X-ray monitoring system
First Claim
1. A method of locating and identifying unwanted matter or defects in a piece of material comprising the steps of:
- directing a collimated X-ray beam onto the piece of material;
detecting and measuring the Rayleigh scattering of X-ray energy from the material;
detecting and measuring the Compton back-scatter of X-ray energy from the material;
verifying the presence or absence of defects or unwanted matter and the location and identity thereof by comparing the scattering measurements;
verifying the identity of the unwanted matter by determining the ratio of the Rayleigh-to-Compton measured scatter; and
comparing the thus determined ratio to the known ratios for different materials to determine substantially unambiguously the identity of the unwanted matter.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention is a method and apparatus for identifying and pinpointing the location of unwanted pieces of material or defects in, for example, de-boned poultry pieces. The poultry pieces to be inspected are carried on a conveyor and passed under an impinging collimated X-ray beam. The Rayleigh scattering resulting is detected and measured, as is the Compton back scattering and the data is processed in a processing unit to determine the location and type of foreign matter involved. The ratio of the Rayleigh and Compton scattering is also determined and used to verify the identity of the foreign material. Transmitted X-rays, i.e., radioscopy, are used to normalize the data, and to aid in a pinpointing of the location of the unwanted material.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method of locating and identifying unwanted matter or defects in a piece of material comprising the steps of:
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directing a collimated X-ray beam onto the piece of material; detecting and measuring the Rayleigh scattering of X-ray energy from the material; detecting and measuring the Compton back-scatter of X-ray energy from the material; verifying the presence or absence of defects or unwanted matter and the location and identity thereof by comparing the scattering measurements; verifying the identity of the unwanted matter by determining the ratio of the Rayleigh-to-Compton measured scatter; and comparing the thus determined ratio to the known ratios for different materials to determine substantially unambiguously the identity of the unwanted matter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 6, 7)
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5. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the energy of the X-ray beam source is approximately 90 keV and the angle θ
- is approximately 2.8 degrees whereby bone is the unwanted matter detected.
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8. A method of locating and identifying unwanted matter in poultry pieces comprising:
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forming and projecting an X-ray beam; conveying one or more poultry pieces through said beam; detecting first X-ray scattering from a poultry piece indicative of amorphous materials in the poultry piece; detecting second X-ray scattering from a poultry piece indicative of crystalline materials in the poultry piece; comparing the detection results to obtain a first approximation of the identity of the material causing the scattering; determining the value of the ratio of the second detected X-ray scattering to the first detected X-ray scattering; and determining whether the detected material is unwanted material by comparing the ratio value thus obtained t a set of known ratio values for various types of unwanted materials. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus for inspecting one or more material pieces for the presence therein of pieces of unwanted matter comprising:
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a conveyor or member for transporting the material pieces; a source of X-rays mounted over said conveyor member for directing a collimated beam of X-rays toward said conveyor member and the material pieces thereon; first means situated below said conveyor for detecting a first type of X-ray scattering from said material pieces; second means situated above said conveyor means for detecting a second type of X-ray scattering from said material pieces; and third means for determining the ratio of said detected first type of scattering to said detected second type of scattering; whereby the matter causing said scattering is substantially unambiguously identified. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification