JP2011173049A - Sorting method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem that a sorting method for selecting a specific material by blowing the specific material with a pulsed air from a pulsed air blower away to the distance beyond the free fall position of the materials to be sorted decreases the purity and collect rate of the specific material. <P>SOLUTION: The method includes the steps of: identifying the specific material 2 from the materials 101 to be sorted which are conveyed by a conveyer 1; acquiring a positional information of the identified material 2; dropping the materials 101 from a conveying end of the conveyer 1; guiding a drop path for the materials 101 to be dropped with a plate 6 to the predetermined direction; blowing a pulsed gas flow generated by the pulsed air blower 4 to the material 2 alone selected out of the materials 101 dropping from an end of the plate 6 according to the information; and changing the drop path of the material 2 for sorting the materials 101. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology for separating resin from a separation object in which resin pieces are mixed for the purpose of recycling used household electrical appliances.

  Recent mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal economic activities have caused global environmental problems such as global warming and resource depletion. Under these circumstances, the Home Appliance Recycling Law was fully enforced in April 2001, and recycling of used air conditioners, TVs, refrigerators / freezers and washing machines was obliged to build a recycling-oriented society. ing.

  Conventionally, household appliances that are no longer needed are collected and recycled for each material by using magnetism, wind power, vibration, etc. after crushing at a household appliance recycling factory. In particular, by using a specific gravity sorting device or a magnetic sorting device, the metal material is recovered with high purity for each material such as iron, copper, and aluminum, and a high recycling rate is realized.

  On the other hand, in the resin material, polypropylene (hereinafter referred to as PP), which is a light specific gravity, is separated from high specific gravity by specific gravity sorting using water and recovered with relatively high purity. However, specific gravity sorting using water is a major problem that a large amount of wastewater is generated and that polystyrene (hereinafter referred to as PS) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (hereinafter referred to as ABS) having similar specific gravity cannot be distinguished. It has become. In recent years, the demand for filler-filled PP, which is a high specific gravity material, has been increasing, but this cannot be handled by conventional specific gravity sorting.

  The following patent document 1 proposes a sorting method that takes into account the above-mentioned problems related to the recycling of resin materials.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-228667 detects a material by a material identification device, thereby enabling separation of resin materials that cannot be separated by conventional specific gravity sorting.

  Specifically, the resin mixture flowing on the conveyor belt is individually identified by the material identification device, and the identified mixture of resin is discharged from the carry-out end of the conveyor belt. In order to separate it from the pulse blower arranged below the drop path, pulse air is discharged, and the resin of the specific material is separated by blowing away from the natural fall position of the resin mixture. is there.

  According to this sorting method, PS and ABS having a specific gravity close to each other can be sorted, and it is possible to deal with the sorting of high-specific gravity filler-filled PP.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-263587

  However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, since the dropping path of the resin mixture varies depending on the difference in the shape and specific gravity of the resin, the pulse air cannot be accurately discharged onto the resin of the specific material, In some cases, pulsed air is discharged to a material other than the resin of the specific material, and there is a problem that the purity and the recovery amount of the separated resin of the specific material are reduced.

  Specifically, a conventional embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIGS. 1A to 1C show an embodiment of a conventional mixed material separation method, and show a process of separating a desired specific material 2 from the mixed material conveyed by the conveying device 1. ing.

  In FIG. 1A, the specific material 2 is conveyed by the conveying device 1 as one of the mixed materials.

  In FIG. 1B, the specific material 2 passes under the information acquisition device 3, and the material and shape are identified.

  In FIG.1 (c), the specific material 2 discharged | emitted from the carrying-out end of the conveying apparatus 1 is blown away by the pulse air from the pulse blower 4 arrange | positioned under the fall path | route of the specific material 2. Representative examples of flight trajectories are shown by solid lines and dotted lines.

