Material sorting equipment and material sorting method

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of material sorting, in particular to material sorting equipment and a material sorting method. The material sorting equipment comprises a conveying device used for conveying materials; the camera is located above the conveying device and used for collecting color sorting images of the materials; the ray device is arranged on the downstream of the conveying device and used for emitting rays to the materials falling from the tail end of the conveying device; the scintillator detector is arranged on the opposite side of the ray device and is used for determining a grayscale image of the material; the silicon drift detector is arranged below the ray device and is used for determining a fluorescence spectrum image of the material; and the sorting device is positioned below the silicon drift detector and is used for sorting the materials. The sorting accuracy and the sorting precision of the material sorting equipment can be effectively improved through the material sorting equipment. The time in the recognition and sorting process of the material sorting equipment can be effectively shortened, the sorting efficiency of the material sorting equipment is improved, and accurate judgment and efficient sorting are achieved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of material sorting, and particularly relates to a material sorting device and a material sorting method. Background Art

[0002] Ores such as coal, spodumene, and copper are important industrial production resources and are widely used in current industrial production. For the above ores, they usually contain a large amount of gangue and impurities after mining and need to be sorted to distinguish different types of ores to improve the ore quality, reduce transportation costs, and reduce environmental pollution. Therefore, it is necessary to realize the classification and sorting of ores such as coal and copper so as to take different treatments for ores with different contents, facilitating the efficient development and utilization of the above ores.

[0003] Specifically, in modern industrial production, copper ore, as an important non-ferrous metal mineral resource, plays an irreplaceable key role. From electronic equipment manufacturing to the construction industry, from transportation to the energy field, the application of copper is extremely extensive, which also makes the efficient development and utilization of copper ore an important link in industrial development. However, a severe challenge faced by current copper ore resources is that the grades of most mined copper ores are generally not high. At the same time, the dissemination grain size of copper is relatively fine, and these two problems are intertwined, greatly increasing the difficulty of copper ore sorting. In existing copper ore sorting technologies, conventional single color sorting technology mainly sorts based on the differences in the surface color and optical characteristics of ores. However, since the optical characteristics such as color between low-grade copper ore and other associated minerals are not significantly different, and the fine dissemination of copper makes these characteristics even more difficult to distinguish, the color sorting technology is difficult to accurately identify the target copper ore, and the sorting effect is greatly reduced. Although the X-ray diffraction topography technology can analyze the ore composition from the crystal structure level, in the face of copper ore with fine grain size and low grade, the signal is easily interfered, and it is impossible to effectively distinguish the subtle differences between copper ore and other minerals, and its recognition ability for copper ore is limited and difficult to meet the requirements of high-precision sorting. For currently widely used material sorting devices, most of them use a combination of color sorting technology and X-ray diffraction topography technology to identify and sort ores, but their recognition accuracy for important ores such as coal and copper is poor, the sorting precision is low, and the time required for identifying and sorting materials is long, resulting in low sorting efficiency of the material sorting device. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an innovative sorting technology and device to break through the current dilemma of copper ore sorting and realize the efficient development and utilization of copper ore resources. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To overcome the problems existing in the related art, a first aspect of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provides a material sorting device for identifying and sorting materials, including: a conveying device for conveying the materials; a camera located above the conveying device for collecting color sorting images of the materials on the conveying device; a ray device arranged downstream of the conveying device for emitting rays to the materials falling from the end of the conveying device; a scintillator detector arranged on the opposite side of the ray device for receiving the rays passing through the materials to determine the grayscale images of the materials; a silicon drift detector arranged below the ray device for receiving the characteristic fluorescence generated after the materials are irradiated by the rays to determine the fluorescence spectral images of the materials; and a sorting device located below the silicon drift detector for sorting the materials according to the target categories of the materials determined by the color sorting images, the grayscale images, and the fluorescence spectral images.

[0005] In some embodiments, the conveying device includes: a belt conveying device inclined along the material conveying direction, and the belt surface of the belt conveying device protrudes outward to form a grid, and the grid forms a plurality of concave portions recessed along the material conveying direction in the width direction of the belt conveying device for accommodating one material in each concave portion during the process of conveying the materials.

[0006] In some embodiments, the conveying device further includes: a support mechanism for supporting the belt conveying device and for adjusting the inclination angle of the belt conveying device; and / or, the grid is detachably arranged on the belt surface for replacing grids with different concave portion widths.

[0007] In some embodiments, a plurality of silicon drift detectors are provided, and each silicon drift detector is arranged corresponding to the concave portion.

[0008] In some embodiments, a lead plate is arranged between adjacent silicon drift detectors for shielding signal interference between the silicon drift detectors.

[0009] In some embodiments, the material sorting device further includes: a vibrating feeder arranged upstream of the conveying device for feeding the materials into the conveying device by vibration so that each material falls into one concave portion respectively.

[0010] Second aspect, the present disclosure also provides a method for sorting materials, which is applied to the material sorting device as described in the first aspect. The method for sorting materials includes: conveying the materials through the conveying device; collecting a color selection image of the materials by a camera; emitting rays to the materials falling from the end of the conveying device by the ray device; receiving the rays passing through the materials by the scintillator detector to determine a grayscale image of the materials;

[0011] receiving characteristic fluorescence generated after the materials are irradiated by rays by the silicon drift detector to determine a fluorescence spectrum image of the materials; determining a target category of the materials according to the color selection image, the grayscale image, and the fluorescence spectrum image; and performing a sorting operation by the sorting device according to the target category of the materials.

[0012] In some embodiments, determining the target category of the materials according to the color selection image, the grayscale image, and the fluorescence spectrum image includes: if it can be determined according to the grayscale image that the materials are of a first target category, then determining the first target category as the target category; if it cannot be determined according to the grayscale image what the target category of the materials is, then determining the elemental composition of the materials according to the fluorescence spectrum image; if it can be determined according to the elemental composition of the materials and the grayscale image that the materials are of a second target category, then determining the second target category as the target category; if it cannot be determined according to the elemental composition of the materials and the grayscale image what the target category of the materials is, then determining the characteristics of the surface of the materials according to the color selection image; and if it can be determined according to the characteristics of the surface of the materials, the elemental composition of the materials, and the grayscale image that the materials are of a third target category, then determining the third target category as the target category.

[0013] In some embodiments, the conveying device includes: a belt conveying device, which is inclined along the material conveying direction, and the belt surface of the belt conveying device protrudes outward to form grids, and the grids form a plurality of concave portions recessed along the material conveying direction in the width direction of the belt conveying device, for accommodating one of the materials in each concave portion during the process of conveying the materials; the material sorting device further includes a vibrating feeder, which is arranged upstream of the conveying device and is used for feeding the materials into the conveying device by vibration so that each of the materials falls into one of the concave portions respectively. The method for sorting materials further includes: determining the number of the materials in each concave portion according to the color selection image; and adjusting one or more of the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder, the conveying speed of the conveying device, and the inclination angle according to the number of the materials in each concave portion.

[0014] In some embodiments, adjusting one or more of the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder, the conveying speed of the conveying device, and the inclination angle according to the quantity of the material in each of the recesses includes: if the number of recesses with a material quantity of 0 is greater than or equal to a first threshold, increasing the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder; if the number of recesses with a material quantity greater than 1 is greater than or equal to a second threshold, increasing the conveying speed of the conveying device.

[0015] In some embodiments, adjusting one or more of the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder, the conveying speed of the conveying device, and the inclination angle according to the quantity of the material in each of the recesses further includes: if the number of recesses with a material quantity greater than 1 is greater than or equal to a second threshold and the conveying speed of the conveying device is equal to the maximum speed threshold, decreasing the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder.

[0016] In some embodiments, the material sorting method further includes: determining the particle size of the material according to the color sorting image and / or the grayscale image; determining the width of the recess and the position of the recess on the conveying device according to the particle size of the material.

[0017] In some embodiments, the material sorting method further includes: determining the measurement time required for sorting the material according to at least one of the color sorting image, the grayscale image, and the fluorescence spectrum image; determining the inclination angle of the conveying device according to the measurement time and the conveying speed of the conveying device.

[0018] It should be understood that the above general description and the following detailed description are only exemplary and explanatory, and cannot limit the present disclosure.

[0019] According to the material sorting device provided by the present disclosure, by setting a camera, a ray device, a scintillation detector, and a silicon drift detector, it is possible to combine color sorting technology, XRT (X-ray Diffraction Topography) technology, and XRF (X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer) technology to achieve higher-precision material identification and sorting, thereby effectively improving the sorting accuracy and precision of the material sorting device. At the same time, it can effectively reduce the time required for the material sorting device to identify and sort materials, thereby further improving the sorting efficiency of the material sorting device and achieving accurate judgment and efficient sorting of materials. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] By describing the exemplary embodiments of the present invention in combination with the drawings, the present invention can be better understood. In the drawings:

[0021] Figure 1 It is a schematic structural diagram of a material sorting device shown according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

[0022] Figure 2 It is a schematic structural diagram of a transmission device shown according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

[0023] Figure 3 It is a flowchart of a material sorting method shown according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

[0024] Figure 4 It is a flowchart of a material sorting method shown according to another exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

[0025] Figure 5 It is a flowchart of a material sorting method shown according to another exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

[0026] Figure 6 It is a flowchart of a material sorting method shown according to another exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

[0027] Figure 7 It is a flowchart of a material sorting method shown according to another exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

[0028] Figure 8 It is a flowchart of a material sorting method shown according to another exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

[0029] Figure 9 It is a flowchart of a material sorting method shown according to another exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. Detailed implementation manners

[0030] The following will describe the detailed implementation manners of the present invention. It should be noted that in the process of the specific description of these implementation manners, for the sake of concise description, this specification cannot describe all features of the actual implementation manners in detail. It should be understood that in the actual implementation process of any implementation manner, just as in the process of any engineering project or design project, in order to achieve the specific goals of the developer and to meet the system-related or business-related restrictions, various specific decisions are often made, and these decisions may change from one implementation manner to another. In addition, it should also be understood that although the efforts made in this development process may be complex and lengthy, for those of ordinary skill in the art related to the content disclosed in the present invention, some design, manufacturing, or production changes based on the technical content disclosed in this disclosure are only conventional technical means and should not be understood as the content of this disclosure being insufficient.

[0031] Unless otherwise defined, technical terms or scientific terms used in the specification shall have the ordinary meanings as understood by those of ordinary skill in the technical field to which the present invention pertains. The terms "first", "second" and similar terms used in the specification of this patent application do not denote any order, quantity or importance, but are merely used to distinguish different components. Terms such as "a" or "an" do not denote a quantity limitation, but mean that there is at least one. Terms such as "comprising" or "including" mean that the elements or items appearing before "comprising" or "including" cover the elements or items listed after "comprising" or "including" and their equivalent elements, and do not exclude other elements or items. Terms such as "connected" or "coupled" are not limited to physical or mechanical connections, nor are they limited to direct or indirect connections.

[0032] In some current technologies, most material sorting devices are based on XRT (X-ray Diffraction Topography) technology and color sorting technology to achieve the identification and classification of materials. Among them, XRT technology mainly utilizes the ability of X-rays to penetrate materials, and obtains the internal structure information of materials by measuring the intensity of transmitted X-rays, thereby realizing the sorting of materials. Color sorting technology uses the differences in the color, gloss and other optical characteristics of materials in the images captured by color sorting cameras to quickly identify and classify materials. However, for a material sorting device that uses the combination of XRT technology and color sorting technology to achieve material identification and sorting, there are still certain defects in its accuracy and precision during the material sorting process, resulting in poor sorting accuracy of the material sorting device. In addition, due to the combination of XRT technology and color sorting technology, there may be a certain positional difference between the same material in the ray image and the color sorting image determined by the two respectively. As a result, during the process of identification and sorting by the material sorting device, a large amount of computing power is required to identify and register the ray image and the color sorting image, and the amount of data to be processed is large, resulting in a longer time required for material identification and a lower sorting efficiency of the material sorting device.

[0033] To overcome the problems existing in the related technologies, such as Figure 1As shown, an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure provides a material sorting device for identifying and sorting materials, which may include: a conveying device 110, a camera 120, a ray device 130, a scintillation detector 140, a silicon drift detector 150, and a sorting device 160. Among them, the material may be an original ore containing target ores such as coal, silica, copper, etc., which may contain impurities such as gangue. Through the material sorting device, the target ores in the original ore can be identified, the target category corresponding to the original ore can be determined, so as to sort the original ore, separate different types of original ores from each other, or separate the original ores with different target ore contents according to the target ore content in the original ore, so as to achieve high-precision ore identification and sorting.

[0034] The conveying device 110 is used to convey materials. The conveying device 110 may be a belt conveyor or a chain plate conveyor, etc. The conveying device 110 can convey materials, enabling the materials to pass through the camera 120, thereby facilitating the camera 120 to collect images of the materials. The materials can move along the material conveying direction of the conveying device 110 and finally fall from the end of the conveying device 110, so that the materials are irradiated by the rays emitted by the ray device 130, and subsequent identification is carried out through the scintillation detector 140 and the silicon drift detector 150. Finally, after the identification of the materials is completed and the target category to which they belong is determined, the sorting device 160 sorts the materials, separating the materials belonging to different target categories from each other.

[0035] The camera 120 is located above the conveying device 110 and is used to collect color selection images of the materials on the conveying device 110. The camera 120 can be located above the conveying device 110 and can collect images of the materials on the conveying device 110 while the conveying device 110 conveys the materials. The camera 120 may be an industrial camera, such as a CCD camera, an area array camera, a line array camera, or other cameras with 3D positioning functions, etc. Through the camera 120, color selection images of the materials on the conveying device 110 can be collected, and features such as texture and color on the surface of the materials can be collected in the color selection images.

[0036] A ray device 130 is provided downstream of the conveying device 110 and is used to emit rays to the material falling from the end of the conveying device 110. The ray device 130 can be arranged downstream of the conveying device 110. When the material falls from the end of the conveying device 110, it can fall into the ray emission area of the ray device 130, so that the ray device 130 emits rays to the material falling into the ray emission area, such as X-rays, etc. The rays can pass through the material and can also excite various different components in the material to emit characteristic fluorescence. Among them, the ray device 130 can be a linear array ray device 130, so that the ray device 130 can emit rays to the material, and the rays emitted by the ray device 130 can cover the surface of the material, so as to ensure that when the ray or fluorescence signal is detected by the scintillator detector 140 and the silicon drift detector 150 subsequently, the grayscale image determined by the scintillator detector 140 and the fluorescence spectral image determined by the silicon drift detector 150 both contain information of the complete material.

[0037] A scintillator detector 140 is arranged on the opposite side of the ray device 130 and is used to receive the rays passing through the material to determine the grayscale image of the material. Since the rays can pass through the material and there may be different structures and components inside the material, the intensity of the rays after passing through the material will change due to the differences in the structure and components. Therefore, a scintillator detector 140 can be arranged on the opposite side of the ray device 130. The scintillator detector 140 is the detector used in the XRT technology. The scintillator detector 140 can receive the rays passing through the material. According to the intensity, position and other information of the rays received by the scintillator detector 140, the grayscale image of the material can be determined. The grayscale image can include information such as the shape, particle size and density of the material.

[0038] A silicon drift detector 150 is arranged below the ray device 130 and is used to receive the characteristic fluorescence generated after the material is irradiated by the rays to determine the fluorescence spectral image of the material. Since the material can be the raw ore including target ores such as copper ore and spodumene, the target ores and other impurities in the raw ore can be excited by the rays and generate characteristic fluorescence after being irradiated by the rays. By collecting these characteristic fluorescences, the fluorescence spectral image can be determined, and thus after further analysis, the elements and their contents contained in the material can be determined. Therefore, a silicon drift detector 150 can be arranged below the ray device 130. The silicon drift detector 150 is the detector used in the XRF technology. Through the silicon drift detector 150, the characteristic fluorescence generated after the material is excited by the rays can be received, and thus the fluorescence spectral image of the material can be determined according to the characteristic fluorescence. The fluorescence spectral image can include information such as the elemental composition of the material and the content of each element.

[0039] The sorting device 160 is located below the silicon drift detector 150 and is used to sort materials according to the target categories of the materials determined from the color sorting image, the grayscale image, and the fluorescence spectrum image. The sorting device 160 can be arranged below the silicon drift detector 150. When the materials fall by the conveying device 110 and are irradiated by the rays emitted by the ray device 130, after the scintillation detector 140 and the silicon drift detector 150 detect and collect the rays passing through the materials and the characteristic fluorescence on the surface of the materials, the materials can fall to the sorting device 160. According to the color sorting image, the grayscale image, and the fluorescence spectrum image of the materials, the target categories to which the materials belong can be determined. Through the sorting device 160, based on the target categories of the materials, the materials can be sorted to separate different categories of materials from each other. A receiving device for receiving the sorted materials can also be arranged downstream of the sorting device 160. By sorting the materials through the sorting device 160, different categories of materials are separated from each other, and at the same time, the receiving mechanism can receive materials of different target categories respectively.

[0040] The materials can move along the material conveying direction of the conveying device 110. The color sorting image of the materials is taken by the camera 120, and at the same time, the materials continue to move along the material conveying direction of the conveying device 110. Finally, the materials can fall from the end of the conveying device 110 and fall into the ray emission range of the ray device 130. The ray device 130 emits rays to the materials, and the scintillation detector 140 collects the rays penetrating the materials to determine the grayscale image of the materials. The silicon drift detector 150 collects the fluorescence generated by the materials excited by the rays to determine the fluorescence spectrum image of the materials. Finally, through the analysis and processing of the color sorting image, the grayscale image, and the fluorescence spectrum image, the target categories to which the materials belong can be finally determined. According to the target categories, the materials are sorted by the sorting device 160, so as to separate different types of materials from each other.

[0041] Through the material sorting equipment provided by this embodiment, the material can be transported more stably and quickly through the transport device 110, with high stability. Through the camera 120, the color selection image of the material can be collected, so that in the subsequent identification and sorting process, through the information such as the color and texture of the material surface in the color selection image, the material can be identified more accurately and quickly, improving the identification accuracy of the material. Through the ray device 130, rays are emitted to irradiate the material, and then the scintillation detector 140 and the silicon drift detector 150 are used to detect the ray or fluorescence signal, enabling the scintillation detector 140 and the silicon drift detector 150 to simultaneously detect and process the signal, and enabling accurate judgment of the target category of the material. The fluorescence spectrum image of the material is determined by the silicon drift detector 150. According to the fluorescence spectrum image, the various elements contained in the material can be determined more accurately, and the content of each different element in the material can be determined clearly and accurately, thereby greatly improving the accuracy of material identification. Thus, during the process of determining the target category of the material, the material sorting equipment can effectively improve the accuracy of material identification, and further effectively improve the sorting accuracy of the material sorting equipment. In addition, the material sorting equipment provided with the camera 120, the scintillation detector 140 and the silicon drift detector 150 can synchronously collect the color selection image, the grayscale image and the fluorescence spectrum image of the material, synchronously collect multi-spectral data, realize efficient detection, improve the efficiency of material identification, and can effectively meet the high-efficiency detection requirements under harsh conditions such as large-scale ore mining and processing. By arranging the ray device 130, the scintillation detector 140 and the silicon drift detector 150 downstream of the transport device 110, these devices can be arranged near the falling path of the material after it falls from the end of the transport device 110, effectively reducing the space occupied by the material sorting equipment and improving the space utilization rate of the material sorting equipment. When the material sorting equipment needs to be installed under a narrow mine, the material sorting equipment can occupy a small space, has good adaptability to various different environments, so that the material sorting equipment has higher flexibility and is convenient for installation and maintenance.

[0042] In some embodiments, such as Figure 1 , Figure 2As shown, the conveying device 110 may include: a belt conveyor 111, which is inclined in the material conveying direction, and the belt surface of the belt conveyor 111 bulges outward to form grids 1111. The grids 1111 are formed with a plurality of recesses 1112 that are concave downward in the material conveying direction in the width direction of the belt conveyor 111, and are used to accommodate one material in each recess 1112 during the process of conveying the material. The conveying device 110 can convey the material through the belt conveyor 111. The material can fall onto the belt surface of the belt conveyor 111, and the belt can move along the material conveying direction, so that the material located on the belt surface can move along the material conveying direction with the belt. Since during the process of detecting the characteristic fluorescence of the material, if the materials overlap or the distance between adjacent materials is too small, the fluorescence spectrum image determined by the silicon drift detector 150 detecting the characteristic fluorescence of the material may contain the characteristic fluorescence information of multiple materials, resulting in inaccurate data and easily affecting the accuracy of subsequent identification and sorting. Therefore, the belt surface of the belt conveyor can bulge outward to form a plurality of grids 1111, and the grids 1111 can extend in the width direction of the belt, dividing the belt into multiple regions in the material conveying direction. After the material falls into the conveying device 110, it can pass through the grids 1111, dividing the material into multiple groups in the material conveying direction, avoiding the aggregation of the material in the material conveying direction. The belt conveying device 110 can adopt a high-precision drive motor and a transmission system, and precisely control the drive motor to drive the drive roller of the belt drive device to rotate through closed-loop control technology, thereby driving the belt to rotate at a stable speed to achieve efficient and stable conveying of the material. In addition, during operation, the speed and tension of the belt can be monitored in real time to ensure that its operating state is stable and meets the requirements of the speed and tension preset by the user.

[0043] In the extending direction of the grids 1111, that is, in the width direction of the belt, a plurality of recesses 1112 that are concave downward in the material conveying direction can be formed, so that the bottom end of the recess 1112 faces the end of the conveying device 110. As Figure 2 shown, the grids 1111 on the belt surface can be wavy, and a plurality of recesses 1112 are formed in the width direction of the belt. When the material falls into the belt conveyor 111, the material can fall into the recesses 1112, and each recess 1112 can accommodate only one material. Thus, through the plurality of recesses 1112 formed by the grids 1111 in the width direction of the belt, the materials can be further separated from each other in the width direction of the belt, effectively avoiding the situation of material overlap or too close positions, thereby ensuring high accuracy in the silicon drift detector 150 detecting the characteristic fluorescence of the material, making the determined fluorescence spectrum image contain only the characteristic fluorescence of its corresponding one material, and effectively improving the accuracy of material identification and its subsequent sorting operation.

[0044] AsFigure 1 As shown, the belt conveyor 111 can also be inclined along the material conveying direction, so that the height of the end of the belt conveyor 111 is lower. Since a plurality of concave portions 1112 that are concave along the material conveying direction are provided on the belt surface, by inclining the belt conveyor 111 along the material conveying direction, the material can naturally roll into the concave portions 1112 under the action of gravity. Through the inclined belt conveyor 111, accurate positioning of the material can be achieved, avoiding the material staying outside the concave portions 1112 and affecting the efficiency and accuracy of subsequent identification and detection, so that each concave portion 1112 only accommodates one material, effectively avoiding material accumulation, and improving the identification accuracy and sorting accuracy of the material sorting device. Under this structural design, it is also possible to make the materials in a plurality of different concave portions 1112 in the same grid 1111 fall synchronously from the end of the conveying device 110, so as to synchronously detect and sort a plurality of materials, effectively saving the material identification and sorting time of the material sorting device, improving the efficiency of material identification and sorting, and enabling the material sorting device to meet the high-efficiency detection requirements in cases such as large-scale ore mining and processing.

[0045] According to the material sorting device provided in this embodiment, a grid 1111 structure is provided on the belt surface, and a plurality of concave portions 1112 are formed in the grid 1111 in the belt width direction, and each concave portion 1112 is used to accommodate a single material. After the material falls on the belt surface, it can naturally fall into the concave portions 1112, effectively separating the materials during the conveying process. The situation of material overlap or too small spacing is avoided, improving the uniqueness and accuracy of the fluorescence spectral image obtained by the silicon drift detector 150, effectively improving the accuracy of the silicon drift detector 150, and further improving the identification and sorting accuracy of the material sorting device. Since the plurality of concave portions 1112 are evenly distributed along the belt width direction, the materials can be synchronously conveyed, identified, and sorted in a plurality of channels, with better synchronism, greatly improving the detection and sorting efficiency of the material sorting device. In addition, through the design of the concave portions 1112, the adaptability of the material sorting device can be improved, and it has good adaptability to materials with regular shapes, as well as particles, flakes, or various irregularly shaped materials. Through the material sorting device provided in this embodiment, the conveying efficiency of the materials can be improved, and the overall production capacity and automation level of the material sorting device can be enhanced.

[0046] In some embodiments, as Figure 2 shown, the conveying device 110 may further include: a support mechanism 112 and / or a detachable grid 1111.

[0047] ​The support mechanism 112 can support the belt conveyor 111, and the support mechanism 112 can be used to adjust the inclination angle of the belt conveyor 111. The support mechanism 112 can be a frame, so that the belt conveyor 111 can be installed on the frame to realize the support of the belt conveyor mechanism. The support mechanism 112 can include an adjustment device. The adjustment device can be a height adjustment device such as a telescopic rod or a motor lifting device. The adjustment device can be arranged at the bottom of the support mechanism 112. A plurality of adjustment devices can be arranged, and at least they can be arranged at both ends of the support mechanism 112 in the material conveying direction. By changing the height of the adjustment device, the height of the corresponding position on the support mechanism 112 can be changed. Specifically, the height of the adjustment device arranged at the head end of the support mechanism 112 in the material conveying direction can be kept unchanged, and the inclination angle of the belt conveyor 111 can be adjusted by adjusting the height of the adjustment device arranged at the tail end of the support mechanism 112 in the material conveying direction. Among them, the head end of the support mechanism 112 in the material conveying direction corresponds to the end of the belt conveyor 111 that receives materials, and the tail end of the support mechanism 112 in the material conveying direction corresponds to the tail end of the belt conveyor 111, that is, the end where the material falls from the belt conveyor 111. Increasing the height of the adjustment device at the tail end of the support mechanism 112 in the material conveying direction can raise the tail end of the belt conveyor 111 and reduce the inclination angle of the belt conveyor 111; reducing the height of the adjustment device at the tail end of the support mechanism 112 in the material conveying direction can lower the tail end of the belt conveyor 111 and increase the inclination angle of the belt conveyor 111. In addition, the inclination angle of the belt conveyor 111 can also be adjusted by keeping the height of the adjustment device arranged at the tail end of the support mechanism 112 in the material conveying direction unchanged and adjusting the height of the adjustment device arranged at the head end of the support mechanism 112 in the material conveying direction. Increasing the height of the adjustment device at the head end of the support mechanism 112 in the material conveying direction can raise the head end of the belt conveyor 111 and increase the inclination angle of the belt conveyor 111; reducing the height of the adjustment device at the head end of the support mechanism 112 in the material conveying direction can lower the head end of the belt conveyor 111 and reduce the inclination angle of the belt conveyor 111.

[0048] The grid 1111 is detachably arranged on the surface of the belt and is used to replace the grid 1111 with different widths of the concave part 1112. Since it is generally necessary to preprocess the material before identifying and sorting the material by the material sorting device, taking the raw ore as an example, since the mined ore has a large volume and cannot be directly sorted, the raw ore generally needs to be crushed so that the raw ore is broken into smaller particles for subsequent identification and sorting of the material by the material sorting device. The particle sizes of the crushed materials are similar, and the particle size is determined according to the user's usage and sorting requirements for the ore, and the user can adjust it. Therefore, the sizes and particle sizes of these materials entering the material sorting device are similar. Therefore, a detachable grid 1111 can be set so that the user can replace the grid 1111 with different widths of the concave part 1112 according to the sorting requirements of the material and the particle size of the material, avoiding the material from falling from the concave part 1112 during the conveying process to ensure that the material can be conveyed more stably in the concave part 1112. Specifically, the width of the concave part 1112 can be determined as 1.2 to 2 times the particle size of the material. For example, when the crushing particle size is 30 mm, the particle size of the material is about 30 mm, and the width of the concave part 1112 can be set to 40 mm to ensure that the materials can be arranged in an orderly manner on the conveying device, avoiding mutual extrusion or collision, and effectively improving the accuracy of subsequent detection and sorting.

[0049] According to the material sorting device provided in this embodiment, through the support mechanism 112 of the transmission device 110, the belt conveying device 111 can be stably installed, improving the smoothness of material conveying. By adjusting the height of the adjusting device, the inclination angle of the belt conveying device 111 can be flexibly changed, so as to accurately control the rolling trajectory and landing point of the material during the conveying process, so that when the material falls into the conveying device, it can accurately fall into the concave part 1112, effectively improving the accuracy and efficiency of automatic positioning of the material. If the material has a large particle size, high density or irregular shape, the inclination angle can be increased to ensure that the material does not get stuck outside the concave part 1112, reducing the risk of material jamming and piling up. If the material is small or light, the inclination angle can be reduced to avoid the material from bouncing or rebounding, improving the stability of the material in the concave part 1112. By setting the detachable grid 1111 structure, it is convenient for the user to replace the grid 1111 according to different material particle sizes and characteristics, making the transmission device 110 more adaptable to a variety of different materials. Based on the material type and sorting requirements, by replacing the grid 1111 with different sizes of the concave part 1112, the adaptability of the material sorting device can be effectively improved, enabling it to cope with various complex sorting scenarios.

[0050] In some embodiments, a plurality of silicon drift detectors 150 are provided, and each silicon drift detector 150 is correspondingly arranged with a recess 1112. Since the XRF technology has high precision requirements and can only detect and identify the characteristic fluorescence emitted from the surface of a single material at a time. And since a plurality of recesses 1112 are arranged along the width direction of the transmission device 110, and each recess 1112 is used to accommodate a material. Therefore, in order to more efficiently identify and sort the materials, a plurality of silicon drift detectors 150 can be arranged below the ray device 130 so that the plurality of silicon drift detectors 150 can be arranged along the width direction of the transmission device 110. The silicon drift detectors 150 are arranged in one-to-one correspondence with the recesses 1112 along the width direction of the transmission device 110, which can enable each silicon drift detector 150 to detect and identify the material in the recess 1112 at its corresponding position.

[0051] According to the material sorting device provided in this embodiment, by providing a plurality of silicon drift detectors 150, the material sorting device can be provided with an independent silicon drift detector 150 corresponding to each recess 1112 to achieve multi-channel synchronous detection. Each silicon drift detector 150 is only responsible for collecting and analyzing the characteristic fluorescence signals of the material in its corresponding recess 1112, which can effectively avoid signal interference between different materials and ensure that the recognition results of each material are independent. According to the material sorting device provided in this embodiment, it can meet the recognition requirements of the XRF technology, thereby realizing high-speed and high-precision detection, and at the same time, it can increase the number of materials that can be recognized simultaneously, thereby effectively improving the efficiency of material recognition and sorting.

[0052] In some embodiments, lead plates are arranged between adjacent silicon drift detectors 150 to shield the signal interference between the silicon drift detectors 150. Since the silicon drift detector 150 has a high recognition accuracy in the process of receiving the characteristic fluorescence emitted by the material and can more accurately and precisely detect all the characteristic fluorescence emitted by the material, but the silicon drift detector 150 is easily affected by external interference during the process of receiving the characteristic fluorescence signal, especially the signal of another silicon drift detector 150 close to it. This signal interference is likely to affect the accuracy of the data in the fluorescence spectrum image. Therefore, high-purity lead plates can be arranged between adjacent silicon drift detectors 150, which can effectively shield the signal interference between adjacent silicon drift detectors 150, ensure that each silicon drift detector 150 can accurately receive the characteristic fluorescence of the material in its corresponding recess 1112, and thus can more accurately determine the fluorescence spectrum image of the material according to the characteristic fluorescence received by the silicon drift detector 150. It can enable each silicon drift detector 150 to maintain a high degree of independence during the working process, avoid deviation or misjudgment of the recognition result caused by signal interference, and further effectively improve the accuracy of recognition and sorting of the material sorting device.

[0053] In some embodiments, as Figure 1 shown, the material sorting device may further include: a vibrating feeder 170, disposed upstream of the conveying device 110, for feeding the material into the conveying device 110 by vibration, so that each material falls into a recess 1112 respectively. The vibrating feeder 170 may be disposed upstream of the conveying device 110, and by continuously vibrating the vibrating feeder 170, the material is fed into the conveying device 110. The feeding speed of the material into the conveying device 110 is related to the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder 170. Specifically, the greater the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder 170, the faster its feeding speed, such that the number of materials falling onto the conveying device 110 at the same time is greater. The smaller the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder 170, the slower its feeding speed, such that the number of materials falling onto the conveying device 110 at the same time is smaller. By adjusting the vibration speed of the vibrating feeder 170, the quantity and speed of the material entering the conveying device 110 can be adjusted in real time, so as to achieve that each material falls into different recesses 1112 respectively, and only one material is accommodated in each recess 1112. According to the material sorting device provided in this embodiment, by the vibrating feeder 170 disposed upstream of the conveying device 110, the material can be evenly distributed and fall into each recess 1112. By adjusting the vibration speed of the vibrating feeder 170, the quantity of the material falling to the conveying mechanism is effectively controlled, and the situation where multiple materials fall into the same recess 1112 at the same time can be effectively avoided, preventing material stacking, thereby improving the subsequent detection accuracy.

[0054] Based on the same inventive concept, as Figure 3 shown, the present disclosure further provides a material sorting method, which is applied to the material sorting device in any of the foregoing embodiments. The material sorting method may include: step S210 to step S270.

[0055] Step S210, conveying the material through the conveying device. The material can be conveyed through the conveying device, so that after the material falls onto the conveying device, it can stably fall on the surface of the conveying device, and the conveying speed of the conveying device is relatively stable, so that the material can maintain a relatively static state with the conveying device during the material conveying process, thereby effectively improving the stability of the material during the material conveying process and realizing the efficient and stable conveying of the material.

[0056] Step S220, collecting a color selection image of the material by a camera. The camera may be located above the conveying device. During the process of the material moving with the conveying device, the camera can capture the color selection image of the material, so as to capture features such as the texture and color of the surface of the material.

[0057] Step S230: Emit rays to the material falling from the end of the conveying device through a ray device. The ray device can be located downstream of the conveying device. When the material falls from the end of the conveying device, it can fall into the ray emission area of the ray device, so that the ray device emits rays to the material falling into the ray emission area, such as X-rays. The ray device can be a linear array ray device, which can make the rays cover the surface of the falling material to ensure the accuracy of subsequent material identification and detection.

[0058] Step S240: Receive the rays passing through the material through a scintillator detector to determine the grayscale image of the material. The scintillator detector can be arranged on the opposite side of the ray device. After the rays pass through the material, they can be received by the scintillator detector. Since the rays passing through the material are affected by the material and structure of the material, resulting in a change in the intensity of the rays, the rays passing through the material can be received by the scintillator detector, and the grayscale image of the material can be determined according to the intensity of the received rays. Among them, the shape, particle size and other information of the material can be clearly displayed in the grayscale image of the material. In addition, since the rays passing through different materials will cause a change in the intensity of the rays, and the color brightness of different intensities of rays in the grayscale image is inconsistent, the different components that may be contained in the material can also be determined according to the color blocks with different brightness in the grayscale image.

[0059] Step S250: Receive the characteristic fluorescence generated after the material is irradiated by rays through a silicon drift detector to determine the fluorescence spectrum image of the material. It can be arranged below the ray device. After the rays irradiate the material, the material can be excited by the rays to generate characteristic fluorescence. Since the material contains a variety of different materials and elements, the characteristic fluorescence generated after these different materials and elements are excited by the rays are all different. Therefore, the characteristic fluorescence emitted by the material can be received by the silicon drift detector to determine the fluorescence spectrum image of the material. Among them, according to the fluorescence spectrum image of the material, the elemental composition of the material and the content of each element can be determined.

[0060] Step S260: Determine the target category of the material based on the color-sorted image, grayscale image, and fluorescence spectrum image. The color, texture, and other characteristics of the material surface can be determined from the color-sorted image. The particle size, shape, and other characteristics of the material can be determined from the grayscale image. And the... of the material can be determined through the fluorescence spectrum image. Therefore, based on the color-sorted image, grayscale image, and fluorescence spectrum image of the material, and the various characteristics of the material determined from these three images, the target category of the material can be determined. Specifically, when the material is raw ore, based on the color-sorted image, grayscale image, and fluorescence spectrum image of the raw ore, the shape, color, elemental composition, and other characteristics of the raw ore can be determined from the above images. Based on these characteristics, information such as whether there is a target ore in the raw ore or the content of the target ore can be determined, thereby being able to determine the target category of the material, such as concentrate, middling ore, waste ore, etc.

[0061] Step S270: Perform a sorting operation on the material through the sorting device according to the target category of the material. According to the target category of the material determined in step S260, a sorting operation can be performed on the material through the sorting device to separate materials belonging to different target categories. The sorting device can perform the same sorting operation on materials belonging to the same target category, so that materials belonging to the same target material can fall to the same area to achieve the separation of materials of different target categories.

[0062] According to the material sorting method provided in this embodiment, through step S210, the material can move smoothly and sequentially with the conveying device, keeping the relative static state between the material and the conveying device, effectively avoiding phenomena such as material rolling, collision, or dislocation, and improving the accuracy of the subsequent image acquisition and recognition process. Through steps S220 to S250, the color-sorted image, grayscale image, and fluorescence spectrum image of the material can be collected, so that when determining the target category of the material subsequently, analysis can be carried out from multiple different dimensions, effectively improving the accuracy of material recognition and sorting. Through step S260, based on the color-sorted image, grayscale image, and fluorescence spectrum image, the target category of the material is determined, enabling material recognition based on multi-spectral fusion, being able to determine the characteristics of the material from multiple different dimensions and identify the target category to which the material belongs, effectively improving the accuracy of material recognition. According to the material sorting method provided in this embodiment, the material recognition accuracy and sorting efficiency can be effectively improved.

[0063] In some embodiments, as Figure 4 shown, step S260: Determine the target category of the material based on the color-sorted image, grayscale image, and fluorescence spectrum image, may include: steps S261 to S265.

[0064] Step S261: If it is possible to determine that the material belongs to the first target category based on the grayscale image, then determine the first target category as the target category. Since the shape, particle size, etc. of the material can be clearly shown in the grayscale image. And the components in the material and the content of each component can be determined according to the brightness of the color patches inside the material in the grayscale image. Therefore, information such as the shape, particle size, and components of the corresponding material can be determined based on the grayscale image, and further the first target category to which the material belongs can be determined. When the sorting device can directly determine the first target category to which the material belongs based on the grayscale image, the first target category can be directly determined as the target category to which the material belongs. And in the subsequent sorting process, sorting operations are performed on the material based on the target category of the material.

