Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 9
Claim 1
Independent Claim
117 words
A metal detection system for detecting metal in material flowing along a path through a housing (10) and comprising two secondary coils (20, 22) extending around the housing so that the material also flows through the coils, the coils being connected in series opposition, characterised in that the secondary coils (20, 22) are disposed on either side of a primary coil (18) excited with an oscillatory signal and by a phase detector (42) responsive to a reference signal having a fixed phase relative to the exciting signal and the output signal (Vt) of the series- connected secondary coils to provide a detection signal (X(t)), and by a differentiator (46) providing an output signal from the detection signal.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
117 words
A metal detection system for detecting metal in material flowing along a path through a housing (10) and comprising two secondary coils (20, 22) extending around the housing so that the material also flows through the coils, the coils being connected in series opposition, characterised in that the secondary coils (20, 22) are disposed on either side of a primary coil (18) excited with an oscillatory signal and by a phase detector (42) responsive to a reference signal having a fixed phase relative to the exciting signal and the output signal (Vt) of the series- connected secondary coils to provide a detection signal (X(t)), and by a differentiator (46) providing an output signal from the detection signal.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
59 words
A system according to claim 1, characterised by two shorting straps (12, 14) also extending around the housing one on either side of the coils (18, 20, 22) so that the material flows in turn through one shorting strap (12), one secondary coil (20), the primary coil (18), the second secondary coil (22) and the second shorting strap (14).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
28 words
A system according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the reference signal is a square-wave signal and the phase detector (42) is a switching synchronous detector.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised by a source (30) of a sine-wave excitation signal and a voltage-to-current converter (36) driving the primary coil (18) in response to this excitation signal.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
31 words
A system according to claim 4, characterised in that the reference signal is a square-wave signal derived from the excitation signal by a trigger circuit (40) producing a square wave output.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
25 words
A system according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterised by a low-pass filter (44) between the phase detector (42) and the differentiator (46).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
19 words
A system according to claim 6, characterised in that the low-pass filter (44) is an active seven-pole Chebyshev filter.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
34 words
A system according to any of claims 1 to 7, characterised by a comparator (48) connected to the differentiator (46) to provide an output signal when the differentiator output signal exceeds a predetermined level.