Method and an apparatus for analyzing a material
First Claim
1. A method of sorting a material produced in the minerals industry which comprises the steps of:
- i. feeding a stream of the material through a gap between a single x-ray tube operating at a selected voltage and two or more separate arrays of x-ray detectors;
ii. operating the x-ray tube and directing x-rays of different photon energies towards the x-ray detectors;
iii. operating the detectors and detecting x-rays received from the x-ray tube and generating data of detected transmitted x-rays obtained at different photon energies for each section of the stream of the material that passes through the gap;
iv. identifying a constituent of the material by processing the data of detected transmitted x-rays obtained at different photon energies to minimise the effects of non-compositional factors relating to the material that otherwise would affect the identification of the constituent to thereby detect the constituent; and
v. separating the constituent from the material.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and an apparatus for analyzing a material, such as coal and iron ore, particularly with a view to identifying contaminants, is disclosed. The method and apparatus are based on the use of multiple (particularly dual) energy x-ray analysis with x-rays at different photon energies. X-rays are transmitted through a material and the detected x-rays are processed to produce an image of the material that combines together the separated images produced by the different photon energy x-rays. The combined image has enhanced contrast which minimizes the affects of non-compositional factors that otherwise would affect identifying constituents of the material.
101 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A method of sorting a material produced in the minerals industry which comprises the steps of:
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i. feeding a stream of the material through a gap between a single x-ray tube operating at a selected voltage and two or more separate arrays of x-ray detectors; ii. operating the x-ray tube and directing x-rays of different photon energies towards the x-ray detectors; iii. operating the detectors and detecting x-rays received from the x-ray tube and generating data of detected transmitted x-rays obtained at different photon energies for each section of the stream of the material that passes through the gap; iv. identifying a constituent of the material by processing the data of detected transmitted x-rays obtained at different photon energies to minimise the effects of non-compositional factors relating to the material that otherwise would affect the identification of the constituent to thereby detect the constituent; and v. separating the constituent from the material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 6, 7, 8)
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3. An apparatus for sorting a material produced in the minerals industry to separate a contaminant from the remainder of the material which comprises:
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i. an x-ray transmission analysis system for directing x-rays at different photon energies onto the material and detecting x-rays transmitted through the material, the system comprising a single x-ray tube adapted to operate at a selected voltage and two or more separate arrays of x-ray detectors; and ii. a means for processing the data generated by the x-ray transmission system to minimise the effects of non-compositional factors on the data to obtain from the processed data information on the composition, type, or form of the material. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5)
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Specification