  The discharge timing of the pulse air from the pulse blower 4 is controlled based on the material, shape, and position information from the information acquisition device 3, and the specific material 2 is shown as a solid line by shooting the center of gravity of the specific material 2 with the pulse air. In the flight trajectory as shown in Fig. 2, it is separated by dropping farther than the sorting plate 5. In addition, things other than the specific material 2 contained in the mixed material are discharged from the carry-out end of the transfer device 1 and then fall before the separation plate 5 by natural fall.

  However, a conveyor belt or the like is adopted as the transport device 1, but the carry-out end is bent at a predetermined curvature, and therefore the timing at which the falling path of the mixture starts dropping due to the difference in shape or specific gravity. And the place where it falls will be different. As a result, a deviation may occur between the timing at which the pulse blower 4 discharges the gas flow and the positional relationship of the specific material 2, and the gas flow may deviate from the center of gravity of the specific material 2. For example, when the gas flow hits the tip of the specific material 2, it becomes a high flight trajectory like a dotted line, and it falls before the sorting plate 5 and cannot be sorted. Furthermore, when the gas flow does not hit the specific material object 2 or when the gas flow is accidentally discharged to something other than the specific material object 2 adjacent to the specific material object 2, the purity of the separated specific material group or There is a problem that the recovery amount is small.

  This invention solves the said conventional subject, and it aims at providing the classification | category separation method which raises the purity and recovery amount of resin of a specific material.

  In order to achieve the above object, the separation method according to the present invention is a separation method of separating a specific material and another material from a separation target in which a plurality of specific materials and a plurality of other materials are mixed. Identifying a specific material from the separation object conveyed by the conveyance device on the conveyance device, obtaining positional information of the identified specific material, dropping the separation target from the carry-out end of the conveyance device, and dropping The fall path of the target material to be sorted is guided in a predetermined direction by the plate body, and the pulse path of the gas flow generated by the pulse blower is applied to the specific material based on the position information to change the fall path of the specific material. Thus, the specific material is separated from the separation objects falling from the end of the plate.

  Thereby, the separation target guided by the plate body falls from the lower edge. Therefore, the falling timing of the specific material is constant, the deviation generated between the timing when the pulse blower discharges the gas flow and the positional relationship of the specific material is suppressed, and the center of gravity of the specific material is hit with the gas flow. Establishing can be enhanced. From the above, it is possible to increase the accuracy of separation of the specific material, and to increase the purity and recovery amount of the specific material as compared with the related art.

  In order to achieve the above object, a sorting apparatus according to the present invention is a sorting apparatus that separates a specific material and another material from a sorting target in which a plurality of specific materials and a plurality of other materials are mixed. The separation device is placed and conveyed, and the separation device is dropped at a predetermined position, the plate body that guides the falling path of the separation object to be dropped in a predetermined direction, and conveyed by the conveyance device. An identification device for identifying a specific material from a classification target, a position information acquisition device for acquiring position information of the specific material identified by the identification device, and a specific material falling from the plate based on the position information It is characterized by comprising a pulse blower for generating a gas flow to be applied in a pulsed manner and changing the falling path of the specific material.

  Thereby, the separation target guided by the plate body falls from the lower edge. Therefore, the falling timing of the specific material is constant, the deviation generated between the timing when the pulse blower discharges the gas flow and the positional relationship of the specific material is suppressed, and the center of gravity of the specific material is hit with the gas flow. Establishing can be enhanced. From the above, it is possible to increase the accuracy of separation of the specific material, and to increase the purity and recovery amount of the specific material as compared with the related art.

  According to this configuration, the falling path of the separation target is stabilized by guiding the falling path of the separation target with the plate body, and the purity and the recovery amount of the specific material can be increased as compared with the related art.

Sectional drawing shown for every process which shows the classification method of conventional embodiment It is a figure which shows typically the sorting apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention, (a) is a front view, (b) is a top view. Sectional drawing shown for every process which shows the classification method of embodiment of this invention Sectional drawing shown for every process which shows the classification method of embodiment of this invention FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the inclination angle of the plate and the variation in the falling path of the separation target in the embodiment of the present invention FIG. 5 is a relationship diagram of the conveyor belt conveyance speed and the preferred inclination angle of the plate body in the embodiment of the present invention. The table | surface which shows the preferable inclination angle of the board for every conveyance speed of the conveyor belt in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows typically the sorting apparatus which concerns on other embodiment of this invention, (a) is a front view, (b) is a top view.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
2A and 2B are diagrams schematically illustrating a sorting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 2A is a front view and FIG. 2B is a top view.

