JP7422713B2 - How to dispose of electronic/electrical equipment parts waste - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for disposing of electronic/electrical equipment part scraps, and more particularly to a processing method for electronic/electrical equipment part scraps suitable for recycling used electronic/electrical equipment.

In recent years, from the perspective of resource conservation, the recovery of valuable metals from discarded home appliances and electronic/electrical equipment parts scraps such as PCs and mobile phones has become increasingly popular, and efficient methods of recovery are being considered. has been done. It is known that electronic and electrical equipment parts scraps contain various parts, and manual sorting has the highest accuracy, but there is a problem in that it is labor-intensive and impractical. Therefore, there is a need for the development of a device that can efficiently sort desired parts from electronic and electrical equipment component scraps using various sorting devices.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2017-83348 (Patent Document 1) describes an ore sorting method and apparatus for sorting out good ore good ore, and crushes rock transported on a belt-like conveyor. An ore sorter equipped with an air blowing device that images objects with an imaging device, distinguishes between good and defective products with a discrimination device, and blows air toward the object so that the movement trajectories of the good and defective products are different. Examples of devices are described.

However, the invention described in Patent Document 1 is a sorting method that focuses on crushed rock, and appropriately sorts electronic and electrical equipment parts scraps containing various materials such as substrates, ICs, plastics, and film powder. It cannot be said that it is possible to do so.

JP2017-83348A

The present disclosure provides a method for processing electronic/electrical equipment parts scraps that can appropriately and efficiently sort electronic/electrical equipment parts scraps.

In one aspect, a method for processing electronic/electrical equipment parts waste according to an embodiment of the present invention includes sorting electronic/electrical equipment parts waste using a sorter including an identification unit, an air valve, and a conveyor. A method for disposing of parts scraps, in which either an identified object or a non-identified object in electronic/electrical equipment parts identified by an identification unit is processed through a hole in an air valve. Spray the gas onto the identified object or non-identified object so that the maximum diameter of the spread of the gas ejected from the air valve is smaller than the minimum diameter of the identified object or non-identified object at the spray distance up to This method includes the step of separating and removing identified objects or non-identified objects by shooting them down.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a method for processing electronic/electrical equipment parts scraps that can appropriately and efficiently sort electronic/electrical equipment parts scraps.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the sorting machine in embodiment of this invention. It is an explanatory view explaining the cross-sectional area and pitch of the hole with which an air valve is provided.

(Processing object)
The "electronic/electrical equipment parts scraps" that are processed in the embodiment of the present invention are scraps obtained by crushing electronic/electrical equipment such as discarded home appliances, PCs, and mobile phones. Refers to something that has been crushed into pieces. In the present invention, the crushing to produce electronic/electrical equipment part scraps may be carried out by the processor himself, but it may also be crushed pieces purchased on the market.

The crushing method is not limited to a specific device, and may be a shearing method or an impact method, but it is preferable to use crushing that does not damage the shape of the parts as much as possible. Therefore, devices belonging to the category of crushers whose purpose is to grind finely are not included.

Although not limited to the following, in the present embodiment, it is preferable that the electronic/electrical equipment component scraps be crushed into pieces with a maximum diameter of about 100 mm or less, more preferably about 50 mm or less. Furthermore, it is preferable to roughly crush the raw material of the electronic/electrical device parts scrap according to this embodiment in advance to separate them into individual pieces in the form of capacitors, plastics, substrates, wire scraps, ICs, connectors, metals, etc.

The electronic/electrical device parts scraps according to this embodiment include synthetic resins (plastics) used for circuit boards, parts, housings, etc., wire scraps, metals, film-like parts scraps, powdery materials generated by crushing and crushing, and others. It can be classified into scrap parts, which can be further classified depending on the purpose of processing. Although not limited to the following, in this embodiment, it is possible to suitably process electronic/electrical equipment part scraps whose proportion by weight is 70% or more that is separated into single parts as part scraps.

In particular, as the object to be processed by the sorting machine according to the present embodiment, the above-mentioned electronic/electrical equipment parts waste is subjected to wind sorting, and the material after powdery material and film-like parts waste is removed is processed. It is preferable. By previously removing light materials such as powdery materials and film-like component waste from electronic/electrical equipment component waste by wind sorting, the powdery materials and film-like component waste are separated in a sorting machine 1A having an identification section 10, which will be described later. etc. flying up and causing poor visibility, it is possible to suppress a decline in the identification ability of the identification unit 10 included in the sorting machine 1A.

In addition, by removing light objects such as powder and film-like parts from waste electronic and electrical equipment parts using wind sorting, metals such as synthetic resins, metals, circuit boards, ICs, and capacitors can be removed. The content ratio of parts scraps can be increased.

Preferably, wind sorting is carried out in at least two stages. First, in the first stage of wind sorting, it is possible to remove powdery substances and film-like part waste (resin, aluminum foil, etc.) that may have a negative effect on the sorting ability of the sorting machine according to this embodiment. can. In the first stage of wind sorting process, the air volume may be set at, for example, 5 to 20 m/s, more preferably 5 to 12 m/s, further 5 to 10 m/s, and even 6 to 8 m/s. can.

It is preferable that the second stage of wind sorting is carried out for the purpose of concentrating synthetic resins and substrates from electronic/electrical equipment parts scraps from which powders and film-like parts scraps have been removed. For example, the air flow rate for the second stage of wind selection can be set to about 5 to 20 m/s, more preferably 10 to 18 m/s, furthermore 15 to 18 m/s, and even more preferably about 16 to 17 m/s.

It is further preferable that a sieving process is further performed using a sieving machine having a slit-shaped sieve between the first stage of wind sorting and the second stage of wind sorting. By performing a sieving process after the first stage of wind sorting, wire scraps such as wire scraps can be removed from electronic and electrical equipment parts scraps from which powder and film-like parts scraps have been removed. Therefore, in the second stage of wind sorting, it is possible to further increase the content of synthetic resins and substrates in the object to be processed, and it is also possible to reduce the load on the subsequent sorting process due to the contamination of wire scraps. .

If the processing target material with a concentrated content of synthetic resins and substrates obtained in this way is sorted into metals and non-metals using a metal sorter, etc., the non-metals will be removed. metal objects may not be collected with high efficiency.

In the method for processing electronic/electrical equipment parts waste according to the embodiment of the present invention, by using a sorter 1A equipped with an identification section 10 described later, synthetic resins, parts such as ICs, metals, and substrates are mixed. Boards can be selectively removed from component scraps. After removing the substrates from the electronic and electrical equipment parts, the electronic and electrical equipment parts are processed using a sorter (metal sorter) equipped with a metal sensor, a color sensor, an air valve, and a conveyor. Since it becomes easier to concentrate metals, it is possible to improve the efficiency of recovering metals from electronic and electrical equipment parts scraps.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the processing method according to the embodiment of the present invention uses a sorter (color sorter 1A) equipped with an identification section 10, an air valve 5, and a conveyor 2 to Equipment parts scrap can be sorted and processed.

The identification unit 10 is a device for identifying specific parts in electronic/electrical equipment part scraps as objects to be identified and other parts as objects to be identified. The identification unit 10 includes color sensors 3a and 3b that identify objects to be identified and non-identified objects based on the colors of the electronic and electrical equipment parts, and a color sensor that irradiates infrared light onto the electronic and electrical equipment parts to reflect the An infrared sensor 6 that identifies objects to be identified and objects that are not to be identified by reading the wavelengths detected, a metal sensor 8 that identifies metal objects and non-metal objects in scraps of electronic and electrical equipment parts, and the like are used.

In particular, in order to efficiently sort circuit boards from electronic/electrical equipment parts scraps, the identification unit 10 identifies the colors of objects to be identified and non-identified objects based on the colors of electronic/electrical equipment parts scraps. It is preferable that the color sensors 3a, 3b are configured to identify the color of the board in the electronic/electrical equipment component waste.

The conveyor 2 is not particularly limited as long as it is a device capable of conveying electronic/electrical equipment component scraps supplied from a feeder. The air valve 5 is connected to an object that the identification section 10 detects as a removal target (which may be an identification object that the identification section 10 has identified as an identification object, or a non-identification object that the identification section 10 does not identify as an identification object). This is a device that separates and removes objects by spraying gas (air) onto them and shooting them down or up into a container on the side of the object to be removed. Note that when the object is shot up and separated, the arrangement of the removed object and the recovered object in FIG. 1 is reversed.

