WO1987001974A1

WO1987001974A1 - Particle feed apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO1987001974A1
Application number: PCT/AU1986/000283
Authority: WO
Inventors: Albert Peter Hawkins; David Santwyk-Anderson
Original assignee: Cra Services Limited
Priority date: 1985-09-30
Filing date: 1986-09-30
Publication date: 1987-04-09
Also published as: ZA867412B; EP0238560A1; IN166832B

Abstract

Particle feeding apparatus for feeding particulate material on a particle by particle basis. A rotary feed structure (22) rotatable about a horizontal axis is provided with circumferentially spaced suction ports (29). Suction is applied to the ports, for example, via a hollow hub (31) of the rotary structure. A vibratory bowl feeder (21) receives the particulate material and presents paticles to the suction ports such that individual particles are held to the suction ports and transported in an arcuate path. Bowl feeder (21) has a ramp (52) spiralling upwardly from the floor of the bowl to a slot (54) in the peripheral wall of the bowl which receives the rim of rotary structure (22). Particles move in a stream up ramp (52) and are delivered in a generally horizontal stream transverse to upward movement of the suction ports in the rim at the slot.

Description

PARTICLE FEED APPARATUS

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to systems for feeding particulate material i.e. material comprised of individual particles. As used herein, the terms "particulate material" and "particles" are to be interpreted broadly as extending to any body of material comprised of separable individual or discrete objects. The particulate material may, for example, be crushed ore, in which case the particles may be ore rocks of any size, a body of gem stones, or even a body of fruit, vegetables or grain. Apparatus for producing a feed of particles on a particle by particle basis and with a high degree on control on the position of each particle may have many applications. For example in automatic particle sorting or classification apparatus, the particles may be presented or moved through an inspection station where they are inspected optically or by some other means and thereafter presented to one or more sorting or-classification stations at which they may be diverted into a number of outlet streams according to the result of the inspection. Such apparatus may be used for examining and classifying rough diamonds based on an optical examination of colour properties.

The present invention provides particle feed apparatus which enables particles to be fed on a particle by particle basis with great accuracy. The invention also extends to particle sorting or classifying systems incorporating such feed apparatus. DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

According to the invention there is provided particle feeding apparatus comprising: a rotary feed structure rotatable about an axis and provided with a plurality of suction ports spaced circumferentially about the axis of rotation; suction means to apply suction to the suction ports during rotation of the rotary feed structure; and particle presentation means to receive a body of particles and to present particles from the body to the suction ports of the rotary structure such that individual particles are held to the suction ports by suction and transported in an arcuate path by the rotary movement of the feed structure.

Preferably, the particle presentation means is operative to present the particles in a stream transverse to the direction of movement of the suction ports on rotation of said rotary structure. Preferably further, the axis of rotation is horizontal and the rotary feed structure comprises an upright wheel rotatable about that axis.

The wheel may have a circumferential rim and the suction ports may be disposed about that rim. In that case, the particle presentation means may be operative to present the particles in a stream directed horizontally across the rim of the wheel at a location at which the rim moves upwardly due to rotation of the wheel.

The particle presentation means may comprise a vibratory bowl feeder operative to produce said stream of particles around a peripheral portion of a bowl-shaped receptacle for the body of particles and the wheel rim at said location may project into a slot in that peripheral portion of the receptacle. The invention also extends to apparatus for sorting or classifying particles, comprising: a particle feeding apparatus of the above defined kind-; particle inspection means defining an inspection zone through which the particles are moved successively by rotation of the rotary structure and at which they are inspected by the inspection means; and particle separation means to remove particles from the rotary structure after inspection and to separate them into a plurality of fractions according to the result of the inspection. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

In order that the invention may be more fully explained, a multi-way high throughput classifier which incorporates a feed system in accordance with the invention and which is particularly suited to classifying rough diamonds will now be described in some detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the classifier; Figure 2 is a side view of some major components of the classifier;

Figure 3 is a view on the line 3-3 in Figure 2; Figure 4 is a perspective view in the direction of arrow A in Figure 2; Figure 5 is a cross-section on line 5-5 in Figure 2; - 5 - Figure 6 is a cross-section on the line 6-6 in Figure 2;

Figure 7 shows a colour reference system extension and retraction mechanism; Figure 8 illustrates an alternative kind of particle separation means for the classifier;

Figure 9 is a view on the line 9-9 in Figure 8; Figure 10 illustrates a further alternative kind of particle separation means; Figures 11 and 12 illustrate signal forms obtained in the inspection system of the classifier; and

Figure 13 is a flow sheet for the classification routines carried out by the classifier. BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The illustrated classifier has been designed to measure attributes of small objects such as rough diamonds and to produce multiple product streams according to the extent to which the measured attributes match those for a number of predetermined classes. The attributes for the various classes can be "taught" to the machine by introducing to the machine pre-sorted objects, a class at a time.

