Method and apparatus for analysis of elements in bulk substance

A substance analyzer for identifying characteristics of a sample of a substance, comprising:

• a source adapted to emit neutrons;
• a sample volume adapted to contain the sample of the substance and having an open entrance end and an open exit end, wherein the sample passes through the sample volume as it is analyzed;
• a first composition of material adapted to moderate, shield and reflect the neutrons emitted by the source, wherein neutrons emitted by the source are absorbed by the sample, wherein the sample then emits at least one gamma ray;
• a gamma radiation detector adapted to develop electrical signals in response to detection of the at least one gamma ray;
• and
• a housing adapted to contain the sample volume, the sample, the source, the detector, and the first composition of material, wherein the housing comprises an outer container and an inner container.

A material analyzer for detecting the elemental composition of a bulk material comprising:

• a radioactive source adapted to emit neutrons;
• a sample volume having an open entrance end and an open exit end and adapted to convey a flow of cement clinker;
• a first composition of material adapted to moderate, shield and reflect radiation emitted by the source, wherein the cement clinker absorbs neutrons emitted by the source and then emits at least one gamma ray;
• a gamma radiation detector adapted to develop electrical signals in response to detection of the at least one gamma ray;
• and
• a housing adapted to contain the source, the detector, the sample volume, the flow of cement clinker and the first composition of material, wherein the flow of cement clinker enters the sample volume via the entrance end and exits the sample volume via the open exit end.

A material analyzer for detecting the elemental composition of a coal slurry comprising:

• a source of neutrons;
• a sample volume having an open entrance end and an open exit end adapted to convey a flow of the coal slurry;
• a composition of material adapted to moderate, shield and reflect neutrons emitted by the source, wherein neutrons emitted by the source are absorbed by the coal slurry, which then emits at least one gamma ray;
• a gamma radiation detector adapted to develop electrical signals in response to detection of the at least one gamma ray emitted by the coal slurry;
• and
• a housing having an entrance side and an exit side and that is adapted to contain the source, the detector, the sample volume, the flow of the coal slurry and the composition of material, wherein the sample volume extends within the housing from the entrance to the exit, wherein the coal slurry enters the sample volume via the entrance end and exits the sample volume via the exit end, and wherein the housing comprises an outer container and an inner container.

A gamma radiation detector for detection of gamma rays emitted by bulk material to be analyzed in a material analyzer that detects the elemental composition of the bulk material, comprising:

• a scintillation crystal adapted to emit a photon upon interaction of the gamma rays to be detected with an electron of the crystal;
• a photon detector having an excitation energy and adapted to develop electrical signals in response to photons emitted by the scintillation crystal, wherein the excitation energy is reduced to a relatively low level to minimize heat generated by the detector;
• and
• insulation adapted to surround and contain the crystal and the photon detector, and adapted to prevent the transfer of heat energy between either of the bulk material and the environment and the photon detector.

A radiation source holder for use in a substance analyzer, comprising:

• a generally elongated holder body having a source end and a locking end;
• a plurality of receptacles in the holder body, said receptacles located proximate to the source end, wherein each of the plurality of receptacles is adapted to receive a radioactive source and wherein each of the plurality of receptacles is positioned adjacent to the others of said receptacles;
• and
• a locking mechanism engaged with the locking end of the holder body.

A system for analyzing bulk substances, comprising:

• a memory adapted to store digital information;
• a bulk substance analyzer adapted to develop electrical signals corresponding to a material sample being analyzed;
• a converter adapted to convert the electrical signals from the analyzer into digital information;
• and
• a processor adapted to store the digital information to and retrieve the digital information from the memory, wherein the processor is further adapted to process the digital information, and wherein the memory and processor are adapted to store unprocessed raw data for subsequent retrieval and processing.

A substance analyzer for identifying characteristics of a sample of a substance, comprising:

• a source of neutrons;
• a sample volume adapted to contain the sample of the substance;
• a first composition of material adapted to moderate, shield and reflect any neutrons emitted by the at least one source, wherein neutrons emitted by the at least one source are absorbed by the sample, and wherein the sample then emits at least one gamma ray;
• a gamma radiation detector adapted to develop electrical signals in response to detection of the at least one gamma ray emitted by the sample;
• a housing adapted to contain the source, the detector, the sample volume, the sample and the composition of material;
• and
• a load cell adapted to develop an electrical signal corresponding to a mass of the sample contained in the sample volume.

A substance analyzer for identifying characteristics of a sample of a substance, comprising:

• a source of neutrons;
• a sample volume adapted to contain the sample of the substance;
• a composition of material adapted to moderate, shield and reflect any neutron radiation emitted by the source, wherein neutrons emitted by the source are absorbed by the sample, and wherein the sample then emits at least one gamma ray;
• a gamma radiation detector adapted to develop electrical signals in response to detection of the at least one emitted gamma ray;
• a housing having a generally longitudinal axis and adapted to contain the source, the detector, the sample volume, the sample and the composition of material;
• and
• an elevator adapted to displace the sample in the sample volume generally along the longitudinal axis of the housing.

A substance analyzer for identifying characteristics of a sample of a substance, comprising:

• a source of neutrons;
• a sample volume adapted to contain the sample of the substance;
• a composition of material adapted to moderate, shield and reflect any neutron radiation emitted by the source, wherein neutrons emitted by the source are absorbed by the sample, and wherein the sample then emits at least one gamma ray;
• a gamma radiation detector adapted to develop electrical signals in response to detection of the emitted at least one gamma ray;
• a generally cylindrical housing adapted to contain the source, the detector, the sample volume, the sample and the composition of material;
• and
• a rotator, adapted to rotate the sample in the sample volume.

