JP2003215077A - Metal sorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a metal sorting device that sorts many kinds of metals to safely and inexpensively sort the metals with accuracy. <P>SOLUTION: This metal sorting device is constituted to identify the materials of the metals M by measuring the temperatures of the metals M heated through electromagnet induction heating and to sort the identified metals M at every material. This sorting device comprises a transportation conveyor 1 which transports the metals M, electromagnetic induction heating equipment 2 which heats the metals M through electromagnetic induction heating on the conveyor 1, and a temperature detector 3 which measures the temperatures of the heated metals M. This sorting device also comprises a position detector 4 which detects the transported positions of the temperature-measured metals M on the conveyor 1, a sorting and discharging device 5 which sorts and discharges the metals M on and form the conveyor by their materials, and a controller 6 which drives and controls the device 5 based on detect signals from the temperature and position detectors 3 and 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to various kinds of metals contained in wastes such as bulky garbage and incombustible waste, and various kinds of metals such as aluminum cans and steel cans collected as recyclable wastes by material. In particular, the present invention relates to a metal sorting device for sorting, in particular, the material of the metal is identified by measuring the temperature of the metal heated by electromagnetic induction heating, and the sorted metal is sorted according to the material. The present invention relates to a metal sorting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, incombustible waste and oversized waste collected for recycling are crushed and recycled resources in waste treatment facilities, valuable materials such as iron, aluminum, copper, paper, plastics, etc. It is sorted into combustible materials, non-combustible materials such as earth and sand and glass. In addition, recyclable waste such as aluminum cans and steel cans collected in the bag are sorted into valuables such as iron and aluminum and combustibles such as bags at the recyclable waste treatment plant in the waste treatment facility. Is being processed.

That is, the bulky waste and the incombustible waste collected for recycling are first crushed by a crusher, and then the irons are separated and collected by a magnetic separator. The separated irons are subjected to a wind sorter to separate light dusts, and then compression-molded by a metal compressor and stored in a molded product storage. On the other hand, the waste from which irons have been separated is divided into fine incombustibles such as earth and sand, glass pieces, and pottery pieces, and other combustibles containing paper, plastic, wood pieces, aluminum, etc. by a particle size sorter. Then, combustible materials including paper, plastic, wood chips, aluminum, etc. are sent to an aluminum sorter, where the aluminum is separated, and then sent to a refuse incineration facility for incineration treatment. Further, the aluminum separated by the aluminum sorter is compression-molded by the metal compressor and stored in the molded product storage.

On the other hand, recyclable waste such as aluminum cans and steel cans collected in a bag are crushed by a crushing machine, and then sequentially sent to a magnetic separator and an aluminum sorter.
Steel cans are separated by a magnetic separator, and aluminum cans are separately collected by an aluminum separator. The recovered steel cans and aluminum cans are compression-molded by a can compressor and stored in a molded product storage site. Bags and residues are stored in containers and hoppers.

[0005]

By the way, in order to sort and collect the metal contained in the garbage and to sort and collect the metal of the same material from several kinds of metals, as described above, a magnetic sorter or an aluminum sorter is used. A metal sorter such as a machine is used.
That is, a drum-type or hanging-type magnetic separator using the magnetic force of a permanent magnet or an electromagnet is used for the selection and recovery of iron, and a magnetic pole in the drum is used for the selection and recovery of nonferrous metals such as aluminum and copper. An aluminum sorter (eddy current sorter) is generally used, which rotates and rotates the sheet to repel the non-ferrous metal by the action of an eddy current generated in a relatively small non-ferrous metal.

However, in order to sort and recover various kinds of metals by material using a metal sorter such as a magnetic sorter or an aluminum sorter, a plurality of sorters (a magnetic sorter or an aluminum sorter) are used.
There is a problem in that they have to be used side by side, the cost is high, and a large installation space is required. However, with an aluminum sorter, if copper is included in the metal in addition to aluminum, it is difficult to reliably sort and collect aluminum and copper by material, and aluminum cannot be sorted and collected accurately. There was a problem to say.