The air valve 5 is configured to have a tip portion 5a (nozzle portion) having a predetermined shape for spraying gas onto the object to be detected. The tip portion 5a of the air valve 5 extends longitudinally in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the conveyor 2, and is provided with a plurality of holes 51 along the longitudinal direction as shown in FIG. The holes 51 each have a cross-sectional area A and are spaced apart from each other at a predetermined pitch P (distance between the centers of adjacent holes 51).

If the nozzle cross-sectional area A and the pitch P are too large, there is a risk that component waste other than the substrate will be shot down to the object to be removed, while if it is too small, the substrates will be selectively and appropriately dropped from the component waste to the container on the object to be removed. In some cases, the amount of air required to be injected from each nozzle becomes large, which increases the cost of ancillary equipment such as a compressor, which may not be economical. The nozzle cross-sectional area A of the air valve 5 is preferably 0.5 to 6 mm ² , more preferably 1 to 5 mm ² . The pitch P of the air valve 5 is preferably 2 to 8 mm, more preferably 3 to 6 mm.

In order to properly separate the substrate into the container on the removal side using the air valve 5, the spray width of the gas blown from the air valve 5 must be smaller than the minimum diameter of the identified object or non-identified object. You need to adjust it accordingly. Furthermore, in order to properly separate and sort the boards in the electronic/electrical device parts waste, it is necessary to adjust the spray distance from the air valve 5, that is, from the center of the hole 51 at the tip to the identified or non-identified target. The distance to the center is preferably adjusted to 5 to 50 mm, more preferably 5 to 30 mm, and even more preferably 5 to 10 mm.

Further, in order to properly separate the substrate into the container on the side of the removed material using the air valve 5, it is preferable to adjust the air pressure injected from the air valve 5 to 0.1 to 1.0 MPa. , more preferably 0.3 to 0.7 MPa, still more preferably 0.3 to 0.5 MPa. Although the hole of the air valve 5 has a rectangular shape in FIG. 2, it is not limited to the rectangular shape, and may be circular, oval, or slit-shaped. Further, the cross-sectional shape (spray pattern) of the fluid injected by the air valve 5 is not limited to rectangular, circular, or elliptical shapes, but may also be a shape in which the inside of the cross-section does not eject air partially, such as an annular shape or a spiral shape. It may be.

The spray distance and air pressure of the air valve 5 are appropriately adjusted to control the spray width from the hole of the air valve 5, that is, the amount of gas (air) ejected from the hole 51 at the tip toward the identification target or non-identification target. By spraying gas onto the substrate by making the maximum diameter of the spreading width at the reached distance (spray distance) smaller than the minimum diameter of the substrate contained in the electronic and electrical equipment parts waste, electronic and electrical equipment other than the board can be sprayed. It is possible to suppress the blowing of gas that entrains component scraps, and it is possible to further improve the efficiency of removing substrates from electronic/electrical component scraps.

The sorting machine 1A is further provided near a controller (not shown) that adjusts the pressure of air (air pressure) ejected from the air valve, color sensors 3a, 3b, and infrared sensor 6, respectively. 3b and the infrared sensor 6 may be further included.

Some substrates, which are objects to be sorted, have both the front and back sides covered with solder resist, and others have only one side covered with solder resist. Generally, the side covered with solder resist is green, and the side not covered with solder resist is brown. By setting the detection color to green in the sorter 1A, the surface covered with the solder resist can be detected and the substrate can be selectively removed.

In conventional devices where the color sensor is positioned to identify only the color of either the front or back side of the object to be processed, it is necessary to set the detection color to identify the color of both the front and back sides of the object to be processed. . When detecting a board with only one side covered with solder resist using such a conventional color sensor, the detection color is set to green on the side covered with solder resist and brown on the side not covered with solder resist. This setting is necessary, but false detections such as detecting brown or dirty white plastic (synthetic resin) as a board are likely to occur.

On the other hand, when the color sensors 3a and 3b are positioned to identify the colors of both the front and back surfaces of the object to be processed, as in the sorting machine 1A shown in FIG. The detection colors of the color sensors 3a and 3b may be set so as to identify the colors. When the color sensors 3a and 3b detect a board with only one side covered with solder resist, setting the detection color to the green of the side covered with solder resist will prevent false detection of plastic (synthetic resin). The substrate can be selectively removed while suppressing the damage. The detection color is preferably green, which is the current standard color of solder resist, but additional detection colors may be added depending on the color tone of the substrate to be sorted. For example, red, blue, black, white, etc. may be added as detection colors depending on the color of the substrate to be sorted.

