Research
Since the start of the project many people from the community have helped out with research. This page is dedicated to them. If you want to help out with research, please contact us by visiting the contributing page.
Thesis Armin - December 2019
Original file: link
Identification of Plastic Types Using Discrete Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy by Armin and Bernard. This thesis is the basis of the plastic scanner. It shows that it is possible to identify plastics with a NIR spectrometer. The thesis also shows that the plastic scanner is a good alternative for the current methods of plastic identification.
Thesis Jerry - February 2021
Original file: link
Plastic Identification Anywhere: Development of open-source tools to simplify plastic sorting, thesis by Jerry. An exploration of current sorting methods and the resources available in low and middle income countries. The thesis also shows the potential of the plastic scanner in these countries.
AED group - June 2022
Original file: link
The AED group is a group of students from the TU Delft that working on the plastic scanner. (Gigi Bouman, Markus Glavind, Justè Motuzaité, Jeppe Piersma,Dawn Verkerk)
Their focus was to redesign the embodiment of the plastic scanner.
PCB analysis Jitter - September 2022
Original file: link
Auto translated file: link
The people from Jitter.company did an analysis on the development board 2.1. they looked at the PCB and the schematics. They found some small errors in the schematics and some improvements for the PCB. The improvements for the PCB are not necessary for the development board 2.1, but they are useful for the . The improvements are: decoupling capacitor, differential pairing, and some routing strategies.
Thesis Markus & Gustav - February 2023
Original file: link
Markus and Gustav dedicated their industrial engineering master to the next step of the Plastic Scanner. They took the basis of the AED group and build upon this. Making it production ready together with a market and size analysis.
Analog frontend study Dylan - May 2023
Original file: link
Dylan had a look at the analog frontend of the development board 2.1. The setup with the transimpedance amplifier (TIA) looks quite robust. some resistors should be speced with a low tolerance so the readings are linear.
Thesis Queena - June 2023
Original file: link
Queena worked on the Characterisation of the LEDs and InGaAs detector of the handheld plastic scanner as her applied physics thesis. She did a lot of measurements on the LEDs and the InGaAs detector of the development board 2.1., as well as made the comparisment to industry standard spectroscopes.
Thesis Kyle - December 2023
Original file: link
This capstone project enhances the Plastic Scanner by addressing noise and accuracy issues, achieving over 92% accuracy in identifying polymer types with a portable, affordable device that could significantly benefit small to medium-scale recyclers.
Thesis Kyle - December 2023
Original file: link
This research compares the accuracy of three plastic detection devices—Plastic Scanner, SpectraPod, and NIR Spectrometer—finding that while the NIR Spectrometer achieved the highest accuracy, limitations in wavelength sensitivity and resolution hindered the performance of the Plastic Scanner and SpectraPod, highlighting the need for further refinement in affordable, handheld plastic sorting tools.
Data analysis Hendrik - April 2023 (ongoing)
Hendrik (dataworm on discord) is contantly looking for the best methods to analyse and interprete the measurements coming from the plastic scanner.
Google colab for ML training with advantes substitute: link
Google colab for best wavelength selection : link
Google colab for plastic scanner analysis: link