The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 06, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 30, 1996
Steven Jude Duclos, Clifton Park, NY (US);
Alok Mani Srivastava, Schenectady, NY (US);
Jacob Charles Borscheller, Clifton Park, NY (US);
Russell Stephen DeMuth, Berne, NY (US);
Victor Lien Lou, Niskayuna, NY (US);
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for detecting impurities in quartz sand. The apparatus comprises at least one light source; at least one light detector assembly; a transport device; and a signal processor that receives the at least one signal from the at least one light detector assembly. The method comprises moving the quartz sand; illuminating the quartz sand to excite luminescence emission from impurities; receiving luminescence emission from the impurity; generating at least one signal indicative of the excited luminescence emission from the impurity; and determining if the signal represents an impurity in quartz sand.