[0065] Step S262: If it is not possible to determine the target category of the material based on the grayscale image, then determine the elemental composition of the material according to the fluorescence spectrum image. Since the grayscale image can only determine the shape and particle size of the material through the contour of the material therein, and determine the components and the content of each component through the brightness of the color patches inside the material contour. In some cases, the absorption effects of the components of the material on the rays are similar, resulting in similar ray intensities after passing through the material. In the grayscale image determined by receiving the rays through the scintillation detector, the brightness of the color patches inside the material is similar, resulting in the inability to accurately identify the target category of the material. In this case, the elemental composition of the material can be determined according to the fluorescence spectrum image. Since different elements and materials emit different characteristic fluorescences after being excited by rays. Therefore, based on the fluorescence spectrum image, the elemental composition of the material and the content corresponding to each element can be determined according to the peaks in the fluorescence spectrum image and their corresponding wavelength bands.

[0066] Step S263: If it is possible to determine that the material belongs to the second target category based on the elemental composition of the material and the grayscale image, then determine the second target category as the target category. Since the elemental composition of the material and the content corresponding to each element, etc. can be obtained according to the fluorescence spectrum image, while the grayscale image can determine information such as the shape and particle size of the material. Therefore, the second target category to which the material belongs can be further determined by combining the fluorescence spectrum image with the grayscale image. When the sorting device can directly determine the second target category to which the material belongs based on the grayscale image and the elemental composition of the material determined by the fluorescence spectrum image, the second target category can be directly determined as the target category to which the material belongs. And in the subsequent sorting process, sorting operations are performed on the material based on the target category of the material.

[0067] Step S264: If the target category of the material cannot be determined based on the elemental composition and grayscale image of the material, then the characteristics of the surface of the material are determined according to the color sorting image. Since only the elemental composition and the content of each element can be determined in the fluorescence spectrum image, and most of the materials are compounds of various elements, the specific compound components in the material cannot be determined through the fluorescence spectrum image, resulting in the inability to determine the target category of the material based on the elemental composition and grayscale image of the material. In the case where the material is an ore, for the ore, the elements with higher internal content determined by the fluorescence spectrum image may include multiple different compounds containing the element, and the specific composition inside the ore cannot be determined through the fluorescence spectrum image. For materials belonging to different categories, the elements they contain and the content of specific elements may be similar, but the specific internal components are different. In this case, the target category of the material cannot be determined. For different compounds, they have different physical properties, making their colors and textures different. Therefore, the characteristics of the surface of the material can be determined according to the color sorting image, and the characteristics of the surface of the material can include the color, texture, etc. of the material.

[0068] Step S265: If it can be determined that the material is the third target category based on the characteristics of the surface of the material, the elemental composition and grayscale image of the material, then the third target category is determined as the target category. According to the color sorting image, the characteristics such as the color and texture of the surface of the material can be determined. According to the fluorescence spectrum image, the elemental composition of the material and information such as the content corresponding to each element can be obtained, and the grayscale image can determine information such as the shape and particle size of the material. Therefore, according to the color sorting image, combined with the fluorescence spectrum image and the grayscale image, the third target category to which the material belongs can be further determined. Combining the color sorting image with the fluorescence spectrum image and the grayscale image can more accurately determine the third target category to which the material belongs. Therefore, the third target category can be directly determined as the target category to which the material belongs. And in the subsequent sorting process, based on the target category of the material, a sorting operation is performed on the material.

[0069] According to the material sorting method provided in this embodiment, features such as the shape, particle size, and density difference of the material can be determined through the grayscale image, and the target category of the material can be quickly determined, thereby effectively shortening the material identification time and improving the material sorting efficiency. In addition, the features of the material can also be analyzed through the fluorescence spectrum image to determine the elemental composition and content of the material. According to the elemental composition and content of the material, combined with the grayscale image, the target category of the material can be determined, which has a better discrimination ability for materials with similar properties and can further improve the accuracy of material identification and sorting. According to the material sorting method provided in this embodiment, the color and texture features and other information of the material can also be determined according to the color sorting image. Combining the fluorescence spectrum image and the grayscale image can effectively improve the efficiency of material sorting and identification. The material sorting method provided in this embodiment can flexibly switch the determination method of the target category of the material according to different situations, achieve precise classification, and effectively improve the robustness and accuracy of the material identification method.

[0070] In some embodiments, the conveying device may include: a belt conveying device, which is inclined along the material conveying direction, and the belt surface of the belt conveying device protrudes outward to form a grid, and the grid forms a plurality of concave portions that are concave along the material conveying direction in the width direction of the belt conveying device, and is used to accommodate one material in each concave portion during the process of conveying the material; the material sorting device may further include a vibrating feeder, which is arranged upstream of the conveying device and is used to feed the material into the conveying device through vibration, so that each material falls into a concave portion respectively. As Figure 5 shown, the material sorting method may further include: step S280 and step S290.

[0071] Step S280, determine the number of materials in each concave portion according to the color sorting image. Since the camera is located above the conveying device, the camera can capture the materials located on the surface of the conveying device. Therefore, the camera can capture the materials on the belt surface of the belt conveying device. Since there are a plurality of concave portions on the belt surface, the color sorting image not only includes the images of the materials, but also includes the images of the belt surface and the concave portions located on the belt surface. Therefore, the position of the materials in the image can be determined according to the color sorting image, so as to determine whether the materials are located in the concave portions, whether there are materials in each concave portion, and the number of materials in each concave portion.

[0072] Step S290: Adjust one or more of the vibration frequency of the vibratory feeder, the conveying speed of the conveying device, and the inclination angle according to the quantity of materials in each recess. According to the quantity of materials in each recess, it can be determined whether the conveying device meets the requirement that there is only one material in each recess. When the quantity of materials in a recess is greater than 1, or when no material is detected in the recess, it can be determined that the current material conveying process does not meet the basic requirements of the material sorting device. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the conveying device or the vibratory feeder so that the materials in the color sorting image meet the requirement that there is only one material in each recess. The vibration frequency of the vibratory feeder is related to the quantity of materials falling into the conveying device. Therefore, by adjusting the vibration frequency of the vibratory feeder, the adjustment of the material sorting device can be realized so that there is only one material in each recess. In addition, when the vibration frequency of the vibratory feeder remains unchanged, the quantity of materials falling into the conveying device within a certain period of time is consistent. In this case, the conveying speed or the inclination angle of the conveying device can be adjusted to realize the adjustment of the material sorting device so that there is only one material in each recess.

[0073] According to the material sorting method provided in this embodiment, it is possible to determine the quantity of materials in each recess based on the color sorting image, and accurately judge whether each recess contains materials and the quantity of the materials, so as to facilitate the subsequent adjustment of the sorting device based on whether the recess contains materials and the quantity of the materials. By automatically adjusting parameters such as the vibration frequency, conveying speed, or inclination angle of the vibratory feeder based on the recognition result of the color sorting image, feedback control is achieved, which can ensure that there is always only one material in each recess, thus ensuring high reliability and accuracy of the material sorting device during the recognition and sorting process.

[0074] In some embodiments, as Figure 6 shown, step S290: Adjust one or more of the vibration frequency of the vibratory feeder, the conveying speed of the conveying device, and the inclination angle according to the quantity of materials in each recess may include: step S291 and step S292.

