Скачать или смотреть Technology enables diamond dealers to recognize a stone’s clarity grade

(10 Nov 2016) LEAD IN:
An Israeli high-tech company has invented a machine that it says can instantly grade the clarity of polished diamonds.
It's a development the company says will bring new standards to a painstaking process that has long been subject to the whims of human subjectivity.

STORY-LINE:
The sparkle of a diamond. But how much is it worth? This machine is making it easier for gemmologists find out.
It's been designed by Sarine Technologies in Israel to grade the clarity of stones.
The Sarine Clarity machine maps the diamond's inclusion and flaws, known as birthmarks. It then applies a predefined set of rules and algorithms to determine the appropriate clarity grade.
The executive director and CEO of Sarine, Uzi Levami explains how it works.
"We see the diamond, this is a vision of the diamond from the table, these are the same with inclusions highlighted by the software and this is taken from various angles, various depths, various lightning conditions and eventually you create a complete picture of the diamond with the backdrop of the faceting of the diamond. This is one example, this is the other example, another stone but the same idea taken. You can see a crack here for example, some details here and there," he says.
Sarine says its system is currently in advanced large-scale testing in India and is expected to be marketed toward mid-2017.
The company is spending around US$10-million in research and development.
Levami says it will revolutionize the global diamond industry by enhancing consumer trust in each diamond's valuation.
"Instead of a human looking at the diamond from various angles, maybe the light is not so good, maybe he drank too much coffee so he is making a mistake, here the machine will give you all the parameters for the grade and he will determine, make the final decision for the grade of the diamond and like I said there are other services that graders or certifiers give to the polished diamonds, for example determine the authenticity of the diamond etcetera. So this will help people but not replace people," he says.
The International Gemmological Institute (IGI) has been certifying diamonds since 1975. They have 20 offices around the world.
The certifying laboratories are using the '4 Cs grading system' - carat, cut, colour and clarity - introduced by the GIA (Gemmological Institute of America) in 1953 to give the diamond its value.
IGI CEO, Roland Lorie says it could help the industry as a time saver, but expressed doubt that it could give an accurate grading because there are so many tiny and subjective details to analyze.
"A machine like this can help but when you grade a stone, the gemmologists have to take into consideration many aspects. For instance you have inclusions, but you can have white inclusions and black inclusions of the same size. Do you give them the same grade ? Not automatically because the black is more visible than the white. You can have a black inclusion in the middle of the stone, it's more visible than the same black inclusion on the side of the stone, so again, you need the brain of a person to identify what is more, what is better to see, what do you prefer to see. Do you prefer one big black inclusion or ten small inclusions, all of that are many many possibilities that I think will take a long long time for a machine to be able to replace a human being."
Sarine's technologies are widely known in the diamond industry. They have various machines that can assist gemmologists. Its "Galaxy" machine is widely used by manufacturers to measure the inclusions in rough diamonds.


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