Material Identification Using Luminescent Markers and Multi-Wavelength Excitation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for automatic identification of objects or materials, particularly those that are strongly colored or black, are limited in their ability to extract information due to the absorption of radiation by materials like carbon black, which interferes with spectral emission and coding processes.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the application of multiple excitation vectors to materials, allowing for the use of substances that respond to these vectors with distinct emissions, enabling the creation of a correspondence table to decode information about the material, even at very small concentrations, and incorporating markers like yttrium vanadate doped with europium for effective identification in black materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a light beam with a wide frequency spectrum is used for excitation, then spectral emission can be detected for identification, but the method fails for strongly colored or black materials due to radiation absorption by pigments like carbon black
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameters of the excitation source by using multiple excitation vectors with different wavelengths, including UV and infrared ranges, rather than a single broad-spectrum light source. This allows bypassing the absorption bands of carbon black and other pigments that block visible light, enabling detection of luminescent markers in black and strongly colored materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The excitation spectrum is segmented into multiple discrete excitation vectors covering different wavelength ranges (UV, visible, infrared). Each excitation vector targets specific luminescent properties of markers, allowing the system to overcome the selective absorption by carbon black at certain wavelengths by using excitation at wavelengths where absorption is minimal.
2Stability of the object's composition
If small concentrations of luminescent markers are used for identification, then the physical and chemical properties of materials are preserved, but the ability to extract information is severely limited for black and strongly colored materials
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs multiple excitation parameters (different wavelengths, pulse durations, and intensities) to probe the luminescent markers. This multi-parameter approach extracts more information from the same small concentration of markers by detecting different luminescent responses (fluorescence, phosphorescence, delayed emission) that are otherwise hidden in black materials under single-wavelength excitation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple excitation vectors are applied to materials, then identification can be performed independently of material color, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a single multi-functional excitation source that can operate across multiple wavelength ranges (UV to infrared) and provide different excitation vectors. This universal source can excite various types of luminescent markers (organic dyes, quantum dots, phosphors) with different excitation spectra, eliminating the need for multiple separate light sources and reducing overall system complexity while achieving color-independent identification.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the identification of materials independently of their color, allowing for the coding of multiple types of information, including composition, recycling routes, and manufacturer details, with enhanced accuracy and reduced energy losses through spectrophotometry by reflection.
Implementation Method 1
consisting of including in these objects or materials small concentrations of substances having specific luminescent properties, of irradiating them with a light beam with a wide frequency spectrum, of carrying out a spectrophotometric analysis of the response of the substances
Implementation Method 2
detecting the light intensity in each of said zones
Implementation Method 3
Carbon black is used as a protective agent against radiations, mainly UV radiation... Its action mainly consists of absorbing the radiations received by the material
Implementation Method 4
sending the waves transmitted or reflected by the object or the material onto a dispersing element which deflects them so as to obtain a light spectrum of the light intensity at different zones of the spectrum corresponding to different wavelength ranges
Implementation Method 5
incorporating markers like yttrium vanadate doped with europium for effective identification in black materials
Data Source
AI summary
A method for identifying and/or authenticating a material or an object, especially for the purpose of sorting materials or objects, includes: an excitation step including application of excitation vectors to a material or an object; a detection step in which the responses of the materials or objects subjected to the excitation vectors are detected; and a step of determining at least one item of information relating to the material or object on the basis of the responses obtained and of a pre-established look-up table. These steps will have been preceded by the incorporation, into or on the surface of the materials or objects, of at least one substance selected so as to react to at least one excitation vector and by the generation of a look-up table consisting of a set of one-to-one relationships between a combination of responses and an item of information relating to the material.