System and method for identifying and sorting material

摘要

An automatic sorting system identifying and sorting non-homogenous material includes a conveyor belt and an identification unit above the conveying surface for identifying material. The identification unit includes a projector projecting light downwardly onto material to be identified, which reflects light towards the identification unit. The identification unit includes a lens receiving the reflected light from the material, and a first processing unit linked to the lens for spectral analysis of reflected light captured by the lens to determine the nature of the material, and a second processing unit linked to the first processing unit for comparing spectral analysis results with data associated with different materials stored in a second processing unit database. A sorting unit links to the second processing unit and cooperates with the second end of the conveyor to sort material released from the second end depending on signals from the second processing unit.

主权项

1. An automatic sorting system for identifying and sorting non-homogenous material, the system comprising:
a conveyor belt having a conveying surface traveling along a longitudinal direction for conveying bulk material to be identified and sorted, the conveyor belt having a first end for receiving said bulk material and a second end for releasing sorted material; an identification unit cooperable with the conveyor belt and placed above the conveying surface thereof for identifying material traveling therealong, the identification unit comprising: at least one pair of projectors, each of the projectors being configured for projecting a beam of light downwardly towards the conveying surface so as to define an intersecting area of light, at a given height above said conveying surface, and onto a given material to be identified, so that a portion of projected light may be reflected back from said given material and upwardly towards the identification unit; at least one lens positioned about the identification unit for receiving said portion of reflected light from the given material to be identified; a first processing unit operatively linked to the at least one lens for carrying a spectral analysis of the portion of reflected light captured by the at least one lens so as to determine the nature of the given material; and a second processing unit operatively linked to the first processing unit for comparing results of said spectral analysis with corresponding data associated to a variety of different materials stored in a given database of the second processing unit; and a sorting unit operatively linked to the second processing unit and operatively cooperating with the second end of the conveyor belt so as to sort material released from said second end of the conveyor belt depending on signals received from the second processing unit.