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

这项小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一种新型光电传感系统，用于高速识别和分选金属，包括铝合金。目标是证明在每个样品不到50毫秒的时间内，通过合金类型（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，每年就生产超过300亿磅的有色金属废料。大约70%的废料是铝或铝合金。美国环境保护署（USEPA）报告说，每年有超过100亿磅的有色金属被丢弃在垃圾填埋场，因为回收利用在技术上和经济上都不可行。现有的分拣方法是目测和手工分拣。混合金属冶炼设施污染严重，建设和运营成本高昂。利用先进的光谱辐射和检测技术，包括计算机分析，提出的技术将提高合金识别的准确性，并以前所未有的速度自动按合金类型对金属合金进行分类。本项目的商业影响将是提高废钢利用率、增加废钢价值和减少环境污染的巨大影响。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.