Apparatus to operate a quality control in industrial production lines, corresponding method and computer program product

An apparatus for carrying out a quality control on industrial production lines, comprising one or more apparatuses for the measurement of properties of a product sample (C) of said industrial production lines, which supply respective one or more measurement signals (Y1, Y2, Y3;

• YZ), said apparatus (20) comprising a processing module configured for processing said one or more measurement signals (Y1, Y2, Y3;
• YZ) and obtaining properties of said product sample (C), said quality control being carried out as a function of said properties of said product sample (C), said one or more apparatuses for the measurement of properties of a product sample (C) comprising:
• an x-ray fluorescence (XRF) apparatus comprising an x-ray source, which emits a first x-ray beam (XB, XBC) towards said product sample (C) in a measurement environment, and a particle detector, which is configured for receiving a second x-ray beam (XBR) scattered by said product sample (C) and generating a first received signal (Y1) supplied within the set of said respective one or more measurement signals (Y1, Y2, Y3, YZ), the apparatus further comprising:
• an optical-spectroscopy apparatus, operating in a frequency band belonging to the range of optical frequencies, comprising an optical-radiation source, which emits a first beam of optical radiation towards a product sample (C), and an optical sensor for receiving a second beam of radiation scattered by said product sample (C) and generating a second received signal (Y2) supplied within the set of said respective one or more measurement signals (Y1, Y2, Y3;
• YZ),
• wherein the apparatus is configured for driving said x-ray source and said source of optical radiation to emit, respectively, an x-ray beam (XB) towards the product sample (C) and an optical-radiation beam towards the same product sample (C) at one and the same time,
• wherein said x-ray fluorescence (XRF) apparatus comprises an XRF-control module configured for driving the operation of modifying a position of a shielding system comprising a mobile element set between the x-ray source and the measurement environment comprising the product sample,
• wherein the apparatus comprises an artificial-vision apparatus, which includes an image acquisition and processing system configured for acquiring and processing images of said product sample (C) in said measurement environment and generating a third received signal (Y3) that can be analysed for classifying said product sample (C) and/or for driving said x-ray fluorescence apparatus,
• wherein the apparatus comprises a blue monochromatic environmental light source configured for illuminating said measurement environment.