High speed materials sorting using x-ray fluorescence

A high speed process of classifying a piece of material of unknown composition, the process comprising:

• irradiating the piece with x-rays from an x-ray source, causing the piece to fluoresce x-rays;
• detecting the fluoresced x-rays from the piece with an x-ray detector;
• determining an x-ray fluorescence spectrum of the piece of material from the detected fluoresced x-rays;
• and
• classifying the piece of material based on one or more energy levels within the determined x-ray fluorescence spectrum,
• wherein at least one of the steps of the irradiating and detecting includes conditioning the irradiating x-rays or the fluoresced x-rays, respectively, such that speed and accuracy of determining the x-ray fluorescence spectrum is not significantly compromised or complicated by extraneous x-rays.

A system for classifying a piece of material of unknown composition at high speeds, the system connected to a power supply, the system comprising:

• an x-ray source powered by the power supply to generate x-rays that irradiate the piece of material, causing the piece to fluoresce x-rays;
• an x-ray detector to detect the fluoresced x-rays and produce as an output an x-ray signal representing the detected x-rays;
• a spectrum acquisition module connected to the x-ray detector, the spectrum acquisition module to receive as an input the x-ray signal and to generate as an output an x-ray fluorescence spectrum;
• and
• a classification module to receive as an input the x-ray fluorescence spectrum and to generate as an output a classification signal based on one or more energy levels within the generated x-ray fluorescence spectrum, the classification signal indicating a classification of the piece of material,
• wherein the x-ray detector and x-ray fluorescence processing module are operative to detect the fluoresced x-rays, determine the x-ray fluorescence spectrum and classify the piece, respectively, in a combined time less than one second.

A system for classifying a piece of material of unknown composition at high speeds, the system connected to a power supply, and comprising:

• an x-ray source powered by the power supply to generate x-rays that irradiate the piece of material and cause the piece to fluoresce characteristic x-rays;
• an x-ray detector to detect the fluoresced x-rays and produce as an output an x-ray signal representing the detected x-rays;
• and
• a spectrum acquisition module connected to the x-ray detector, the spectrum acquisition module to receive as an input the x-ray signal and to generate as an output an x-ray fluorescence spectrum;
• and
• a classification module to receive as an input the x-ray fluorescence spectrum and to generate as an output a classification signal based on one or more energy levels within the generated x-ray fluorescence spectrum, the classification signal indicating a classification of the piece of material,
• wherein the system is conditioned such that accuracy and speed of determining the x-ray fluorescence spectrum is not significantly compromised or complicated by extraneous x-rays.

A system for classifying a piece of material of unknown composition at high speeds, the system comprising:

• means for irradiating the piece with x-rays from an x-ray source, causing the piece to fluoresce x-rays;
• means for detecting the fluoresced x-rays with an x-ray detector;
• means for determining an x-ray fluorescence spectrum of the piece of material from the detected fluoresced x-rays;
• and
• means for classifying the piece of material based on one or more energy levels within the determined x-ray fluorescence spectrum,
• wherein the means for detecting, the means for determining and means for classifying are operative to detect the fluoresced x-rays and classify the piece, respectively, in a combined time of less than one second.

A system of classifying a piece of material of unknown composition, the system comprising:

• means for irradiating the piece with x-rays from an x-ray source, causing the piece to fluoresce x-rays;
• means for detecting the fluoresced x-rays from the piece with an x-ray detector;
• means for determining an x-ray fluorescence spectrum of the piece of material from the detected fluoresced x-rays;
• and
• means for classifying the piece of material based on one or more energy levels within the determined x-ray fluorescence spectrum,
• means for conditioning the irradiating x-rays or the fluoresced x-rays, respectively, such that speed and accuracy of determining of the x-ray fluorescence spectrum is not significantly compromised or complicated by extraneous x-rays.

A high speed process of classifying a piece of material of unknown composition, the process comprising:

• irradiating the piece with x-rays from an x-ray source, causing the piece to fluoresce x-rays;
• detecting the fluoresced x-rays from the piece with an x-ray detector;
• determining an x-ray fluorescence spectrum of the piece of material from the detected fluoresced x-rays;
• and
• classifying the piece of material from the determined x-ray fluorescence spectrum,
• wherein at least one of the steps of the irradiating and detecting includes conditioning the irradiating x-rays or the fluoresced x-rays, respectively, such that speed and accuracy of determining the x-ray fluorescence spectrum is not significantly compromised or complicated by extraneous x-rays, and
• wherein the steps of detecting, determining, and classifying are cumulatively performed in less than 500 ms.

