# US 11,243,327 B2 · System and method for material characterization > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,243,327 B2 - Document ID: US11243327B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/305,803 - Filed: 2017-05-30 - Published: 2019-07-11 - Granted: 2022-02-08 - Earliest claimed: 2016-05-30 - Assignees: Southern Innovation International Pty Ltd - Applicants: Southern Innovation International Pty Ltd - Inventors: Paul Scoullar; Christopher McLean; Shane Tonissen; Syed Khusro Saleem - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11243327B2 ## CPC - G01V 5/224: {Multiple energy techniques using one type of radiation, e.g. X-rays of different energies} - G01J 3/02: Details - G01J 3/28: Investigating the spectrum (using colour filters G01J3/51) - G01N 21/255: {Details, e.g. use of specially adapted sources, lighting or optical systems} - G01N 21/85: Investigating moving fluids or granular solids - G01N 21/93: Detection standards; Calibrating {baseline adjustment, drift correction} - G01N 23/04: and forming images of the material - G01N 23/06: and measuring the absorption - G01N 23/083: the radiation being X-rays - G01N 23/087: using polyenergetic X-rays - G01N 23/10: the material being confined in a container, e.g. in a luggage X-ray scanners - G01N 23/12: the material being a flowing fluid or a flowing granular solid - G01V 5/22: Active interrogation, i.e. by irradiating objects or goods using external radiation sources, e.g. using gamma rays or cosmic rays - G01N 2021/258: {Surface plasmon spectroscopy, e.g. micro- or nanoparticles in suspension} - G01N 2021/933: {Adjusting baseline or gain (also for web inspection)} - G01N 2223/345: mathematical transformations on beams or signals, e.g. Fourier - G01N 2223/423: multispectral imaging-multiple energy imaging - G01N 2223/501: array - G01N 2223/505: scintillation - G01N 2223/643: object on conveyor - G01V: GEOPHYSICS; GRAVITATIONAL MEASUREMENTS; DETECTING MASSES OR OBJECTS; TAGS (means for indicating the location of accidentally buried, e.g. snow-buried, persons A63B29/02) - G01J: MEASUREMENT OF INTENSITY, VELOCITY, SPECTRAL CONTENT, POLARISATION, PHASE OR PULSE CHARACTERISTICS OF INFRARED, VISIBLE OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT; COLORIMETRY; RADIATION PYROMETRY (light sources F21, H01J, H01K, H05B; investigating properties of materials by optical means G01N) - G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q) ## Abstract The invention provides a system and method for characterising at least part of a material comprising: a source of incident X-rays (4, 28) configured to irradiate at least part of the material; one or more detectors (300,302,312,1701,1704,1600,1607,1608,1604) adapted to detect radiation emanating from within or passing through the material as a result of the irradiation by the incident radiation (1700) and thereby produce a detection signal (313); and one or more digital processors (304-311,2000-2009) configured to process the detection signal (313) to characterise at least part of the material; wherein the one or more detectors (300,302,312,1701, 1704,1600,1607,1608,1604) and one or more digital processors (304-311,2000-2009) are configured to characterise at least part of the material by performing energy resolved photon counting X-ray transmission spectroscopy analysis. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system for characterizing at least a part of a material comprising: a source device for providing incident X-rays configured to irradiate at least a part of the material; one or more detector circuits adapted to detect radiation emanating from within or passing through the material as a result of an irradiation by the incident X-rays and thereby produce a detection signal; and one or more digital processors configured to process the detection signal to form a detector energy spectrum, wherein the one or more detector circuits and the one or more digital processors are configured to characterize at least the part of the material by performing an energy-resolved photon-counting X-ray transmission spectroscopy analysis calculated using the detector energy spectrum, the energy-resolved photon-counting X-ray transmission spectroscopy analysis comprising measuring an effective atomic number Z based on the detector energy spectrum in a comparison with calibration measurements made during a calibration, and wherein the calibration comprises taking calibration measurements obtained from irradiations of varying-thickness samples of different calibration materials of known atomic number Z, so as to generate calibration detector energy spectra I(Z, x, B) as a function of Z, a calibration material thickness x, and histogram bins B, without an absolute energy calibration of the histogram bins B. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, further comprising: a material handling system comprising at an irradiation location a conveyor, a bench, a moving floor, a bucket elevator, or a pipe adapted to translate or transport the material; wherein the material, the source device for providing incident X-rays, and the one or more detector circuits are positioned to irradiate at least the part of the material at the irradiation location while the material is travelling on, in, through, or along the material handling system. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The system of claim 2, further comprising: a first chassis; a second chassis; and one or more modular enclosures, wherein the source device for providing incident X-rays and the one or more detector circuits are positioned on the first chassis, the first chassis engaging with the second chassis through vibration damping, the second chassis being attached to the material handling system, and wherein the source device for providing incident X-rays and the one or more detector circuits are disposed within the one or more modular enclosures adapted for removal and replacement from the first chassis. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the source device for providing incident X-rays and the one or more detector circuits are positioned to irradiate the material while the material is falling. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein: the one or more detector circuits are adapted to detect packets of emitted radiation emanating from within or passing through the material as a result of the irradiation by the incident X-rays, each detector circuit of the one or more detector circuits being configured to produce an electrical pulse caused by the detected packets of emitted radiation having a characteristic size or shape dependent on an energy of the detected packets of emitted radiation; and the one or more digital processors are configured to process each electrical pulse to determine the characteristic size or shape of the energy of the detected packets of emitted radiation and to thereby accumulate a detector energy spectrum for each detector circuit of the one or more detector circuits, and to characterize at least the part of the material based on the detector energy spectrum. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The system of claim 5, wherein each packet of the detected packets of emitted radiation is a photon, and the one or more detector circuits comprise one or more scintillation detectors, each scintillation detector of the one or more scintillation detectors comprises a scintillation material adapted to produce electromagnetic radiation by scintillation from photons and a pulse-producing element adapted to produce an electrical pulse from the electromagnetic radiation. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the pulse-producing element comprises a photon-sensitive material, and the one or more scintillation detectors comprise a plurality of scintillation detectors arranged side-by-side in one or more detector arrays of individual scintillator elements of the scintillation material, each individual scintillator element of the individual scintillator elements covered with a reflective material around sides thereof and disposed adjacent and optically coupled to the photon-sensitive material. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The system of claim 7, wherein each individual scintillator element of the individual scintillator elements of the scintillation material presents a cross-sectional area to the emitted radiation of greater than 1 square millimeter, or each individual scintillator element of the individual scintillator elements presents a cross-sectional area to emitted radiation of greater than 2 square millimeters and less than 5 square millimeters, and the scintillation material comprises lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO). ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more digital processors are further configured to compute an effective atomic number Z for each detector circuit of at least some of the one or more detector circuits by: determining a predicted energy spectrum for a material with an effective atomic number Z having regard to an estimated material thickness deduced from the detector energy spectrum and reference mass attenuation data for the effective atomic number Z; and comparing the predicted energy spectrum with the detector energy spectrum; or determining a predicted energy spectrum for a material with an effective atomic number Z having regard to a calibration table formed by measuring one or more materials of known composition; and comparing the predicted energy spectrum with the detector energy spectrum. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more digital processors are further configured to perform the step of comparing the predicted energy spectrum with the detector energy spectrum by computing a cost function dependent on a difference between the detector energy spectrum and the predicted energy spectrum for a material with an effective atomic number Z. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more digital processors is further configured to reduce a communication bandwidth or memory use associated with processing or storage of the detector energy spectrum by performing a fast Fourier transform of the detector energy spectrum and removing bins of the fast Fourier transform having little or no signal to produce a reduced transformed detector energy spectrum, and by applying an inverse Fast Fourier transform on the reduced transformed detector energy spectrum to provide a reconstructed detector energy spectrum. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more digital processors is further configured with a specific fast Fourier transform window optimized to minimize ringing effects of the fast Fourier transform. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more digital processors is further configured to perform one or more of tiling, clustering, an edge detection, or a moving average based on the effective atomic number Z determined for the one or more detector circuits. ### Claim 14 A system for characterizing at least a part of a material comprising: means for generating incident X-rays configured to irradiate at least the part of the material; one or more means for detecting radiation emanating from within or passing through the material as a result of an irradiation by the incident X-rays and thereby produce a detection signal; and one or more means for processing the detection signal to form a detector energy spectrum, wherein the one or more means for detecting radiation and the one or more means for processing the detection signal are configured to characterize at least the part of the material by performing an energy-resolved photon-counting X-ray transmission spectroscopy analysis calculated using the detector energy spectrum, the energy-resolved photon-counting X-ray transmission spectroscopy analysis comprising measuring an effective atomic number Z based on the detector energy spectrum in a comparison with calibration measurements made during a calibration, and wherein the calibration comprises taking calibration measurements obtained from irradiations of varying-thickness samples of different calibration materials of known atomic number Z, so as to generate calibration detector energy spectra I(Z, x, B) as a function of Z, a calibration material thickness x, and histogram bins B, without an absolute energy calibration of the histogram bins B. ### Claim 15 A method of characterizing at least a part of a material, the method comprising the steps of: irradiating at least a part of the material with incident X-rays from an X-ray source device; detecting radiation emanating from within or passing through the material as a result of an irradiation by the incident X-rays; producing a detection signal; processing the detection signal to form a detector energy spectrum; and characterizing at least the part of the material by performing an energy-resolved photon-counting X-ray transmission spectroscopy analysis calculated using the detector energy spectrum, the energy-resolved photon-counting X-ray transmission spectroscopy analysis comprising measuring an effective atomic number Z based on the detector energy spectrum in a comparison with calibration measurements made during a calibration, and wherein the calibration comprises taking calibration measurements obtained from irradiations of varying-thickness samples of different calibration materials of known atomic number Z, so as to generate calibration detector energy spectra I(Z, x, B) as a function of Z, a calibration material thickness x, and histogram bins B, without an absolute energy calibration of the histogram bins B. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of: irradiating at least the part of the material while the material is travelling on, in, through, or along a material handling system comprising at an irradiation location a conveyor, a bench, a moving floor, a bucket elevator, or a pipe adapted to translate or transport the material. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of: irradiating at least the part of the material while the material is falling. ### Claim 18 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising, the steps of: detecting packets of emitted radiation emanating from within or passing through the material as a result of the irradiation by the incident X-rays; producing an electrical pulse having a characteristic size or shape of the packets of emitted radiation dependent on an energy of the packets of emitted radiation; processing each electrical pulse to determine the characteristic size or shape of the packets of emitted radiation and to thereby accumulate a detector energy spectrum of the energy of the packets detected; and characterizing at least the part of the material based on the detector energy spectrum. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method of claim 18, wherein each packet of emitted radiation is a photon, and the method further comprises the step of: detecting photons using one or more scintillation detectors, wherein each scintillation detector of the one or more scintillation detectors of the one or more scintillation detectors comprises: a scintillation material adapted to produce electromagnetic radiation by scintillation from the photons; and a pulse-producing element adapted to produce the electrical pulse from the electromagnetic radiation.