  As shown in the figure, the separation device 100 is a separation device that takes out the specific material 2 from the separation object 101 in a state where the specific material 2 and the other material 7 are mixed, and includes the conveying device 1 and the information An acquisition device 3, a pulse blower 4, and a plate body 6 are provided.

  The conveying apparatus 1 is an apparatus that places and conveys the separation target 101. In the case of the present embodiment, a belt conveyor is employed as the conveying device 1.

  The information acquisition device 3 is a device that includes an identification device that identifies the specific material object 2 and the other material material 7 and a position information acquisition device that acquires position information of the identified specific material object.

  The identification device is a device that identifies the specific material 2 and the other material 7. As the identification device, a device for identifying the specific material 2 and the other material 7 based on the color, shape, and design by imaging the classification object 101 and analyzing the obtained image, a near infrared sensor, Among various methods such as a mid-infrared sensor, an X-ray sensor, and an image recognition sensor, the sensor having the best sensitivity is provided. Based on the difference in material between the specific material 2 and the other material 7, A device for identifying the other material 7 can be exemplified. In the case of the present embodiment, a near-infrared identification device is used as the identification device and is disposed above the transport device 1.

  In the case of the sorting device 100 according to the present embodiment, the sorting object 101 is transported in the direction of the arrow by the belt conveyor as the transport device 1, and the identification device scans the sensor in a direction that intersects the transport direction of the belt conveyor. The position information where the material of the specific material 2 is present and the other position information can be acquired. Therefore, in the case of the present embodiment, the information acquisition device 3 functions not only as an identification device but also as a position information acquisition device.

  The pulse blower 4 generates a gas flow F1 applied to the falling specific material 2 in a pulse shape based on the position information of the specific material 2 obtained from the information acquisition device 3, and the first drop path R1 of the specific material 2 It is a device to change. In the case of the present embodiment, the pulse blower 4 includes a plurality of nozzles connected to an air pressure source in a row, and can select a nozzle that discharges the gas flow F1 in a pulse shape based on position information.

  The plate body 6 is a plate-like member attached in the vicinity of the carry-out end of the carrying path of the carrying device 1 and guides the dropping path of the separation target 101 falling from the carry-out end of the carrying device 1 in a predetermined direction. It is. In the case of the present embodiment, the entire upper surface of the plate body 6 is covered with a lubricating material such as a fluorine resin. The upper end edge of the plate body 6 is disposed in the vicinity of the transport device 1. Thereby, the plate body 6 can scoop the separation target 101 at the carry-out end, and the separation target 101 can be dropped from the carry-out end at a stable timing.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the identification device may include a plurality of sensors arranged in an array or a matrix, and identify a plurality of specific material objects 2 at a time.

  The pulse blower 4 may include a single nozzle and move the nozzle based on position information.

  In FIG. 2B, the specific material 2 is shown as a quadrangle, and the other material 7 is shown as a circle. However, these are for the convenience of distinguishing these, and the specific material 2 and the other material 7 are shown. The shape of is not limited.

  The separation plate 5 is a wall-shaped member for clearly distinguishing the specific material 2 and the other material 7 after the separation.

  Next, the classification method will be described.

  FIGS. 3A to 3D show an embodiment of the method for separating a specific material according to the present invention, and the desired specific material 2 is separated from the separation object 101 transported by the transport device 1. The process is shown.

  In FIG. 3A, the specific material 2 is conveyed by the conveying device 1.

  In FIG.3 (b), the specific material 2 passes under the information acquisition apparatus 3, and the material and the shape are identified. At the same time, position information in the width direction is also acquired.

  FIG. 3C shows that the specific material 2 discharged from the carry-out end of the transfer device 1 is along the plate body 6 provided along the drop path of the specific material 2 from the carry-out end of the transfer device 1. Guided.

