Detection of Foreign Items in Laundry Industry—A Dual Energy XRT Approach

Bauer, Christine; Wagner, Rebecca; Leisner, Johannes

doi:10.3390/engproc2022021014

Cited by 1 publication

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“…These are not only important while working and acting with patients but also in other areas of everyday life. Nursing and medical staff require properly cleaned workwear, uniforms, and linen, not only during a pandemic [ 1 ]. Laundry personnel are processing high amounts of contaminated linen every year and are thus at risk of injury by physical (e.g., noise and temperature), chemical (bleach, detergents, soaps), ergonomic (heavy lifting and carrying), and biological (body fluids of all kinds) hazards.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The analysis of DE-XRT images yields material information on the scanned objects in real time, making an integration into online processes possible. DE-XRT is mostly used for non-destructive testing and in the security sector, e.g., in luggage scanners at airports, but also shows promising results in mining [ 16 , 17 , 18 ], food safety [ 19 , 20 ], recycling [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], and other sorting applications [ 1 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ]. As DE-XRT is able to distinguish different compounds or elements, it is well suited for finding a variety of hazardous and non-hazardous materials in laundry, such as plastics, paper, metal, and glass.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Detection of Foreign Items in Laundry Industry by Dual-Energy X-ray Transmission—Advantages and Limits

Bauer

Wagner

Leisner

2022

Sensors

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Firefighters, paramedics, nursing staff, and other occupational groups are in constant need of fast and proper cleaning of their professional workwear, not only during a pandemic. Thus, laundry technology needs to become more efficient and automated. Unfortunately, some steps of the cleaning process, such as finding and removing foreign items from pockets or belts, are still completed manually. This is not just time-consuming but potentially dangerous for the workers due to the hazardous nature of items such as scissors, scalpels, or syringes. Additionally, some items may damage the garments by staining or harm the laundry machines, causing malfunctions and process failure. On the one hand, these foreign items are often hidden inside the clothes, making detection very challenging with conventional superficial sensors. On the other hand, these items can be diverse and cannot be detected by metal detectors alone. X-ray transmission has proven to be a powerful tool for detecting items inside of objects. The dual-energy approach (DE-XRT) even allows obtaining quantitative information about the chemical composition of the measured materials. In this study, working garments were accompanied and filled with realistic foreign items. The potential of DE-XRT to detect those items was successfully shown.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%