SBIR/STTR Phase I: Detection Systems for High-Speed Optoelectronic Sortation of Low Z Metal Alloys

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一种新的光电传感系统，用于包括铝合金在内的金属的高速识别和分选。其目标是展示在每个样本不到50毫秒的时间内，根据合金类型(包括低原子序数元素)明确识别金属合金的能力。废料回收行业报告称，仅在美国，每年就有超过300亿磅的有色金属废料被生产出来。这些废料中约70%是铝或铝合金。美国环境保护署(USEPA)报告称，每年有超过100亿磅的有色金属被丢弃在垃圾填埋场，因为回收既不在技术上也不在经济上可行。现有的分选方法使用目测和手工分选。混合金属的冶炼设施污染严重，建造和运营成本高昂。利用先进的光谱辐射和检测技术，包括计算机分析，拟议的技术将提高合金识别的准确性，并以前所未有的速度根据合金类型自动分类金属合金。该项目的商业影响将是巨大的，提高了废钢利用率，增加了废钢价值，减少了环境污染。潜在的全球市场每年超过20亿美元。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I Project will develop a novel optoelectronic sensing system for the high-speed identification and sorting of metals including aluminum alloys. The goal is to demonstrate the ability to unambiguously identify metal alloys by alloy type, including low atomic number elements, in less than 50-milliseconds per sample. The Scrap Recycling Industry reports that more than 30 billion pounds of nonferrous scrap metals are produced each year in the U.S. alone. About 70% of this scrap is aluminum or aluminum alloys. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) reports that more than 10 billion pounds of these nonferrous metals are discarded each year in landfills, because recycling is neither technically nor economically practical. Existing methods of sortation use visual examination and hand sortation. Smelting facilities for mixed metals are polluting and expensive to build and operate. Using advanced spectrographic radiation and detection techniques, including computer analysis, the proposed technology will improve alloy identification accuracy and sort metal alloys automatically by type of alloy at speeds never before attainable.The commercial impact of this project will be increased scrap utilization, increased scrap value and reduced environmental pollution is enormous. The potential worldwide market exceeds $2 Billion annually.