Method and apparatus for measuring amounts of non-cohesive particles in a mixture
First Claim
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1. A method for determining the proportion of differing particle types in a mixture, comprising:
- (i) feeding a mixture comprising at least two particle types of non-cohesive particles, each particle type having at least one optical property and/or shape differing from another particle type, to a path inclined at an angle sufficient to enable the particles to descend along the path;
(ii) illuminating the particles along the inclined path;
(iii) collecting reflective-light images of the illuminated particles; and
(iv) calculating the proportion of at least one particle type based on data from the reflective light images indicative of the at least one differing optical property and/or shape.
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Abstract
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for dynamically measuring relative amounts of particles having differing optical properties and/or shapes in a mixture, comprising an inclined path down which the particles travel, a feeder to present particles to the inclined path, a source of illumination to illuminate the particles on the inclined path, an image receiver to record reflective-light images of the particles and a composition calculator to determine the relative amounts of the particles based on the reflective-light images.
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23 Claims
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1. A method for determining the proportion of differing particle types in a mixture, comprising:
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(i) feeding a mixture comprising at least two particle types of non-cohesive particles, each particle type having at least one optical property and/or shape differing from another particle type, to a path inclined at an angle sufficient to enable the particles to descend along the path;
(ii) illuminating the particles along the inclined path;
(iii) collecting reflective-light images of the illuminated particles; and
(iv) calculating the proportion of at least one particle type based on data from the reflective light images indicative of the at least one differing optical property and/or shape. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An apparatus for determining the proportion of particles of differing particle types in a mixture comprising:
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(i) a particle feeder having an exit end;
(ii) an inclined path having an upper inlet end located adjacent to and below the exit end of the feeder to enable descent of non-cohesive particles down the inclined path;
(iii) a source of illumination oriented with respect to the inclined path so as to enable top-illumination of the particles as they descend down the inclined path;
(iv) an image receiver oriented with respect to the inclined path so as to enable collection of reflective-light images of the particles as they descend down the inclined path; and
(v) a composition calculator which converts reflective-light image signals received from the image receiver into data indicative of at least one proportion of particle types in the mixture based on at least one optical property and/or shape of the particles. - View Dependent Claims (23)
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Specification