In the case of diamond classification, the classes are separate colour categories of rough diamonds - the product of light from an integrating sphere surrounding the diamond at an inspection zone, the light entering the body of the gem, being selectively absorbed in accordance with its colour and being re-emitted. Measurement is made of this emitted light as viewed by an optical system with colour selective outputs, as will be described in more detail below. In order to achieve the required measurement accuracy, it is necessary to define quite precisely the position of each diamond in the field of view of the optics. Further in.order to achieve high speed multi-class identification, it is necessary to have a means of keeping a precise track of each particle past a series of possible product stream outlets so that the particles can be accurately routed to any one of the possible outlet streams. In the illustrated apparatus, both of these required features are realized by use of a suction pick-up presentation system, using a rotating vacuum union to allow suction to be applied to a large number of suction ports on the periphery of a rotating wheel. The diamond stones can thus be picked up individually and pass through an inspection zone and thence to one of a series of outlet ducts disposed around the periphery of the wheel, an appropriate outlet duct being selected by an electronic processor depending on the closeness of match of the colour measurements to pre-learned classes.

Referring now to the drawings, the classifier comprises a wheeled frame 11 which at one end carries the diamond feed system 12, the optical viewing system 13, air blast means 14 for removing the diamonds from the feed means at various air blast stations chosen according to the measurements derived from the inspection means 13 and a series of product outlets ducts 15 extending to collection bins 16. The other end of the main frame carries a cabinet 17 to house an electronic processor, a monitor 18 and a keyboard 19 which is connected to the electronic processor.

The feed system 12 comprises a vibratory bowl feeder 21 and a rotary wheel structure 22. The wheel structure 22 is in the form of a hollow wheel comprised of circular side plates 23, 24 clamped about a peripheral rim member 25 by means of clamping bolts 26 so as to leave a hollow interior space 27. Rim member 25 carries a series of circumferentially spaced tubular bushes 28 defining suction ports 29 extending radially inwardly through the rim to the hollow interior space 27.

The side plates 23, has an outwardly extending hollow hub 31. Side plate 24 has a hub 32 connected to the output shaft 33 of a gear reduction motor 34 which is mounted on a pedestal 35 on the main frame 11. The wheel is thus mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis on operation of the geared motor. The hollow hub 31 connects via a rotating vacuum seal union 37 to a vacuum pump whereby the hollow interior space 27 of the wheel structure can be evacuated to apply suction to the suction ports 29 as the wheel structure is rotated by operation of the geared motor 34. The wheel structure 22 also comprises a notched disc 41 which is fastened to the side plate 24 by the fastening studs 26. The outer periphery of disc 41, which is generally adjacent the rim of the wheel structure, is provided with a series of circumferentially spaced radial notches 43 which are aligned with the suction ports 29 on the rim i.e. there is one notch adjacent each of the suction ports. A slotted opto- switch 44 is mounted on frame 11 at the bottom of the wheel structure so as to receive the periphery of slotted disc 41 and

J__Q to produce output pulses as the notches in that disc pass the switch. These output pulses are thus an accurate measure of angular incremental rotations of the wheel structure.

Vibratory bowl feeder 21 has a bowl 51 having a stepped peripheral wall to define a ramp 52 which spirals

₁₅ upwardly from the bottom floor 53 of the bowl to a slot 54 in the upper part of the peripheral wall of the bowl. The bowl feeder is mounted so that the slot 54 receives the outer rim portion of the suction wheel 22 generally at the level of the horizontal axis of rotation of the wheel so that the wheel rim

2_Q moves upwardly through the slot due to rotation of the wheel. Thus the suction ports 29 move successively upwardly through slot adjacent the discharge end of the ramp 52 of the vibratory bowl feeder.

