Contaminant detector for food inspection

US7450686B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. · FI

Inventors

• Teresa Ainsworth · Plymouth, US
• Yuriy Bro · Shoreview, US
• Frederick Cash · Maple Grove, US
• Gary Dickinson · Rogers, US
• Scott Eggerth · Saint Paul, US
• Tom L. Erb · Austin, US
• Jeffrey Ferguson · Minneapolis, US
• David M. Gessner · Worcester, US
• Bruce Herbes · Minneapolis, US
• Kevin Johnson · Trotwood, US
• Sergey A. Moskalenko · Maple Grove, US
• Lorna Lockman · Coon Rapids, US
• Doug Schmidt · Harris, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 25, 2005
• Grant date: Nov 11, 2008
• Expiry date: Dec 5, 2025

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N2223/618
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A contaminant detection machine (1) including a conveyor (3) which causes an object under inspection (79) to pass through a plane (48) of emitted x-ray radiation. The plane is generated by an x-ray tube (55) that emits a lateral beam, thereby permitting the distance (88) between the x-ray tube and the object under inspection to be reduced. A photo diode arch mounting assembly (104) is placed above the object under inspection and is mated to a collimator assembly (125) that also serves as the mounting bracket for the x-ray generation assembly (38), thereby preserving optical alignment between the photo diode detector array (28) and the emitted x-ray plane (48). The detector array (28) scans the object under inspection (79) so as to produce a continuous series of discrete lines, each line being analyzed by an image processing unit (116) to determine the presence or absence of a contaminant. The conveyor (3) passes over a pair of slider bed surfaces (155, 156) which are mounted in a hinged manner such that the leading edge (168) of one surface (156) is parallel to and spaced apart from the trailing edge (172) of the other surface (155), thereby creating a gap that is coplanar with the…