[0075] Step S291: If the number of recesses with zero material quantity is greater than or equal to the first threshold, increase the vibration frequency of the vibratory feeder. Since the material sorting equipment requires that there is only one material in each recess on the belt surface during the material conveying process, the quantity of material in each recess can be determined, so as to determine whether the conveying device and the vibratory feeder need to be adjusted. And because there are multiple recesses arranged in the width direction of the belt surface, it is necessary to determine the quantity of material in all the recesses captured in the color sorting image. A first threshold can be preset. When the number of recesses with zero material quantity is less than the first threshold, it can be considered that only a few recesses have no material, and this situation has little impact on the overall sorting efficiency of the material sorting equipment and can be ignored without adjustment. However, when the number of recesses with zero material quantity is greater than or equal to the first threshold, more recesses have no material, resulting in too small a quantity of material conveyed by the conveying device in the same time period, so that fewer materials are sorted by the material sorting equipment in the same time period, leading to a reduction in the sorting efficiency of the material sorting equipment. Therefore, when the number of recesses with zero material quantity is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the vibration frequency of the vibratory feeder can be increased, so that more materials fall into the conveying device in the same time period, thereby filling the vacancies, enabling the recesses with zero material quantity to receive materials subsequently, and enabling each recess to accommodate one material, ensuring that when the materials are conveyed to the end of the conveying device and fall for sorting, there is an adequate quantity of materials, and multiple materials can be identified and sorted simultaneously, so that the material sorting equipment has a higher sorting efficiency.

[0076] Step S292: If the number of recesses with more than one material is greater than or equal to the second threshold, increase the transmission speed of the transmission device. A second threshold can be preset. When the number of recesses with one material is less than the second threshold, it can be considered that only a small number of recesses have materials exceeding the requirements of the sorting device, and this situation has little impact on the overall sorting efficiency of the material sorting device and can be ignored without adjustment. When the number of recesses with zero materials is greater than or equal to the second threshold, more recesses have materials exceeding the requirements of the sorting device, resulting in multiple silicon drift detectors needing to determine the fluorescence spectral images of more than one material within the same time period, making the recognition accuracy of these silicon drift detectors poor. This situation will make the recognition accuracy of multiple silicon drift detectors deteriorate, resulting in a decrease in the sorting accuracy of the material sorting device. Therefore, when the number of recesses with one material is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the transmission speed of the transmission device can be increased, so that the transmission device can have fewer materials enter the transmission device after moving the same distance, so that the recesses with more than one material can receive fewer materials subsequently, and each recess can only accommodate one material, ensuring that when the materials are transported to the end of the transmission device and fall for identification and sorting, each silicon drift detector only identifies and sorts its corresponding one material, thus enabling the material sorting device to have higher sorting accuracy.

[0077] According to the material sorting method provided in this embodiment, when the number of recesses with zero materials is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder can be finely adjusted to keep the feeding speed and feeding amount of the vibrating feeder stable all the time, thereby effectively improving the efficiency of material sorting. When the number of recesses with more than one material is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the transmission speed of the transmission device is finely adjusted to avoid problems such as image overlap and increased recognition pressure on the silicon drift detector caused by multiple materials stacking in the same recess, effectively avoiding the interference of material overlap on the silicon drift detector, and significantly improving the accuracy of the material sorting device during the process of material recognition and sorting.

[0078] In some embodiments, such as Figure 7As shown, in step S290, according to the quantity of materials in each recess, one or more of the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder, the conveying speed of the conveying device, and the inclination angle are adjusted. It may further include: step S293, if the number of recesses with the quantity of materials greater than 1 is greater than or equal to the second threshold, and the conveying speed of the conveying device is equal to the maximum speed threshold, then the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder is reduced. Since the silicon drift detector and the scintillation detector require a certain amount of time to receive characteristic fluorescence and rays, if the time for the materials to pass through the scintillation detector and the silicon drift detector is too short, it may lead to insufficient response time of the scintillation detector and the silicon drift detector, and it is impossible to determine the grayscale image and the fluorescence spectrum image of the materials, resulting in a decrease in the sorting efficiency and accuracy of the materials. And the time for the materials to pass through the scintillation detector and the silicon drift detector is related to the conveying speed of the conveying device. Therefore, a maximum speed threshold can be determined, and the conveying speed of the conveying device is less than or equal to the maximum speed threshold to ensure that the time for the materials to pass through the scintillation detector and the silicon drift detector meets the requirements of the scintillation detector and the silicon drift detector. Therefore, when the conveying speed of the conveying device is equal to the maximum speed threshold, and if the number of recesses with the quantity of materials greater than 1 is still greater than or equal to the second threshold, the conveying speed of the conveying device is no longer adjusted, and the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder can be adjusted to reduce the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder. By reducing the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder, fewer materials fall into the conveying device within the same time period, thereby filling the gap, so that the recesses with the quantity of materials greater than 1 can receive fewer materials subsequently, and each recess can only accommodate one material, ensuring that when the materials are conveyed to the end of the conveying device and fall for identification and sorting, each silicon drift detector only identifies and sorts its corresponding one material, so that the material sorting device has higher sorting accuracy. According to the material sorting method provided in this embodiment, the maximum speed threshold can be set, and after the speed reaches the upper limit, the overlapping phenomenon of materials can be indirectly reduced by reducing the feeding frequency, ensuring that the device can still stably identify under high load. By adjusting the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder, the feeding frequency is accurately adjusted, the material feeding amount per unit time is reduced, the materials are more evenly distributed on the conveying path, the identification interference is reduced, and the sorting accuracy is improved.

[0079] In some embodiments, as Figure 8 shown, the material sorting method may further include: step S300 and step S310.

[0080] Step S300, determine the particle size of the material based on the color selection image and / or the grayscale image. Since the color selection image can determine features such as the shape and color of the material, and the grayscale image can determine features such as the shape and contour of the material, both the color selection image and the grayscale image can determine the shape or contour of the material, thereby determining the particle size of the material. The particle size of the material can be determined only based on the color selection image or only based on the grayscale image, so that the material sorting device has less computational effort during recognition, can save computing power, and further improve the recognition and sorting efficiency of the material sorting device. In addition, since the material may flip on the conveying device, resulting in a change in the pose of the material, the particle size of the material in the color selection image and the grayscale image is different. Therefore, the color selection image and the grayscale image can also be combined, and the average value of the particle sizes of the material in the color selection image and the grayscale image can be taken to finally determine the particle size of the material, making the determined particle size of the material more accurate, so as to have higher sorting accuracy in the subsequent sorting process.

[0081] Step S310, determine the width of the concave portion and the position of the concave portion on the conveying device according to the particle size of the material. According to the particle size of the material, that is, the size of the material, the width of the concave portion, the position of the concave portion on the conveying device, and the number of concave portions in the width direction of the conveying device can be determined. When the particle size of the material is relatively large, the width of the concave portion can be increased to ensure that the material can be stably in the concave portion during the process of the conveying device conveying the material without deviation or dropping. When the particle size of the material is relatively small, the width of the concave portion can be reduced. At the same time, the number of concave portions in the width direction of the conveying device can be increased, and the arrangement can be made more dense to save space and effectively increase the number of materials that the material sorting device can simultaneously identify and sort, effectively improving the efficiency of material identification and sorting.

[0082] In some embodiments, as Figure 9 shown, the material sorting method may further include: Step S320 and Step S330.

[0083] Step S320, determine the measurement time required for material sorting based on at least one of the color selection image, the grayscale image, and the fluorescence spectrum image. According to the color selection image, features such as the contour, color, and texture of the material can be determined. According to the grayscale image, the contour of the material and its possible components can be determined. According to the fluorescence spectrum image, features such as the elemental composition of the material and the content of each element can be determined. Based on at least one of the color selection image, the grayscale image, and the fluorescence spectrum image, according to the determined elemental composition, density, radioactivity, etc. features, combined with the detection requirements of the scintillation detector and the silicon drift detector respectively, and through experiments, the measurement time required for material sorting can be determined, that is, the time required for the material to pass through the scintillation detector and the silicon drift detector under the condition that the material can be normally detected and identified by the scintillation detector and the silicon drift detector.

[0084] Step S330: Determine the inclination angle of the conveying device according to the measurement time and the conveying speed of the conveying device. When the material can be normally detected and identified by the scintillation detector and the silicon drift detector, the time required for the material to pass through the scintillation detector and the silicon drift detector, combined with the physical properties of the material, such as particle size, shape, friction, etc., can be used to determine the inclination angle of the conveying device. The inclination angle of the conveying device can be changed to ensure that the material can be stably and smoothly conveyed on the conveying device.

[0085] Through the material sorting method provided in this embodiment, by determining the accurate measurement time of the material, the material can effectively receive the identification of the detector within the specified time, improving the accuracy and reliability of the identification. By adjusting the inclination angle of the conveying device according to the measurement time and the conveying speed, combined with the physical properties of the material, it can ensure that the material passes through the detector stably and smoothly during the conveying process, improving the stability of the material sorting process and further improving the sorting efficiency and accuracy of the material sorting equipment.

[0086] This application uses specific terms to describe the embodiments of this application. Such as "one embodiment", "an embodiment", and / or "some embodiments" mean a certain feature, structure, or characteristic related to at least one embodiment of this application. Therefore, it should be emphasized and noted that the "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" or "an alternative embodiment" mentioned twice or more at different positions in this specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, certain features, structures, or characteristics in one or more embodiments of this application can be combined appropriately.

[0087] In the context of this application, unless the context clearly indicates an exception, words such as "a", "an", "one", and / or "the" are not specifically singular and may also include the plural. Generally speaking, the terms "include" and "comprise" only indicate the inclusion of the clearly identified steps and elements, and these steps and elements do not constitute an exclusive list. The method or device may also include other steps or elements.

[0088] Similarly, it should be noted that, in order to simplify the expression of the disclosure of this application and thus help the understanding of one or more application embodiments, in the previous description of the embodiments of this application, sometimes multiple features are merged into one embodiment, drawing, or description thereof. However, this disclosure method does not mean that the features required by the object of this application are more than the features mentioned in the foregoing content. In fact, the features of the embodiment are less than all the features of the single embodiment disclosed above.

[0089] The basic concepts have been described above. Obviously, for those skilled in the art, the above disclosure is only an example and does not constitute a limitation to this application. Although not explicitly stated here, those skilled in the art may make various modifications, improvements, and corrections to this application. Such modifications, improvements, and corrections are proposed in this application, so such modifications, improvements, and corrections still fall within the spirit and scope of the embodiments of this application.

Claims

1. A material sorting device, characterized in that: Used to identify and sort materials, including: A transmission device, used for conveying the material; A camera, located above the transmission device, for collecting a color sorting image of the material on the transmission device; A radiation device, disposed downstream of the transmission device, for emitting radiation to the material falling from the end of the transmission device; a scintillator detector, arranged on the opposite side of the radiation device, for receiving the radiation passing through the material to determine a grayscale image of the material; A silicon drift detector is disposed below the radiation device and is used to receive characteristic fluorescence generated by the material after being irradiated by radiation to determine a fluorescence spectrum image of the material; The sorting device is located below the silicon drift detector and is used to sort the material according to the target category of the material determined by the color sorting image, the grayscale image and the fluorescence spectrum image.

2. The material sorting equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The transmission device comprises: A belt conveyor device is arranged obliquely along the material conveying direction, and the belt surface of the belt conveyor device protrudes outward to form a grid, and the grid forms a plurality of recessed portions along the material conveying direction in the width direction of the belt conveyor device, so that each of the recesses can accommodate one material during the process of conveying the material.

3. The material sorting equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: The transmission device also includes: A supporting mechanism, wherein the supporting mechanism supports the belt conveyor and is used to adjust the inclination angle of the belt conveyor; and / or, The grid is detachably arranged on the belt surface and is used to replace grids with different recess widths.

4. The material sorting equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: A plurality of silicon drift detectors are provided, and each of the silicon drift detectors is provided corresponding to the concave portion.

5. The material sorting equipment according to claim 4, characterized in that: Lead plates are arranged between adjacent silicon drift detectors to shield signal interference between the silicon drift detectors.

6. The material sorting equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: The material sorting equipment further comprises: a vibrating feeder, which is arranged upstream of the transmission device and is used to feed the material into the transmission device through vibration so that each of the materials falls into one of the recesses respectively.

7. A material sorting method, characterized in that: Applied to the material sorting equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 6, the material sorting method comprises: conveying the material through the transmission device; Capturing a color-sorted image of the material by means of a camera; emitting radiation to the material falling from the end of the conveying device by the radiation device; Receiving the radiation passing through the material through the scintillator detector to determine a grayscale image of the material; The silicon drift detector receives characteristic fluorescence generated by the material after being irradiated by radiation, and determines a fluorescence spectrum image of the material; Determining a target category of the material according to the color sorting image, the grayscale image, and the fluorescence spectrum image; According to the target category of the material, a sorting operation is performed by the sorting device.

8. The material sorting method according to claim 7, characterized in that: Determining the target category of the material according to the color sorting image, the grayscale image, and the fluorescence spectrum image includes: If it can be determined that the material is a first target category according to the grayscale image, then the first target category is determined as the target category; If the target category of the material cannot be determined based on the grayscale image, determining the elemental composition of the material based on the fluorescence spectrum image; If the material can be determined to be a second target category based on the elemental composition of the material and the grayscale image, then the second target category is determined to be the target category; If the target category of the material cannot be determined based on the elemental composition of the material and the grayscale image, then determining the surface characteristics of the material based on the color sorting image; If the material can be determined to be a third target category based on the surface characteristics of the material, the elemental composition of the material and the grayscale image, the third target category is determined to be the target category.

9. The material sorting method according to claim 7, characterized in that: The transmission device comprises: a belt conveyor device, which is arranged obliquely along the material conveying direction, and the belt surface of the belt conveyor device is convex outward to form a grid, and the grid is formed with a plurality of recessed parts that are concave along the material conveying direction in the width direction of the belt conveyor device, and is used to make each of the recesses accommodate one of the materials in the process of conveying the materials; the material sorting equipment also comprises a vibrating feeder, which is arranged upstream of the transmission device, and is used to feed the materials into the transmission device by vibration, so that each of the materials falls into one of the recesses respectively, and the material sorting method also comprises: Determining the quantity of the material in each of the recesses according to the color sorting image; According to the amount of the material in each of the recesses, one or more of the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder, the transmission speed and the inclination angle of the transmission device are adjusted.

10. The material sorting method according to claim 9, characterized in that: The method of adjusting one or more of the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder, the transmission speed and the inclination angle of the transmission device according to the amount of the material in each of the recesses includes: If the number of recesses where the amount of material is 0 is greater than or equal to a first threshold, increasing the vibration frequency of the vibration feeder; If the number of recesses where the number of materials is greater than 1 is greater than or equal to a second threshold, the transport speed of the transport device is increased.

11. The material sorting method according to claim 10, characterized in that: The step of adjusting one or more of the vibration frequency of the vibrating feeder, the transmission speed and the inclination angle of the transmission device according to the amount of the material in each of the recesses further includes: If the number of recesses where the number of materials is greater than 1 is greater than or equal to a second threshold, and the transmission speed of the transmission device is equal to a maximum speed threshold, the vibration frequency of the vibration feeder is reduced.

12. The material sorting method according to claim 9, characterized in that: The material sorting method further comprises: Determining the particle size of the material according to the color sorting image and / or the grayscale image; The width of the recess and the position of the recess on the transmission device are determined according to the particle size of the material.

13. The material sorting method according to claim 7, characterized in that: The material sorting method further comprises: Determining the measurement time required for the material sorting according to at least one of the color sorting image, the grayscale image, and the fluorescence spectrum image; The inclination angle of the transmission device is determined according to the measurement time and the transmission speed of the transmission device.

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