By using a sorting machine 1A in which at least two color sensors 3a and 3b capable of identifying the colors of both the front and back sides of the objects to be processed are arranged below and above the conveyor 2, the colors of both the front and back sides of each object to be processed can be distinguished. Since it is possible to detect the substrate, it is possible to reduce false detection of substrates other than the substrate to be removed. Furthermore, an air valve 5 having a plurality of holes 51 with an area of 0.5 to 6 mm ² and a pitch of 2 to 8 mm is applied to the processing object, for example, a substrate, in the electronic/electrical device parts waste detected by the color sensors 3a and 3b. Since the configuration of the air valve 5 is optimized so as to spray gas, it is possible to more efficiently separate and remove the substrates in the electronic/electrical equipment component waste. As a result, according to the method for processing electronic/electrical equipment parts scraps according to the embodiment of the present invention, the amount of electronic/electrical equipment parts scraps processed in the smelting process can be increased, and valuable metals can be efficiently recovered. It becomes possible to do so.

(Other embodiments)
In the above-described embodiment, an example is shown in which the identification unit 10 includes color sensors 3a and 3b, and the air valve 5 is driven based on the identification result of the color of electronic/electrical equipment parts scraps by the color sensors 3a and 3b. Ta. However, in addition to the color sensors 3a and 3b, or in addition to the color sensors 3a and 3b, the air valve 5 is operated using the identification result combined with the identification result of at least one of the infrared sensor 6 and the metal sensor 8. Of course, it is possible.

Furthermore, although not shown here, in a sorting machine or sorting process using a metal sensor to remove metal or non-metallic objects from electronic/electrical device parts waste, an air valve 5 is installed based on the identification result by the metal sensor. It is also possible to configure the container so that the non-metallic objects are shot down into a container on the side of the removed object, the metal objects are sent to the side of the recovered object, and the non-metallic objects are separated and removed.

As described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the gist thereof. Moreover, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining the plurality of components disclosed in the above embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiments. Furthermore, components of different embodiments may be combined as appropriate.

1A... Sorting machine 2... Conveyor 3a, 3b... Color sensor 4a... Lighting 5... Air valve 5a... Tip part 6... Infrared sensor 8... Metal sensor 10... Identification part 51... Hole

Claims (4)

At least two stages of wind sorting are carried out on electronic and electrical equipment parts waste, and after removing light materials including powder and film-like parts waste in the first stage wind sorting, the second stage wind wind sorting is carried out. a step of performing a concentration process to increase the content of synthetic resin and substrate contained in the electronic/electrical equipment parts scrap during sorting;
After the concentration process , the electronic/electrical equipment parts scraps are sorted using a color sorter including an identification part, an air valve, and a conveyor, the electronic/electrical equipment parts identified by the identification part after the concentration process. With respect to substrate waste in equipment parts waste, the maximum diameter of the spread width of the gas ejected from the air valve is larger than the minimum diameter of the substrate waste in the spray distance from the hole of the air valve to the substrate waste. separating and removing the substrate debris by spraying the gas onto the substrate debris so as to reduce the size of the substrate debris ;
sorting the electronic/electrical device component scraps after the substrate scraps have been separated and removed into metal objects and non-metal objects using a metal sorter;
A method for processing electronic/electrical equipment parts waste, characterized by comprising: The air valve has a plurality of holes with a cross-sectional area of 0.5 to 6 mm ² and a pitch of 2 to 8 mm, the spray distance is 5 to 50 mm, and the air pressure of the air valve is 0.1 to 1.0 MPa. The method for processing electronic/electrical equipment parts waste according to claim 1. 3. The method for processing electronic/electrical equipment parts waste according to claim 1, wherein the metal sorter includes a metal sensor, a color sensor, an air valve, and a conveyor. The identification unit may include at least two color sensors located above and below the conveyor of the color sorter , which identify the color of both the front and back sides of the substrate scrap based on the color of the electronic/electrical equipment component scrap. The method for processing electronic/electrical equipment parts waste according to any one of claims 1 to 3, comprising: