ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,496,617, issued on Dec. 16, was assigned to SGM MAGNETICS S.P.A. (Manerbio, Italy).
"X-ray separator for sorting metals from recycled material" was invented by Stefano Danesi (Montichiari, Italy), Francesco Olian Fannio (Brescia, Italy) and Gabriele Turini (Martignana di Po, Italy).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An X-ray separator for sorting metals from recycled material includes an X-ray source that produces a radiation beam capable of passing through the material carried by a conveyor belt and reaching an array of transmission sensors and also generating a fluorescence signal that is detected by an array of fluorescence sensors placed ...