Lighting arrangements for material sorting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12382182-B2
Application number	US-202117521697-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 8, 2021
Priority date	Mar 13, 2019
Publication date	Aug 5, 2025
Grant date	Aug 5, 2025

Abstract

In one aspect, an elongated lighting module includes plural colors of LEDs that flash in a cyclical sequence to provide multi-spectral illumination. Several such modules can be arranged end-to-end to span a conveyor system that transports a stream of plastic waste items in a recycling center, enabling capture of differently-illuminated image frames depicting the items. Each module may include N LEDs of a first color (e.g., red) and M LEDs of a second color (e.g., blue), where N and M are different. Drive circuitry can be simplified by configuring the LEDs in strings of common colors, but with different counts. Electrical noise due to switching transients can be reduced by operating the LEDs at a low current when not being flashed. A great variety of other features and arrangements are also detailed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Apparatus for illuminating items on a conveyor belt for identification, comprising a lighting bar including plural lighting modules, each of said plural lighting modules having a length and breadth, said plural lighting modules being arrayed lengthwise end-to-end in sufficient number that the end-to-end array of said plural lighting modules spans the conveyor belt, in which each of said plural lighting module comprises LEDs of three or more different colors, and said apparatus includes one or more controllers adapted to operate said plural lighting modules in unison to issue separate flashes of at least first, second and third different light spectra, at least one of said flashes having a duration of 100 microseconds or less, and in which, in a first of said plural lighting modules, the LEDs are arranged in groupings, and the LEDs of said three or more different colors are not arranged exclusively in groupings of common color, but rather include at least one grouping comprising LEDs of plural colors, in which LEDs of a first of said plural lighting modules are disposed in a planar array, characterized in that K percent of said LEDs are of a first color, where K is a positive integer, yet in a first region within said planar array that is defined by a first rectangular border and that includes 10 or more of said LEDs, there are more than 2*K percent of LEDs of the first color.

2. Apparatus for illuminating items on a conveyor belt for identification, comprising a lighting bar including plural lighting modules, each of said plural lighting modules having a length and breadth, said plural lighting modules being arrayed lengthwise end-to-end in sufficient number that the end-to-end array of said plural lighting modules spans the conveyor belt, each of said plural lighting modules comprising LEDs of two or more different colors, said apparatus including one or more controllers adapted to operate said plural lighting modules in unison to issue separate flashes of at least first and second different light spectra, at least one of said flashes having a duration of 100 microseconds or less, in which a first of said plural lighting modules includes a circuit board on which LEDs of that module are mounted, wherein each of said LEDs is thermally coupled, by plural metallic vias that extend through the circuit board, to a shared copper ground plane for thermal dissipation, rather than each of said LEDs having an isolated copper plane for thermal dissipation.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 in which the LEDs of a first of said plural lighting modules are disposed in a planar array, characterized in that K percent of said LEDs are of a first color, where K is a positive integer, yet in a first region within said planar array that is defined by a first rectangular border and that includes 10 or more of said LEDs, there are more than 2*K percent of LEDs of the first color.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 in which the LEDs of a first of said plural lighting modules are disposed in a planar array, characterized in that K percent of said LEDs are of a first color, where K is a positive integer, yet in a first region within said planar array that is defined by a first rectangular border and that includes 10 or more of said LEDs, there are less than 0.5*K percent of LEDs of the first color.

5. Apparatus for illuminating items on a conveyor belt for identification, comprising a lighting bar including plural lighting modules, each of said plural lighting modules having a length and breadth, said plural lighting modules being arrayed lengthwise end-to-end in sufficient number that the end-to-end array of said plural lighting modules spans the conveyor belt, in which each of said plural lighting module comprises LEDs of three or more different colors, and said apparatus includes one or more controllers adapted to operate said plural lighting modules in unison to issue separate flashes of at least first, second and third different light spectra, at least one of said flashes having a duration of 100 microseconds or less, that further includes a power source operative to switch a driving signal between first and second voltages for respectively energizing and de-energizing a group of said LEDs to produce a flash of light, characterized in that the second voltage is more than 20% of the first voltage, thereby limiting magnitude of a switching transient that accompanies said energizing and de-energizing of the group of LEDs, said limited switching transient thereby limiting electrical noise emitted by said apparatus.

6. Apparatus for illuminating items on a conveyor belt for identification, comprising a lighting bar including plural lighting modules, each of said plural lighting modules having a length and breadth, said plural lighting modules being arrayed lengthwise end-to-end in sufficient number that the end-to-end array of said plural lighting modules spans the conveyor belt, in which each of said plural lighting module comprises LEDs of three or more different colors, and said apparatus includes one or more controllers adapted to operate said plural lighting modules in unison to issue separate flashes of at least first, second and third different light spectra, at least one of said flashes having a duration of 100 microseconds or less, in which a first of said plural lighting modules includes LEDs arranged on a circuit board in electronic and spatial groupings, each electronic grouping defining a collection of LEDs adapted to be controlled in common—illuminating in synchrony, each spatial grouping comprising light sources within a rectangular boundary of at least three different colors, a first of said spatial groupings comprising a count of X 1 light sources of a first color, Y 1 light sources of a second color, and Z 1 light sources of a third color, a second of said spatial groupings comprising a count of X 2 light sources of the first color, Y 2 light sources of the second color, and Z 2 light sources of the third color, wherein said electronic groupings are different from said spatial groupings.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein X 1 and X 2 are different.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein Y 1 and Y 2 are different, and Z 1 and Z 2 are different.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 in which a first of said electronic groupings comprises M light sources in the first spatial grouping and N light sources in the second spatial grouping, where M and N are different.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a first of said different colors is blue with a peak wavelength between 440 and 495 nm, a second of said different colors is red with a peak wavelength of between 620 and 699 nm, and a third of said different colors is infrared with a peak wavelength of between 700 and 790 nm.

Assignees

• Digimarc Corp

Inventors

• Brunk Hugh L
• Lord John D
• Filler Tomas

Classifications

• H04N23/56

  provided with illuminating means · CPC title

• G06T7/0004

  Industrial image inspection · CPC title

• H05K7/2039

  characterised by the heat transfer by conduction from the heat generating element to a dissipating body (arrangements for increasing/decreasing heat-transfer, e.g. fins details, F28F13/00) · CPC title

• H05B45/10

  Controlling the intensity of the light · CPC title

• G06T2207/30108

  Industrial image inspection · CPC title