The bowl is vibrated such that the diamond particles

25 move in a stream up the ramp and are delivered from the ramp in a generally horizontal stream transverse to the direction of upward movement of the suction ports on rotation of the wheel. Individual particles become attached to the suction ports by suction and are then transported in an arcuate path by the rotary movement of the wheel. The speed of stone flow around the ramp is matched approximately to the take up rate of the wheel.

The monolayer distribution and horizontal motion of the stones on the vibrating feeder ensure that one stone at a time is available for pick up and that orientation of the stones is favourable for subsequent inspection. Specifically the stones tend to lie flat on their largest faces which are thus aligned transversely to the rim of the wheel so that they tend to be picked up with their points or edges presented to the suction port. Accordingly, the stones stand proud from the rim of the wheel rather than lying flat against it. This allows for better optical viewing of the stones.

The upward motion of the wheel tends to automatically clear potential jamming points and gaps. Minimization of multiple pick-ups is also ensured by the shaping of the vibratory bowl feeder at the pick-up zone. As indicated in Figure 4 the discharge end of the ramp 52 terminates at a vertical ledge 55. This ledge is spaced back about one particle length from the line of the suction ports so that at pick up, the stones are tipping around the sharp corner at the intersection of the ramp and the vertical ledge face. This tipping movement of the stones promotes separation between successive stones at the time that the leading stone is picked up. This overcomes any tendency for successive stones to bank up or ride up one on the other and helps to minimize multiple pick-ups.

Vertical ledge face 55 forms one side face of a chute by which any stones not picked up by the wheel are directed back into the bottom of the vibratory bowl. The other side of the chute is defined by a vertical triangular wall 57 and the chute has an inwardly and downwardly sloping floor 58.

The upper part of the feed wheel projects into the optical viewing system 13. This viewing system comprises a hemispherical bowl fitted with three quartz iodide lamps to flood the stones to be examined with intense white light. The bottom of the bowl (sometimes referred to as an Integration sphere), is fitted with a ring 61 on which there are mounted three optical viewers 62 arranged at equal circumferential spacing around the ring and three infra-red background emitters 63 disposed one diametrically opposite each of the three viewers 62. Each infra-red background emitter has three infra-red light emitting diodes 64 projecting light through a diffusing screen 65 aligned with an aperture 66 in the ring 61. The diametrically opposite optical viewer 62 has a microscope objective lens system 70 providing an almost parallel field of view through a ring aperture 67 to the infra-red background emitter. The microscope lens system focusses onto an optics aperture 68 from which collected light is transmitted by means of a fibre optic light guide (not shown).

The optical viewing system provides three views of each stone spaced 120° apart to ensure adequate coverage of each particle.

Referencing of the optical scan is carried out by a white reflection standard which is positioned at one of the pick up points on the rim of the wheel and is set in place in the scan zone once per revolution by a spring and weight system which is illustrated In Figure 7. The white reference standard 71 is carried on a spring loaded rod 72 which is extended through an aperture in the wheel rim against its spring loading by the action of a swinging weight 73 and lever 74 as the colour reference moves through the range of angular movement indicated by the angle α in Figure 7. Swinging movement of the weight 73 is limited by two stops 75. Another of the pick-up positions is left blank to provide a "no stone" dark reference measurement.

An alternative manner of providing a white reflection standard shown in Figures 2 and 3 by broken lines indicating a white reference standard 71A carried on a pneumatic cylinder unit 77 mounted externally of the wheel and operable to move .j i I

- 12 - the referenced standard into the optical scan field of view at the appropriate times.

For colour sorting, the sort parameter is derived from sampling the re-emitted light from the stone (relative to the white standard) at a number of wavelength points in the visible spectrum. Typically there may be a choice of seven visible channels and a further infra-red channel. In this case there would be eight channels from each of the three views providing twenty-four separate detector outputs for each stone. In each view, a stone passing the background throws a shadow onto the respective infra-red detector which reduces in response in proportion to the shadow area of the stone for that particular view. This output is primarily used to normalize for stone size to allow a more accurate luminosity response (to neutral stones, grey, black etc.), independent of stone size. The seven visible channels are measured and compared with white reflectance adjusted to subtract the background, and compensated for stone area variations.