On the other hand, as a metal sorting apparatus for sorting and recovering many kinds of metals, there is a metal sorting apparatus utilizing X-ray analysis by X-ray. However, a metal sorting apparatus using X-rays has been estranged because it has a risk of being exposed to X-rays and is expensive.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a metal sorting apparatus capable of safely and inexpensively and accurately sorting and recovering many kinds of metals. To provide.

[0009]

The inventors of the present invention have noticed that a metal heated by electromagnetic induction heating has a different heating temperature depending on the magnitude of its electric resistance, and by measuring the temperature, the metal material We have created a metal sorting device that can sort and process various types of metals with different materials. That is, the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention identifies the material of the metal by measuring the temperature of the metal heated by electromagnetic induction heating, and sorts the identified metal for each material. A metal sorting apparatus configured as described above, wherein the metal sorting apparatus measures a temperature of the heated metal by a conveyer that conveys the metal, an electromagnetic induction heating device that heats the metal on the conveyer by electromagnetic induction heating. Temperature detector, a position detector that detects the transport position of the metal on the transport conveyor where the temperature was measured, and a sort that discharges and sorts the metal on the transport conveyor based on the temperature and transport position information of the metal. A discharging device, and a control device for identifying the metal material and detecting the metal transport position based on the detection signals from the temperature detector and the position detector, and controlling the sorting and discharging device based on this. It is characterized in that it comprises.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present invention is characterized in that the temperature detector comprises a non-contact temperature sensor.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show a metal sorting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the metal sorting apparatus measures the temperature of a metal M heated by electromagnetic induction heating to make the material of the metal M. And the metal M whose material has been identified is sorted and collected for each material, and a transport conveyor 1 for transporting the metal M is provided.
An electromagnetic induction heating device 2 for heating the metal M on the conveyor 1 by electromagnetic induction heating; a temperature detector 3 for measuring the temperature of the heated metal M; and a metal on the conveyor 1 for which the temperature has been measured. Position detector 4 for detecting the transport position of M
And a sorting and discharging device 5 that sorts and discharges the metal M on the transport conveyor 1 by material, and a control device 6 that drives and controls the sorting and discharging device 5.

More specifically, the conveyor 1 is wound around a rotatable drive pulley 1a and a driven pulley 1b, which are opposed to each other with a certain space, and a drive pulley 1a and a driven pulley 1b. And an endless belt 1c and a driving device (not shown) such as a motor that rotationally drives the drive pulley 1a. The metal M supplied onto the belt 1c is fed from the upstream side (the left side in FIG. 1) to the downstream side (the left side in FIG. 1). It is configured to be transported to the right side of FIG. 1) at a constant speed. A non-metallic belt 1c is used for the belt 1c of the conveyor 1 so that the metal M on the belt 1c can be heated by electromagnetic induction heating.

The electromagnetic induction heating device 2 heats the metal M placed on the belt 1c of the conveyor 1 by electromagnetic induction heating, and is located upstream of the conveyor 1 and below the upper belt 1c. It is located in. This electromagnetic induction heating device 2 is an application of electromagnetic induction heating in which when a metal M is placed in a place where alternating magnetic force lines are generated, an eddy current flows through the metal M and heat is generated due to the electric resistance of the metal M. A high-frequency current is passed through a magnetic force generation coil (not shown) arranged below the belt 1c to generate magnetic force lines around the magnetic force generation coil, and when the magnetic force lines pass through the metal M on the belt 1c, a myriad of vortices are generated in the metal M. An electric current is generated, and the metal M is heated by Joule heat generated by the eddy current and the electric resistance of the metal M. Therefore, the temperature at which the metal M heated by the electromagnetic induction heating device 2 on the transfer conveyor 1 differs depending on the magnitude of its electric resistance. The material of the metal M can be identified by measuring the temperature of the heated metal M. This is because the electrical resistance of each of the selected metals M is known, and the temperature of the metal M heated by electromagnetic induction heating is also known. Also, the electromagnetic induction heating device 2
When the metal M on the transport conveyor 1 is heated by using, the metal M alone does not generate heat and the belt 1c of the transport conveyor 1 does not generate heat. Therefore, the temperature of the metal M itself can be measured reliably and satisfactorily. Become.