A portable substance analyzer for identifying the characteristics of a sample of a substance, comprising:

• a source of neutrons;
• a sample volume adapted to contain the sample of the substance;
• a composition of material adapted to moderate, shield and reflect any neutron radiation emitted by the source, wherein neutrons emitted by the source are absorbed by the sample, and wherein the sample then emits at least one gamma ray;
• a gamma radiation detector adapted to develop electrical signals in response to detection of the at least one emitted gamma ray;
• and
• a generally cylindrical housing adapted to contain the source, the detector, the sample volume, the sample and the composition of material, wherein the housing is generally less than 50 inches tall and generally less than 40 inches in diameter.

A system for operating a substance analyzer, comprising:

• a sample analyzer adapted to determine an elemental composition of a bulk substance sample;
• a computer adapted to process data received from the sample analyzer;
• a communications network;
• a plurality of workstations adapted to communicate via the communications network;
• and
• a communications server that is responsive to commands from the computer and the workstations, wherein the communications server is adapted to control a plurality of network resources.

A method of analyzing bulk substances in real-time, comprising:

• forming a sample volume with a pipe;
• inserting a sample of substance into the sample volume;
• placing a neutron source adjacent to the pipe;
• placing a gamma radiation detector adjacent to the pipe at a location along the pipe that generally corresponds to a location of the radioactive source;
• housing the sample volume, the sample, the radiation source and the radiation detector in a container;
• and
• analyzing a set of data developed by the radiation detector.

A method of manufacturing a housing for a real-time nuclear element analyzer comprising:

• forming an inner surface with an inner container having a first diameter;
• forming an outer surface with an outer container having a second diameter that is larger than the first diameter;
• and
• depositing a pourable housing material into a space formed between the inner surface and the outer surface.

A method of removing pulse pileup from a data spectrum collected from a material analyzer, comprising:

• selecting a spectrum of collected data to be analyzed;
• determining a count rate for the selected spectrum of data;
• calculating a theoretical spectrum of data from the count rate by:
• assuming the selected spectrum of data was unpiled data;
• identifying average pileup values from reference sources for that count rate;
• and
• piling up the selected spectrum to a theoretical piled up spectrum of data using the identified values;
• subtracting the selected spectrum of data from the theoretical piled up spectrum of data to estimate a theoretical pileup;
• and
• subtracting the theoretical pileup from the selected spectrum of collected data.

A method of adjusting a gain and an offset from a selected spectrum of data representing the composition of materials in a material sample, comprising:

• selecting a spectrum of data to be analyzed;
• finding recognizable peaks in the selected spectrum of data;
• and
• applying least squares fit to the selected spectrum of data to define gain and offset correction factors for the measured peaks.

A method of finding a plurality of recognizable data peaks in the analysis of a spectrum of data from a real-time substance analyzer, comprising:

• determining the instantaneous first derivative over the entire data spectrum to develop a set of derivative results;
• taking an average of the set of derivative results;
• selecting and applying a scale factor to the derivative results to develop a scaled spectrum of data;
• and
• locating a plurality of peaks by comparing the scaled spectrum of data to the average of the derivative results to develop a peak count.

A method of analyzing the elemental composition of a bulk material sample in a static sample analyzer, comprising:

• generating a signal representing gamma radiation emitted from the sample;
• measuring the weight of the sample being analyzed;
• and
• generating a signal representing the mass of the sample being analyzed.

A method of surveying the elemental composition of a portion of the earth, comprising:

• drilling a hole in the surface of the earth from which a material sample is extracted;
• determining a geographical position of the hole;
• determining a depth from which the sample was extracted;
• analyzing one or more characteristics of the sample using a portable material analyzer located substantially near the drill site;
• and
• correlating a set of analysis data with the depth and geographical position of the sample.

A method of operating a bulk material analyzer with a communication network, comprising:

• connecting the analyzer to a computer adapted to operate the analyzer and receive and store data from the analyzer;
• connecting the computer to a communication network;
• and
• connecting a plurality of remote units to the communication network, wherein the remote units are capable of transmitting a plurality of command signals to the computer via the communication network and the server, to operate the analyzer.

A method of operating a bulk material analyzer with a communication network, comprising:

• activating the analyzer to analyze a sample of material contained in the analyzer;
• retrieving raw data from the analyzer;
• storing the raw data;
• selecting a portion of the stored raw data to be analyzed;
• determining offset and gain correction factors from the selected portion of data;
• determining at least one characteristic of the sample of material from the spectrum of data;
• and
• outputting the at least one characteristic, wherein the activating and outputting steps are performed over a communications network.

A bulk material analyzer for analyzing material carried on a conveyor having first and second sides, the analyzer comprising:

• at least one source located on one of the first and second sides of the conveyor and adapted to emit neutrons;
• a composition of material adapted to moderate, shield and reflect the neutrons, wherein said neutrons emitted by the source are absorbed by the bulk material, and wherein the bulk material then emits at least one gamma ray;
• and
• a gamma radiation detector located on one of the first and second sides of the conveyor and adapted to develop electrical signals in response to detection of the at least one emitted gamma ray, wherein the at least one source and the detector are both located on the same side of the conveyor.