The wavelength split is carried out by fibre optic light guides, one set for each of the three views. A large input bundle is subdivided on a random basis so that it becomes eight guides at the output. Each of the eight ends goes through a different colour filter to a photo-detector. The outputs of the photo-detectors are fed to the processor which determines the correct classification for each particular stone and according to the determined classification the stone is blown from the wheel into one of the discharge ducts 15 by the air blast means 14 which is located at the side of the wheel opposite the vibratory feeders. The air blast means comprises a series of air blast nozzles directed transversely across the rim of the wheel and spaced circumferentially of the wheel. The air blast nozzles are supplied with air through electrically operated valves under the control of the processor. Figure 6 shows one of the air blast nozzles 81 supplied with air through a valve 82 actuated by a controller 83. The- nozzle is directed towards the inlet end of a respective discharge duct 15 which is notched at 84 to fit around the projecting rim of the suction wheel. If the processor determines that a particular stone is to be directed to that particular outlet or discharge tube, the air blast nozzle is actuated as the stone passes between the end of the tube and the nozzle so that it is blasted down the tube. The precise timing necessary to keep an accurate track of each particle as it passes the series of possible product stream outlets is achieved by reference to the notches 43 on disc 41 on the vacuum wheel.

Figures 8 and 9 illustrate a modification whereby the stones can be positively ejected from the wheel by interrupting the application of suction to the respective suction ports and applying fluid under pressure to those ports so as to eject the stones therefrom. In this case, the rotary wheel structure 22A comprises side plates 23A, 24A clamped together by means of clamping bolts 26A so as to leave a hollow interior space 27A. In this case, however, the outer margins of the side plates are modified so that the wheel space 27A is closed by an outer peripheral flange portion 101 of the side plate 24A which carries an outer rim member 102 provided with circumferentially spaced radial passages 103 defining the suction ports 104. Passages 105, 106 formed within flange portion 101 provide for communication between the passages 103 and the evacuated interior 27A of the wheel subject to the condition of a spring loaded valve denoted generally as 107. Valve 107 comprises a ball 108 biased by a spring 109 disposed within a bush 110 held in position by a retaining stud 111.

A series of circumferentially spaced passages 112 are formed in the flange portion 101 to extend inwardly from a side face 113 of the flange portion to communicate with the valve chambers of the valves 107. Flange face 113 is engaged by a tubular sliding seal member 114 fitted within an air supply nozzle 115 supplied with pressurized air from a supply line 116.

The ball 108 of each valve 107 is normally spring biased against a valve seat 112A at the inner end of the respective air inlet passage 112 so as to seal off the air inlet passage 112 and open the valve for the application of suction from the space 27A to the suction ports 105 via the passages 105 and 106. When a stone is to be ejected, a valve in the air supply line 116 is actuated at the correct time to supply air under pressure through the sliding seal member 114 to the respective air inlet passage 112. The pressurized air forces the valve ball 108 against its spring bias to engage a valve seat 117 at the end of valve bush 110 so disrupting the application of suction to the respective port 104 and applying a jet of pressurized air to that port so as to eject the stone. The seating of ball 108 on valve seat 117 closes the passage 105 against ingress of pressurized air so that the application of suction to the. other suction ports is not affected.

With the modification illustrated in Figures 8 and 9, the stone collection ducts 15 are rearranged to extend radially from the wheel. The positive ejection is much more accurate and the collection ducts can be smaller and more closely spaced, so permitting classification into more categories if necessary. This arrangement also permits lower air consumption and quieter operation and it promotes clearing of the suction ports against clogging with small chips.

Rim member 102 is formed with an alternative set of radial passages 103A and suction ports 104A of a smaller size than the suction ports 104 and the rim can be angularly adjusted on the wheel flange portion 101 so as to allow either ' .

- 16 - of the sets of passages 103, 103A to be indexed with the passages 106. Thus, either the relative large suction ports 104 or the smaller ports 104A can be brought into operation according to the size of stones to be classified. Annular seals 118 are provided in the outer face of the flange portion 101 to seal the interconnection between the passages 106 and the passages 103 or 103A when the outer rim member 102 is properly indexed.

