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

Abstract

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.

Active Learning in Feature Extraction for Glass-in-Glass Detection

“…X-ray Techniques: The application of X-ray imaging methods allows for overcoming a range of disadvantages of other detection methods, although it has drawbacks [23][24][25][26][27][28]. The key features of X-ray imaging in quality control include high sensitivity, a wide range of detection, automation of the process, and versatility in detecting various types of foreign bodies, not just inorganic ones but also other defects like cracks, voids, density changes, or irregularities in food products.…”