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:
May. 17, 2005
Filed:
Jul. 30, 2003
Todd H. Schrock, Kingston, TN (US);
Adam R. Williamson, Seymour, TN (US);
Richard L. Wyman, Knoxville, TN (US);
Todd H. Schrock, Kingston, TN (US);
Adam R. Williamson, Seymour, TN (US);
Richard L. Wyman, Knoxville, TN (US);
Heimann Systems Corp., Alcoa, TN (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method for non-destructive inspection of materials housed in containers () involves orienting an X-ray beam emitter () and detector () to direct and detect an X-ray beam () at an angle () lying in a range of from 8° to 20° to a conveying direction () of a conveyor () along which the materials are conveyed. The beam angle to the conveying direction works best between 8° and 12°, with an optimum being at approximately 10°. This arrangement de-emphasizes the leading and trailing edges of the containers while not substantially changing the image from that of a perpendicular beam, so that the detector images are still relatively easy to analyze. Thus, a one-detector system is adequate in many cases.