Figure 10 illustrates an alternative wheel construction in which the wheel side plates 23B, 24B are

. separated by a central dividing plate 121 which divides the interior of the wheel into two chambers 122, 123. Chamber 123 is subject to vacuum pressure and chamber 122 is supplied with air under high pressure. Wheel plate 24B Is formed with an outwardly projecting peripheral rim 124 provided with radial passages 125 and suction ports 126. Suction is normally applied to the suction ports 126 via a valve bush 127 and radial passage 128 in the central plate 121. A passage 131 is provided in wheel plate 23B to enable high pressure air to be admitted to the suction ports when a spring loaded valve 132 is actuated through an actuating cam 133 on operation of a solenoid 134. A spring loaded ball 135 normally seals the passage 131 when vacuum is being applied to the suction ports but this ball is pushed back when high pressure air is admitted to the ports to seal against the bush 127 so as to seal off the _.

- 17 - vacuum system against admission of the high pressure air. Instead of operating valve 132 by an external fixed solenoid, it would be possible to employ an Internally mounted solenoid coil, supplied with power through slip rings at the rotational mounting of the wheel and activated remotely by means of a Hall Effect device with appropriate circuitry.

As previously indicated, the processor can be "taught" an appropriate number of classes by Introducing to the machine pre-sorted objects a class at a time. The seven colour channels of the processor are normalized and matching criteria are used to establish if a particular stone is within allowable closeness to a pre-taught class. There are three levels of criteria:-

(i) the stone must be within a class tolerance; (ii) ranking of classes must be adhered to so that if class overlaps are encountered the stone will be classified into the most valuable stream; and (iii) if no ranking is applied the stone goes to the class nearest in terms of the sum of magnitude of differences between the stone wavelength responses and the average of the class wavelength responses. The class with the minimum sum is selected as the interest class, provided of course that it is within tolerance as set out In criterion (i).

Particulars of the processor and its mode of operation will now be described with reference to figures 11 to 13. Figure 11 illustrates the signal forms obtained during area measurements, the first form corresponding to a np-stone position and the second form when a stone is in view. Figure 12 illustrates the signal forms obtained during colour measurements, the first form corresponding to the measurement of the white reference and the second smaller form being that obtained when a stone is in view. Figure 13 is a flow sheet for the classification routines, (a) Area Measurements

The signal forms are shown in Figure 11. All area signals are outputs from area channel detectors covering the 3 views.

READ IR (infrared) channel background (ARO) with no stone and no IR emission.

READ Stone background (AO) which is area channel response with stone but no IR emission.

Switch on pulse of IR radiation, with stone in view, so that partial obscuration of IR background is measured as reduced response due to the obscuration, ie Area value AN = (AR - AO/AR = 1 if no stone in field of view. (b) Colour Measurements

The signal forms are shown in Figure 12. For each of 3 views, on all 7 colour channels (21 measurements), the response for a particular stone is referenced to a white standard reading which is taken once per wheel revolution.

OBTAIN FR by subtracting offset (FO) from total reference signal.

OBTAIN F for each stone (each view and each of 7 colours) by subtracting FO from total colour signal.

COMPUTE colour level, FC = F/FR COMPUTE total "Intensity" value, for purpose of grey-level separation, by summing the 7 colour values for a particular view, SFC = FC1 + FC2 + + FC7 then normalizing for area,

INT(ensity) = (SFC/A„N_M ) x 1000/7

A printout of F data gives area - normalized values of (FC/AN) x 1000. (c) Learn Mode

In LEARN mode, for each pre-identified stone type, and colour group, classification parameters are obtained.

For each acceptable view (ie areas of stones within preset limits) , ⁽i⁾ COMPUTE average values for are-normalized components Fl to F7, and (ii) COMPUTE colour tolerances and extract maximum and minimum intensity values.

For each colour component, FC, COMPUTE normalized colour value, FN = (FC/ ) x 7000.

SFC

In LEARN mode, each view of each stone is taken as a separate stone. The sum of differences of worst values from the average- (reference) values (the Class Difference) is then labelled the TOLERANCE for that class. (d) Edit Mode

In EDIT mode, the learned classification parameters can be manually modified from the keyboard if required, and colour classes can be appropriately labelled. Each class is ranked from 1 to 5, and allocated a product bin (1 to 4 plus R for reject) .

The rank value is used along with tolerance and sum of class differences to determine the best class to which an unknown stone should be assigned, (e) Classify Mode In CLASSIFY mode, the following sequence is carried out to place appropriately an unknown stone. "Select Best Class"

Find in tolerance class with highest ranking - both in colour tolerance and within intensity max and min. (The intensity value for an unknown stone is selected as the median - 21 - value of the 3 values generated by the 3 views).

