Patent Document ID: 9518941
Application ID: 15224189
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A PGNAA (Prompt-Gamma, Neutron-Activation Analysis) substance analyzer comprising: a source of neutrons; an opening arranged with respect to the source of neutrons to receive a substance; a gamma ray detector arranged with respect to the opening to detect gamma rays emanating at least from the substance in response to absorption of neutrons by the substance; and one or more computational devices configured to receive spectral data of the detected gamma rays, perform a regression algorithm on the spectral data using a data repository of spectral responses for known atomic elements to determine coefficients of spectrum for atomic elements detected in the spectral data, sum effective weight values, corresponding to the coefficients of spectrum, together to form a total effective weight value for the substance being analyzed, divide each of two or more of the effective weight values by the total effective weight value for the substance being analyzed to generate effective weight-percent values corresponding to two or more respective ones of the atomic elements detected in the spectral data, and generate final weight-percent values from the effective weight-percent values, for the substance being analyzed, based on a correlation of (a) previous effective weight-percent values obtained for known samples with (b) elemental or molecular weight-percent values obtained for the known samples.