X-ray flow rate measurement system for materials, including agricultural materials and food products
First Claim
1. A flow rate monitor for material comprising an agricultural product comprising:
- an x-ray generator positionable near a flow path of material, the x-ray generator being oriented to transmit x-rays through a flow of material along said flow path;
a detector positionable near the flow path of material generally opposite the x-ray generator to receive x-rays after passage through material flowing along said flow path and derive intensity of received x-rays.
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Abstract
The present invention is an apparatus and method for measuring flow rate of materials, for example the flow rate of agricultural products. The apparatus includes an x-ray generator positioned near flowing materials, a converter for converting the x-ray radiation which passes through the flowing materials into visible light, a camera for capturing images of the visible light, and a processor for processing the images to determine the flow rate. The invention may also include an image intensifier to intensify the images before being converted by the camera. The method directs x-rays through flowing material, converts the x-rays to visible light, records the intensity of the visible light and derives the flow rate from the intensity measures.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A flow rate monitor for material comprising an agricultural product comprising:
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an x-ray generator positionable near a flow path of material, the x-ray generator being oriented to transmit x-rays through a flow of material along said flow path;
a detector positionable near the flow path of material generally opposite the x-ray generator to receive x-rays after passage through material flowing along said flow path and derive intensity of received x-rays. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15)
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13. A flow rate monitor comprising:
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an x-ray generator positioned near a flow of material, the x-ray generator being oriented to transmit x-rays through the flow of material;
a detector positioned near the flow of material to receive the x-rays after passage through the material and derive intensity of the received x-rays;
the material comprising a flowing biological material, the biological material comprising an agricultural product, the agricultural product comprising a grain.
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14. A flow rate monitor comprising:
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an x-ray generator positioned near a flow of material, the x-ray generator being oriented to transmit x-rays through the flow of material;
a detector positioned near the flow of material to receive the x-rays after passage through the material and derive intensity of the received x-rays;
the detector comprising a converter for converting x-ray radiation into visible light, the converter being positioned near the flow of material such that the x-rays emitted through the material flow strike the converter;
an image capture device operatively positioned relative to the converter to capture images of the visible light emitted by the converter;
a processor for processing the images to determine the material flow rate, the processor processes images relayed by the image capture device by summing grayscale values of portions of the multiple images and then integrating the summed grayscale values.
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16. An apparatus for determining flow rate of a flowing material comprising agricultural product comprising:
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a device to create a flow of material;
an x-ray generator adapted to transmit x-ray radiation toward the flow of material;
an x-ray detector adapted to detect x-ray radiation which is transmitted through the flow of material and convert the detected x-ray radiation into pixel data; and
a processor for processing the pixel data to determine the material flow rate. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
converting each sample of pixel data to a value;
summing the values of the multiple samples; and
integrating the summed values.
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21. The flow rate monitor of claim 16 wherein the material is a biological material.
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22. A method of measuring the flow rate of material comprising the steps of:
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providing a flow of material;
transmitting x-ray radiation through the flow of material;
detecting the x-ray radiation after passing through the flow of material comprising converting the detected x-ray radiation into visible light;
converting the visible light to a gray scale image;
correlating intensity of the detected x-ray radiation to flow rate of the material;
the material comprising a biological material comprising an agricultural product comprising grain.
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23. A method of measuring the flow rate of material comprising agricultural product comprising the steps of:
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providing a flow of material;
transmitting x-ray radiation through the flow of material;
detecting the x-ray radiation after passing through the flow of material;
correlating intensity of the detected x-ray radiation to flow rate of the material. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. An apparatus for determining flow rate of a flowing material comprising:
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a device to create a flow of material;
an x-ray generator coupled to the device to transmit x-ray radiation toward the flow of material;
an x-ray detector coupled to the device to detect the x-ray radiation which is transmitted through the flow of material and convert the detected x-ray radiation into pixel data; and
a processor for processing the pixel data to determine the material flow rate;
the x-ray detector converts multiple samples of the detected radiation into multiple samples of pixel data;
the processor processes the multiple samples of pixel data by combining the multiple samples of pixel data, correlating the combined pixel data to a flow rate value by;
summing pixel data of the multiple samples;
integrating the summed pixel data.
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34. A method of measuring the flow rate of material comprising the steps of:
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providing a flow of material;
transmitting x-ray radiation through the flow of material;
detecting the x-ray radiation after passing through the flow of material comprising converting the detected x-ray radiation into visible light;
converting the visible light to a gray scale image;
correlating intensity of the detected x-ray radiation to flow rate of the material based on the gray scale image;
further comprising the step of converting multiple samples of the visible light into multiple gray scale images and summing the multiple grayscale images together. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36)
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Specification