  FIG. 3D shows that the specific material 2 that has jumped out from the lower edge of the plate body 6 is blown away by the pulsed gas flow from the pulse blower 4 disposed below the falling path of the specific material 2. A representative example of the flight trajectory when it is done is shown by a line.

  The discharge timing of the pulsed gas flow from the pulse blower 4 is controlled based on the material, shape, and position information from the information acquisition device 3, and the center of gravity of the specific material 2 is shot with the pulsed gas flow. Then, the specific material object 2 is separated by being dropped farther than the separation plate 5 in the flight trajectory as indicated by the dotted line. In addition, things other than the specific material 2 included in the specific material are discharged from the lower end of the plate body 6 and then fall before the separation plate 5 by natural fall.

  In the present invention, unlike the conventional method for separating a specific material, the plate body 6 is provided along the dropping path of the specific material from the carry-out end of the transport device 1, and the specific material is guided along the plate body 6. As a result, the variation of the fall path due to the difference in the shape and specific gravity of the specified material is reduced, and the pulsed gas flow is accurately discharged to the specified material 2. And the collection amount is increased.

  In FIG. 3, the specific material 2 is blown upward and separated by discharging a pulsed gas flow upward from the pulse blower 4 disposed below the falling path of the specific material 2. As shown in FIG. 4, the specific material 2 is blown downward by discharging a pulsed gas flow downward from the pulse blower 4 arranged above the falling path of the specific material 2. The same effect is also obtained in the embodiment in which separation is performed.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail.

  After removing the chlorofluorocarbon in the compressor and the heat insulating agent from the used refrigerator, it was crushed with a crusher and collected as a separation target 101 of 5 to 150 mm by sieving.

  Next, in order not to overlap the separation target 101 for 1 kg, sequentially spread on the traveling transport device 1, using a high speed camera, to evaluate the variation in the fall path of the separation target 101 for 1 kg, The effect of the plate body 6 provided along the drop path of the separation target 101 from the carry-out end of the transfer device 1 was confirmed.

  The variation in the fall path is measured by measuring the fall path of all the fragment pieces included in the separation target 101 for 1 kg from the playback image of the high-speed camera, and the fluctuation width of the fall path of the separation target 101 for 1 kg at an arbitrary fall position. It was evaluated from.

  First, the effect of the plate body 6 on the variation suppression of the falling path of the separation target 101 for 1 kg was examined. Here, the conveying speed of the conveying device 1 is 2 m / sec.

  When the plate 6 was not provided, the variation in the falling path of the separation target 101 at the position of the pulse blower 4 was 40 mm.

  On the other hand, when the plate body 6 is installed with the inclination angle θ (see FIG. 3A) with respect to the transport surface of the transport device 1 being 19 degrees, the variation in the falling path of the separation target 101 at the position of the pulse blower 4 is It was 15 mm. Thereby, the effect of suppressing the variation of the fall path by installation of the plate body 6 was found.

  Next, the influence of the inclination angle θ of the plate body 6 on the variation in the falling path of the separation target 101 was examined.

  FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the inclination angle θ of the plate 6 and the variation of the falling path of the specific material when the conveying speed of the conveying device 1 is 2 m / sec.

  When the inclination angle θ is smaller than 14 degrees, the specific material being dropped collided with the plate, and the variation in the dropping path became large. In addition, when the inclination angle is larger than 25 degrees, the separation target 101 that is falling is difficult to contact the plate body, and therefore the fall path variation is the same as the conventional separation method in which the plate body 6 is not provided. As a result, it has been found that when the conveying speed of the conveying device 1 is 2 m / sec, good results can be obtained when the inclination angle of the plate body is in the range of 15 to 24 degrees.

