass stream, said removal apparatus singling out undesired matter entrained in said scrap glass stream; diverting said undesired matter to a predetermined location, wherein said undesired matter to be detected is in the form of special glass such that the light emitted from the radiation source is in the frequency range of UV light, the special glass being detected; and comparing the UV absorption or transmission values of the scrap glass stream detected by the detector unit with predetermined UV absorption or transmission values obtained from standardized material laboratory inspections, the range of transmission or absorption values referred to as a UV absorption edge being used to compare the UV absorption or transmission values being the one in which transmission no longer increases or absorption no longer decreases with decreasing wavelength.