Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B02—CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING; PREPARATORY TREATMENT OF GRAIN FOR MILLING
  • B02C—CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING IN GENERAL; MILLING GRAIN
  • B02C19/00—Other disintegrating devices or methods
  • B02C19/18—Use of auxiliary physical effects, e.g. ultrasonics, irradiation, for disintegrating
  • B02C19/186—Use of cold or heat for disintegrating
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B02—CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING; PREPARATORY TREATMENT OF GRAIN FOR MILLING
  • B02C—CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING IN GENERAL; MILLING GRAIN
  • B02C19/00—Other disintegrating devices or methods
  • B02C19/0056—Other disintegrating devices or methods specially adapted for specific materials not otherwise provided for
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01B—CABLES; CONDUCTORS; INSULATORS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR CONDUCTIVE, INSULATING OR DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
  • H01B15/00—Apparatus or processes for salvaging material from cables
  • H01B15/005—Apparatus or processes for salvaging material from cables by cutting
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02W—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT
  • Y02W30/00—Technologies for solid waste management
  • Y02W30/50—Reuse, recycling or recovery technologies
  • Y02W30/82—Recycling of waste of electrical or electronic equipment [WEEE]

Definitions

• This invention relates to processes for reclaiming telecommunication cables of the type that are filled with jelly or jelly-like substances as a waterproofing measure.
• Background of the Invention 10 Telecommunication cables of the waterproof type are today coming into wide-spread use.
• a tactile polypropylene flooding compound is applied between their protective sheathes about the cable core to inhibit entry of water.
• the cable core itself is also filled with a jelly-like substance such as petroleum jelly or an extended thermoplastic rubber.
• This latter material commonly referred to as a filling compound, is usually present in a much larger quantity than the flooding 20 compound. It serves to inhibit migration along the core of any water which has managed to enter the cable core notwithstanding the presence of the flooding compound.
• Telecommunication cables manufactured without jelly core may be reclaimed through the use of choppers or granulators and air gravity tables. These devices respectively liberate plastic insulation from the metallic -T conductors of the cable core and separate the cable
• a process for reclaiming a jelly-filled telecommunication cable.
• the process comprises the steps of cutting the cable into segments of jelly bearing insulated wires and forming the segments into a slurry heated to a temperature sufficient to soften the jelly.
• the slurry is milled thereby liberating insulation from the wires with a substantial portion of the softened jelly adhering to the liberated insulation.
• the jelly-bearing liberated insulation is then separated from the wires.
• FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the 5 third step of the process diagrammed in Figure 1. Description of the Preferred Embodiment
• the cable jacket usually formed of low density polyethylene
• the cable core is first stripped from the cable core.
• most of the 10 thermoplastic flooding compound usually present between the core and jacket is also peeled off.
• This exposes the jelly-filled cable core which typically is composed of a number of plastic insulated copper wires held in a bundle by a plastic, cord-like binder covered with a plastic core 15 wrap and sheathed with corrugated aluminum or steel or both.
• the lengths of scrap cores typically vary anywhere from a few feet to several hundred feet while their diameters vary from some 1/2 to 3 inches. In view of 20 this it is necessary to shear and then chop the cable into small segments of generally uniform size.
• the chopping operation is preferably done with a conventional granulator such as those sold by Triple/S Dynamics of Dallas, Texas until segments pass through a 1 1/2 inch grate.
• the 25 segments forced through the grate are comprised of copper wires covered with polyethylene plastic insulation measuring some 1 1/2 inches in length on the average and less than 1/16 inch in diameter. These are randomly coated with the petroleum jelly.
• the relatively large openings in 30 the grate prevent it from becoming fouled with the jelly. Passage through the granulator liberates some of the plastic insulation from the wires as before.
• the cable segments After the cable segments have passed through the grate they are mixed with hot water into a slurry and 35 milled or ground as with a Sprout-Waldron single disc mill type thermomechanical refiner.
• the water which preferably is heated to some 90 C, is introduced into the refiner through a feed line independent from that of the cable segments.
• formation of the slurry occurs just as the milling operation by the refiner commences. The milling itself then assists in further mixing of the water and cable segments.
• the Sprout-Waldron thermomechanical refiner employs two vertically oriented, teeth-bearing discs positioned closely adjacent one another. One disc is stationary while the other is rotated by a 250 HP motor at some 1800 RPM.
• the gap between the teeth bearing milling faces of the discs is adjustable whereby it may be set at less than the diameter of the insulated wire segments but greater than the wire diameter. With this spacing the refiner has been found to liberate the insulation from the wires rather than solely effect a conventional milling or grinding operation.
• the gap or spacing between the sets of teeth 16 and 17 has been found to be quite important with a gap of 15 mils being preferred for the size of wires previously mentioned. If the gap is made too wide the liberation effectiveness decreases while too small a gap reduces yield.
• a materials separator such as a Wemco Model 1500 hydrocyclone, where the metallic wires are separated from the insulation and jelly due to the difference in their specific gravities.
• hydrocyclones fluid pressure creates rotational fluid motion which causes relative movement of the particles mixed or suspended in the fluid thereby separating them. The rotating fluid is forced to spin towards the cyclone center and then upward through a vortex finder to escape.
• each particle in the fluid is affected by two opposite forces, namely an outward radial force due to centrifugal acceleration and an inward radial force due to the drag of the inwardly moving fluid.
• the relatively light insulation and jelly or "floats" yield to the fluid drag to become discharged through the vortex finder while the heavier wires or “sinks” yield to the centrifugal forces to become discharged through the apex orifice at the bottom of the cyclone.
• the slurry is also maintained at 90 C throughout separation to keep the petroleum jelly liquid and flowing.
• wires are screened as through a 8 mesh screen. Those wires not passing through the screen, which normally are those still bearing insulation, are recycled to the thermomechanical refiner for further liberation and size reduction while those passing through the screen are conveyed under a magnet to remove the steel content. The remaining aluminum and
• OMPI copper is then separated by a conventional destoner employing an oscillating, inclined vibrating table. Finally, the water is discharged or treated for reuse as by filtration or floatation to remove the jelly and impurities.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Toxicology (AREA)
• Separation, Recovery Or Treatment Of Waste Materials Containing Plastics (AREA)
• Processing Of Solid Wastes (AREA)
• Disintegrating Or Milling (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

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Cited By (4)

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Citations (4)

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• 1981
  • 1981-01-05 US US06/222,438 patent/US4363449A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1981-12-23 JP JP50055782A patent/JPS57502047A/ja active Pending
  • 1981-12-23 GB GB8224927A patent/GB2104802B/en not_active Expired
  • 1981-12-23 WO PCT/US1981/001729 patent/WO1982002348A1/en not_active Ceased

Patent Citations (4)

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