  Similarly, the conveyance speed of the conveyance apparatus 1 was set to 1, 1.5, 3, 4 m / sec, and the relationship between the inclination angle θ of the plate 6 and the variation in the falling path of the separation target 101 was examined. FIG. 7 shows a preferred inclination angle of the plate body for each conveyance speed of the conveyance device 1, and furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, the relationship between the conveyance speed and the preferred inclination angle of the plate body is plotted, so m / sec) and the inclination angle θ of the plate were found to have a good correlation.

  That is, the relationship between the conveying speed V (m / sec) by the conveying device 1 and the inclination angle θ of the plate body is θ ≧ −3.29 V + 21.97 and θ ≦ within a range of 1 m / sec ≦ V ≦ 4 m / sec. It is preferable that it is -4.36V + 33.23.

  Next, the variation of the falling path of the separation target 101 on the surface of the plate body 6 and the variation of the falling path of the separation target 101 after jumping out from the lower end of the plate body 6 were compared.

  As a result, the variation of the falling path of the separation target 101 on the surface of the plate body 6 is 10 mm, and the variation of the falling path of the specific material at the position of the pulse blower 4 after jumping out from the lower end of the plate body 6 is Since it is 15 mm, when passing on the surface of the board | plate body 6, it discovered that the variation of the fall path | route of a specific material thing was still smaller.

  Therefore, in order to accurately discharge a pulsed gas flow onto the specific material 2 and to increase the purity and collection amount of the group of the separated specific material 2, as shown in FIG. It is preferable that a discharge port 8 for a gas flow blown from 4 is provided, and a pulse blower 4 is provided for each discharge port 8.

  As described above, it has been found that the variation in the falling path of the separation target 101 can be reduced by the plate body 6 provided along the falling path of the separation target 101 from the carry-out end of the transport apparatus 1.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, due to the frictional resistance between the plate body 6 and the separation target 101, the flight speed of the desired specific material 2 is reduced, and the occurrence of deviation in the discharge timing of the pulsed gas flow from the pulse blower 4 is prevented. Attempts were made to reduce the frictional resistance between the plate body 6 and the separation object 101.

  As a first aspect, a plate body 6 provided with a plurality of air outlets over the entire upper surface and a continuous fan that continuously discharges a gas flow from the air outlets were prepared. Thereby, the fall of the flight speed of the desired specific material 2 was able to be suppressed. In addition, the diameter of the said ventilation port was 0.3 mm, and the gas flow with a flow rate of 3 m / sec was discharged continuously.

  As a second embodiment, an attempt was made to reduce the frictional resistance by coating the upper surface of the plate 6 with a polytetrafluoroethylene resin.

  Hereinafter, a method for separating ABS from a specific material according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

  After removing the chlorofluorocarbon in the compressor and the heat insulating agent from the used refrigerator, it was crushed with a crusher and collected as a separation target 101 of 5 to 150 mm by sieving. Next, it sprayed one by one on the conveyance apparatus 1 which drive | works at 2 m / sec so that each of the separation object 101 might not overlap, and it conveyed. As the information acquisition device 3, a specific material 2 containing ABS as a component was identified from among the separation objects 101 flowing on the transport device 1 using a near-infrared identification device. Next, the specific material 2 discharged from the carry-out end of the transfer device 1 was blown off by a pulsed gas flow (discharge pressure: 5 bar), and separated by dropping farther than the sorting plate 5.

  Moreover, the classification object 101 classified with the classification board 5 is identified again using a near-infrared identification device, and the weight of the specific material 2 made of ABS from the classification object 101 that has fallen farther than the classification board 5 and the others. The weight of the other material 7 made of the above material was measured. Further, the weight of the specific material 2 dropped before the sorting plate 5 and the weight of the other material 7 made of other materials were measured. The above four measurement results were substituted into the following mathematical formula, and the purity and recovery rate of the specific material 2 were calculated.

Purity (%) of specified material 2: A / (A + B) × 100
Recovery rate of specific material 2 (%): A / (A + C) × 100
A: Weight of the specific material 2 dropped farther than the separation plate 5 B: Weight of the other material 7 dropped farther than the separation plate 5 C: Specific material 2 dropped before the separation plate 5 weight

  In the conventional separation method, the purity of the specific material 2 was 97.3%, and the recovery rate was 75.5%. However, the plate at an inclination angle of 19 degrees along the falling path of the separation object 101 from the carry-out end of the conveyance device 1. By providing the body, the ABS purity was 99.0%, and the recovery rate was 80.5%.

  Further, a plurality of discharge ports 8 arranged in the width direction are provided at the lower end edge of the plate body 6, and the pulse blower 4 is provided for each discharge port 8 so as to control whether or not the gas flow is discharged from each discharge port 8. And the discharge of a pulsed gas flow on the plate 6 resulted in a purity of the specific material 2 of 99.4% and a recovery rate of 85.6%.

  On the other hand, the plate body 6 is provided with a plurality of air blowers having a diameter of 0.3 mm and a gas flow with a flow rate of 3 m / second is continuously discharged from the lower surface of the plate body 6 toward the upper surface by a continuous blower (not shown). As a result, the ABS purity was 99.8% and the recovery rate was 93.3%.

  Further, by coating the upper surface of the plate 6 with polytetrafluoroethylene resin, the ABS purity was 99.6% and the recovery rate was 92.5%.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY According to the present invention, it is possible to increase the purity and recovery amount of a desired specific material, and it can be applied to resource recycling as a separation method for recycling specific material contained in waste home appliances and general waste. .

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveyance apparatus 2 Specific material 3 Information acquisition apparatus 4 Pulse blower 5 Separation board 6 Plate body 7 Other material 8 Discharge port 9 Discharge body 100 Separation apparatus 101 Sort object

Claims (7)

A separation method of separating a specific material and another material from a separation target in which a plurality of specific material and a plurality of other material are mixed,
Identifying a specific material from the object to be transported by the transport device on the transport device,
Obtain the location information of the identified specific material,
Drop the separation target from the unloading end of the transfer device,
Guide the falling path of the separation target to fall in a predetermined direction by the plate,
By identifying the material to be separated from the edge of the plate by changing the falling path of the specific material by applying the pulsed gas flow generated by the pulse blower to the specific material based on the position information Separation method for separating materials. The conveying speed of the object to be separated by the conveying device is V (m / sec),
When the inclination angle of the plate body with respect to the transport surface of the transport device is θ (degrees),
The transport speed V of the transport device is set from the range of 1 m / sec ≦ V ≦ 4 m / sec,
The separation method according to claim 1, wherein the fall of the separation target is guided by a plate body having an inclination angle θ selected from a range of −4.36 V + 33.23 ≧ θ ≧ −3.29 V + 21.97. A separation device that separates a specific material and another material from a separation target in which a plurality of specific material and a plurality of other material are mixed,
A transport device for placing and transporting the separation target and dropping the separation target at a predetermined position;
A plate that guides the falling path of the falling separation target in a predetermined direction;
An identification device for identifying a specific material from the separation object conveyed by the conveyance device;
A position information acquisition device for acquiring position information of the specific material identified by the identification device;
A separation apparatus comprising: a pulse blower that generates a gas flow applied to a specific material falling from the plate body in a pulsed manner based on the position information and changes a falling path of the specific material. When the conveyance speed of the separation target by the conveyance device is V (m / second), the inclination angle θ (degree) of the plate body with respect to the conveyance surface of the conveyance device is −4.36V + 33.23 ≧ θ ≧ −. The fractionation device according to claim 3, which is selected from the range of 3.29V + 21.97. further,
Provided integrally with the lower edge of the plate body, comprising a discharge body having a plurality of discharge ports arranged side by side in the width direction,
The sorting device according to claim 3, wherein the discharge port is connected to the pulse blower. The plate body includes a plurality of air outlets over the entire guide surface, which is a surface on which the objects to be sorted are guided,
The separation device further includes
The separation device according to claim 3, further comprising a continuous blower that continuously discharges a gas flow from the blower opening. The plate is
The sorting apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a lubrication layer, which is a layer that suppresses slip resistance with the sorting target, is provided on the entire surface of a guide surface that is a surface on which the sorting target of the plate body is guided.

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