A system for classifying a piece of material of unknown composition at high speeds, the system connected to a power supply, and comprising:

• an x-ray source powered by the power supply to generate x-rays that irradiate the piece of material and cause the piece to fluoresce characteristic x-rays;
• an x-ray detector to detect the fluoresced x-rays and produce as an output an x-ray signal representing the detected x-rays;
• and
• an x-ray fluorescence processing module, including:
• a spectrum acquisition module connected to the x-ray detector, the spectrum acquisition module to receive as an input the x-ray signal and to generate as an output an x-ray fluorescence spectrum;
• and
• a classification module to receive as an input the x-ray fluorescence spectrum and to generate as an output a classification signal indicating a classification of the piece of material,
• wherein the system is conditioned such that accuracy and speed of determining the x-ray fluorescence spectrum is not significantly compromised or complicated by extraneous x-rays, and
• wherein the x-ray detector and x-ray fluorescence processing module are operative to detect the fluoresced x-rays, determine the x-ray fluorescence spectrum and classify the piece, respectively, in a combined time less than 500 ms.

A system of classifying a piece of material of unknown composition, the system comprising:

• means for irradiating the piece with x-rays from an x-ray source, causing the piece to fluoresce x-rays;
• means for detecting the fluoresced x-rays from the piece with an x-ray detector;
• means for determining an x-ray fluorescence spectrum of the piece of material from the detected fluoresced x-rays;
• means for classifying the piece of material from the determined x-ray fluorescence spectrum;
• and
• means for conditioning the irradiating x-rays or the fluoresced x-rays, respectively, such that speed and accuracy of determining of the x-ray fluorescence spectrum is not significantly compromised or complicated by extraneous x-rays,
• wherein the means for detecting, the means for determining and means for classifying are operative to detect the fluoresced x-rays and classify the piece, respectively, in a combined time of less than 500 ms.

A high-speed process for classifying a piece of material of unknown composition, the process comprising acts of:

• irradiating the piece with high intensity x-rays from an x-ray source located in an x-ray chamber, causing the piece to fluoresce x-rays;
• detecting the fluoresced x-rays with an x-ray detector located in the x-ray chamber;
• reducing background noise caused by the irradiated high energy x-rays by making or lining one or more objects located in the x-ray chamber with one or more materials that do not fluoresce x-rays having an energy level within a predefined range;
• determining an x-ray fluorescence spectrum of the piece of material from the detected fluoresced x-rays for the predefined range of energy levels, wherein the detected x-ray fluorescence spectrum has a spectral pattern;
• and
• classifying the piece based on one or more energy levels within the determined x-ray fluorescence spectrum.

A system for classifying a piece of material of unknown composition at high speeds, the system connected to a power supply, the system comprising:

• an x-ray source, located in an x-ray chamber, powered by the power supply to generate high intensity x-rays that irradiate the piece of material, causing the piece to fluoresce x-rays;
• an x-ray detector, located in the x-ray chamber, to detect the fluoresced x-rays and produce as an output an x-ray signal representing the detected x-rays;
• a spectrum acquisition module connected to the x-ray detector, the spectrum acquisition module to receive as an input the x-ray signal and to generate as an output an x-ray fluorescence spectrum for a predefined range of energy levels;
• and
• a classification module to receive as an input the x-ray fluorescence spectrum and to generate as an output a classification signal indicating a classification of the piece of material,
• wherein the classification module is operative to classify the piece based on one or more energy levels within the x-ray fluorescence spectrum,
• wherein, to reduce background noise caused by the irradiated high energy x-rays, one or more objects located in the x-ray chamber are made or lined with one or more materials that do not fluoresce x-rays having an energy level within a predefined range.

A system for classifying a piece of material of unknown composition at high speeds, the system comprising:

• an x-ray source, located in an x-ray chamber, to irradiate the piece with high intensity x-rays, causing the piece to fluoresce x-rays;
• an x-ray detector, located in the x-ray chamber, to detect the fluoresced x-rays;
• means for determining an x-ray fluorescence spectrum of the piece of material from the detected fluoresced x-rays for the predefined range of energy levels;
• and
• means for classifying the piece based on based on one or more energy levels within wherein the determined x-ray fluorescence spectrum,
• wherein, to reduce background noise caused by the irradiated high energy x-rays, one or more objects located in the x-ray chamber are made or lined with one or more materials that do not fluoresce x-rays having an energy level within the predefined range.