The temperature detector 3 is an electromagnetic induction heating device 2.
Is to measure the temperature of the metal M heated by the conveyor 1 and is disposed above the conveyor 1 and at a position downstream of the electromagnetic induction heating device 2 and connected to the controller 6. . The temperature detection signal output from the temperature detector 3 is input to the control device 6. In this embodiment, the temperature detector 3 receives heat radiation from an object (metal M) and measures the amount of energy of the heat radiation to obtain the temperature, which is a conventionally known non-contact temperature sensor. Is used. Since this non-contact temperature sensor is a non-contact type, it is suitable for measuring the temperature of a moving object or a distant object.

The position detector 4 detects the position of the metal M, which has passed through the temperature detector 3 and whose temperature is measured, and is provided on the side of the drive pulley 1a of the conveyor 1 for controlling. Connected to 6. A position detection signal is output from the position detector 4 to the control device 6 with the position receiving the detection signal from the temperature detector 3 as the origin. In this embodiment, the position detector 4 includes a metal on the conveyor 1 based on the rotation amount of the drive pulley 1a of the conveyor 1 and the rotation angle of the output shaft of the motor (not shown) of the conveyor 1. A conventionally known rotary encoder that detects the position of M is used.

The sorting and discharging device 5 uses the temperature information of the metal M measured by the temperature detector 3 and the position information of the metal M detected by the position detector 4 to convey the conveyor 1
The upper metal M is selectively discharged according to the material, and is provided on the downstream side of the conveyor 1. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the sorting and discharging device 5 is disposed at a lateral position of the transport conveyor 1 at regular intervals along the longitudinal direction, and has a plurality of fluid pressure cylinders 5 a orthogonal to the transport direction of the transport conveyor 1. When,
A working fluid supply for supplying a working fluid to each fluid pressure cylinder 5a. The pusher 5b is attached to the tip of the rod of each fluid pressure cylinder 5a and pushes the metal M on the transport conveyor 1 to the side of the transport conveyor 1. By controlling the opening and closing of a control valve (not shown) provided in a pipe (not shown), each fluid pressure cylinder 5a and pusher 5b can be appropriately operated. still,
The metal M pushed out to the side of the conveyor 1 by the pusher 5b and the metal M dropped and discharged from the downstream end of the conveyor 1 are transferred to a plurality of metal recovery containers 7 arranged at the lower position on the downstream side of the conveyor 1. Each material is collected.

The control device 6 identifies the material of the metal M and detects the transport position of the metal M based on the detection signals from the temperature detector 3 and the position detector 4, and drives the sorting and discharging device 5 based on this. A data processing unit for controlling, and identifying the material of the metal M by the detection signal from the temperature detector 3,
The temperature sensor 3 and the position detector 4 are provided with an arithmetic unit for calculating the transport position of the metal M based on detection signals, a storage unit for storing various data of the metal M, and the like. Therefore, the control device 6 individually drives and controls the fluid pressure cylinders 5a and the pushers 5b of the sorting and discharging device 5 on the basis of the detection signals from the temperature detector 3 and the position detector 4, and the metal on the transport conveyor 1 is controlled. A predetermined fluid pressure cylinder 5a and pusher 5b are operated according to the material of M.

Next, description will be made on a case where a large number of kinds of metals M are selected by using the above-described metal selecting device. A supply device (not shown) is provided for various types of metal M that are objects to be sorted.
Thus, they are supplied one by one to the upstream side of the conveyer conveyor 1 at appropriate intervals.

The metal M supplied to the upstream side of the transport conveyor 1 is sequentially transported on the transport conveyor 1 to the downstream side, and is heated by electromagnetic induction heating while passing over the electromagnetic induction heating device 2. . At this time, the temperature at which the metal M is heated differs depending on the magnitude of its electric resistance.

The metal M heated by electromagnetic induction heating is
Subsequently, it is sequentially transported on the transport conveyor 1 to the downstream side, and passes directly below the temperature detector 3. At this time, the temperature detector 3
Detects the temperature of the metal M heated by electromagnetic induction heating, and the detection signal is input to the control device 6. The material of the metal M of which the temperature is detected is identified by the detection signal from the temperature detector 3 being input to the control device 6. Further, the transport position of the metal M whose temperature has been measured and whose material has been identified is detected one by one by a detection signal input from the position detector 4 to the control device 6.

When the metal M of which the material is identified is conveyed by the conveyor 1 to the position facing the sorting and discharging device 5, the control device is based on the detection signals from the temperature detector 3 and the position detector 4. The sorting and discharging device 5 is driven and controlled by 6. That is, the controller 6 controls the transport conveyor 1
A predetermined fluid pressure cylinder 5a and a pusher 5b are operated according to the material of the upper metal M, and the metal M of which the material is identified is pushed to the side of the conveyor 1 and collected in a predetermined metal collection container 7.

Similarly, the metal M on the conveyer conveyor 1 is identified by the temperature detector 3, the position detector 4 and the controller 6 for the material and the conveyer position is detected, and is conveyed by the sorting and ejecting device 5. Each material is sorted and discharged from the conveyor 1 and collected in a predetermined metal collection container 7. still,
The metal M that is not heated by the electromagnetic induction heating is dropped from the downstream end of the transport conveyor 1 and discharged to the metal recovery container 7
Will be collected.

[0023]

As described above, the metal sorting apparatus of the present invention is
A transport conveyor that transports metal, an electromagnetic induction heating device that heats the metal on the transport conveyor by electromagnetic induction heating, a temperature detector that measures the temperature of the heated metal, and a metal on the transport conveyor where the temperature is measured. By the position detector that detects the transport position of, the sorting and discharging device that sorts and discharges the metal on the transport conveyor according to the material based on the temperature information and the transport position information of the metal, and the detection signals from the temperature and position detector It consists of a control device that drives and controls the sorting and discharging device,
Since the material of the metal is identified by measuring the temperature of the metal heated by electromagnetic induction heating, and the metal whose material is identified is sorted according to the material, the conventional metal sorting described at the beginning. There is no need to use multiple sorters (magnetic sorters, aluminum sorters, etc.) side by side to sort many kinds of metals like equipment, and cost reduction compared to conventional metal sorters In addition to being designed, it requires less installation space. Further, the metal sorting device of the present invention is
Compared with the conventional metal sorting apparatus which sorts many kinds of metals using X-ray analysis by X-ray, it is possible to sort many kinds of metals extremely safely and inexpensively.
Furthermore, since the metal selection device of the present invention uses the electromagnetic induction heating device to heat the metal on the conveyer conveyor, only the metal that is the selection object will generate heat, and the temperature of the metal itself. The measurement can be performed reliably and satisfactorily. As a result, it is possible to reliably and satisfactorily identify the materials of many kinds of metals, and it is possible to accurately select the metals. Moreover, since the metal sorting apparatus of the present invention uses the non-contact temperature sensor for the temperature detector, it is possible to reliably and satisfactorily measure the temperature of a moving metal or a distant metal. . As a result, the material of the metal can be reliably and satisfactorily identified, and the metal can be more accurately selected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a metal sorting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the metal sorting device.

[Simple explanation of symbols]

1 is a conveyer conveyor, 2 is an electromagnetic induction heating device, 3 is a temperature detector, 4 is a position detector, 5 is a sorting and discharging device, 6 is a control device, and M is a metal.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A metal selection device for identifying the material of a metal heated by electromagnetic induction heating to identify the material of the metal, and performing a sorting process for the identified metal. The metal selection device includes a conveyor for conveying metal, an electromagnetic induction heating device for heating the metal on the conveyor by electromagnetic induction heating, a temperature detector for measuring the temperature of the heated metal, and a temperature measurement. Detector for detecting the transport position of the metal on the transport conveyor, a sorting and discharging device for sorting and discharging the metal on the transport conveyor according to the material based on the temperature information of the metal and the transport position information, and the temperature detector and position It is characterized by further comprising a control device for identifying a metal material and detecting a metal transport position based on a detection signal from the detector, and drivingly controlling the sorting and discharging device based on the detection signal. Metal sorting equipment. 2. The metal sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the temperature detector comprises a non-contact temperature sensor.