If more than one permissible class is found then find the class with the least class difference when compared with the unknown stone - computed as described above. If no class is found which is "within tolerance" for a given unknown stone, then that stone is allowed to pass, undeflected, to reject.

A- flow sheet for the classification routines is shown in Figure 13. 0 The illustrated apparatus has been used successfully to sort and classify diamonds. However, this particular apparatus has been advanced by way of example only and it could be modified considerably. For example other optical examination systems could be used with a similar feed system providing accurate positioning and feeding of the stones. In one alternative optical system, a collimated light beam could be directed into the interior of the rotating suction wheel and reflected by an internal mirror out through the suction ports. An external light detector could then make a diffuse o transmission measurement. An appropriate light collimator could be mounted in the hub of the wheel in addition to the suction connection by means of a double rotating vacuum seal.

In another optical measurement system', the rim of the vacuum wheel could project into a silica-walled cell containing 5 an index-matching liquid and a beam of light could be directed through that cell onto the stones as they move through the cell. An optical detector could then be used to obtain a direct spectral transmission measurement.

In a further modification, the optical viewing system of the illustrated apparatus could be replaced by an x-ray inspection station and the apparatus could provide a simple "accept" or "reject" sort on the basis of x-ray fluorescence. This would._be useful, for example, to improve the grade of diamonds out of final acid cleaning and would avoid the current necessity of having personnel manually scouring through an entire cleaned rough diamond product to pull out non-diamond material left after final acidization. INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION

The particle feed system of the present invention may be applied to a wide variety of purposes and it is not limited to use in classifiers. It could be used, for example, to position industrial diamonds to be fired by high intensity air jet into steel plate to shatter the diamond without causing generation of fines. There are potentially many other applications in which particles of various kinds must be accurately located and fed on an individual basis.

Claims

1. Particle feeding apparatus comprising: a rotary feed structure rotatable about an axis and provided with a plurality of suction ports spaced circumferentially about the axis of rotation; suction means to apply suction to the suction ports during rotation of the rotary feed structure; and particle presentation means to receive a body of particles and to present particles from the body to the suction 0 ports of the rotary structure such that individual particles are held to the suction ports by suction and transported in an arcuate path by the rotary movement of the feed structure.

2. Particle feeding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the particle presentation means is operative to present 5 the particles In a stream transverse to the direction of movement of the suction ports on rotation of said rotary structure.

3. Particle feeding apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the axis of rotation is horizontal and the o rotary feed structure coomprises- an upright wheel rotatable about that axis.

4. Particle feeding apparatus as claimed in claim

3,wherein the wheel has a circumferential rim and the suction ports are disposed about that rim.

5 5. Particle feeding apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the particle presentation means is operative to present the particles in a stream directed horizontally across the rim of the wheel at a location at which the rim moves upwardly due to rotation -of the wheel.

6. Particle feeding apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the particle presentation means comprises a vibratory bowl feeder operative to produce said stream of particles around the peripheral portion of a bowl-shaped receptacle for the body of_ particles and the wheel rim at said location projects into a slot in that peripheral portion of the receptlcal.

7. Particle feeding apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the rim is provided with a plurality of alternative sets of suction ports of differing sizes which can be alternatively rendered effective by angular adjustment of the rim relative to the wheel.

8. Sorting or classifying particles, comprising: a particle feeding apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims; particle inspection means defining an inspection zone through which particles are moved successively by rotation of the rotary structure and at which they are inspected by the inspection means; and particle separation means to remove particles from the rotary structure after inspection and to separate them into a plurality of fractions according to the result of the inspection;

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the particle separation means comprises fluid jet means operable to produce fluid jets to remove particles from the rotary structure by impingement with those particles.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the fluid 0 jet means comprises a plurality of fluid jet nozzles mounted externally of said rotary structure at locations spaced along said arcuate path and the separation means further comprises a plurality of particle collection ducts having inlets also spaced along said arcuate path to receive particles removed by fluid jets from the nozzles whereby to collect them in said fractions.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the particle separation means comprises ejection means operable selectively to disrupt the application of suction to the suction ports and o to apply fluid under pressure thereto whereby to eject particles therefrom.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the separation means further comprises a plurality of particle collection ducts having inlets spaced along said arcuate path 5 to receive particles ejected by operation of the ejection means whereby to collect them in said fractions.