Patent Application
20140144813
The present invention relates to an electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus which crushes electric wire scrap and recovers copper materials and the like contained in the crushed materials using a specific gravity difference and, more particularly, to an electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus adapted to be able to recover high-purity copper materials and the like at high recovery rates.
Electric wire scrap contained in industrial waste and the like is attracting our attention as an effective resource which is available. In recovering copper materials from electric wire scrap, in general, there is known a dry type or wet type copper recovery apparatus which finely crushes electric wire scrap and recovers the copper materials contained in the crushed materials using a specific gravity difference.
A wet type copper recovery apparatus is attracting our attention as a promising copper recovery apparatus because the recovery apparatus can recover copper materials at high recovery rates.
As described in Patent Literature 1, a wet type copper recovery apparatus of the type is configured in such a manner that water is flowed onto an upper surface of a separation bed which is inclined aslant, vibrations transmitted in an upward aslant direction are given to the separation bed, and crushed electric wire scrap is charged onto the separation bed, whereby resin scrap is separated from the crushed materials using a specific gravity difference between the copper materials contained in the crushed materials and resin scrap and the copper materials are recovered.
Because the resin scrap contained in the crushed materials which are charged has a smaller specific gravity than water, the resin scrap floats on the water and moves to a lower portion of the separation bed by the water flow. In contrast, the copper materials contained in the crushed materials which are charged have a larger specific gravity than water, and the copper materials settle out and come into contact with the upper surface of the separation bed. In this state, vibrations given to the separation bed act and move the copper materials to the upper part of the separation bed. The resin scrap is separated from the crushed materials of electric wire scrap by using this phenomenon and the copper materials are recovered.
Incidentally, the above-described crushed materials contain crushed materials which are not sufficiently crushed and in which resin scrap adheres partially to the copper materials and the like (hereinafter referred to as miscut materials), and in the above-described copper recovery apparatus, how the miscut materials are separated and recovered poses a big problem.
That is, because copper materials are contained in the above-described miscut materials, a problem is that that unless copper materials and the like contained in the miscut materials are recovered, it is impossible to further increase the recovery rate of copper materials from electric wire scrap. Another problem is that if the above-described miscut materials mix in the copper materials which are recovered, the purity of the recovered copper materials decreases.
Therefore, in the electric wire copper recovery apparatus described in Patent Literature 1, in a downstream-side end portion of a separation bed 2, a receiving tank 26 which is recessed under the separation bed 2 is provided, a discharge opening which discharges the floating substance in the upper layer of the receiving tank 26 is provided in a front wall of the receiving tank 26, a second separation bed 27 which vibrates together with the above-described separation bed 2 is provided in such a manner as to be aslant along the above-described separation bed 2, crushed materials which accumulate at the bottom of the above-described receiving tank 26 are supplied to a bed surface of the second separation bed 27 through a communication passage 28, and water is allowed to flow onto the bed surface of the second separation bed 27 by use of a shower device 29, whereby the floating substance is further separated and miscut materials are recovered.
However, in the configuration described in Patent Literature 1 above, it is impossible to recover miscut materials with good efficiency although the separation rate of resin scrap increases. For this reason, a problem with the configuration described in Patent Literature 1 is that it is impossible to increase the recovery rate of copper materials.
Therefore, the present invention was made to solve such problems and the object of the invention is to provide an electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus with improved recovery rates of copper materials and the like by causing miscut materials contained in crushed materials to be capable of being separated and recovered with good efficiency.
In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention provides an electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus in which water is allowed to flow onto an inclined separation bed from a shower device, vibrations transmitted in an upward aslant direction are simultaneously given to the separation bed, and crushed electric wire scrap is charged onto the separation bed, whereby copper materials and the like contained in crushed materials are recovered by being moved upward on the separation bed and resin scrap contained in the crushed materials are separated by being moved downward on the separation bed. In the electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus, in a lower portion on the separation bed, a weir which holds back part of the water flowing on the separation bed is provided across the width of the separation bed. In the electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus, at least on one side on the separation bed, there is provided a partition plate which forms a miscut material recovery passage whose one end is open in the vicinity of an upper end of a pool of water formed by the weir and through which water is not allowed to flow. And in the electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus, miscut materials in which resin scrap adheres partially to copper materials and the like contained in the crushed materials are separated and recovered via the miscut material recovery passage.
That is, in the present invention, because the specific gravity of the miscut materials contained in the crushed materials is intermediate between the specific gravity of the copper materials and the like contained in the crushed materials and the specific gravity of the resin scrap contained in the crushed materials, when a weir which holds back part of the water flowing on the separation bed is provided across the width of the separation bed, the miscut materials gather in a region in the vicinity of an upper end of the pool of water which is formed by the weir. Paying attention to this phenomenon, in a region where the miscut materials on the separation bed gather, there is provided a partition plate which forms a miscut material passage whose one end is open in the vicinity of an upper end of a pool of water formed by the weir and in which water is not allowed to flow, and it is ensured that the miscut materials are separated and recovered by using this miscut material recovery passage.
In this connection, although the above-described partition plate may be formed on one side on the above-described separation bed, in view of efficiency it is preferred that the above-described partition plate be formed on both sides on the above-described separation bed.
In addition, the above-described partition plate can be configured in such a manner that an end portion thereof is bent toward the side of a widthwise middle portion of the separation bed. Because in this configuration the water level increases in the bent portion of the above-described partition plate, it becomes possible to guide the miscut material into the miscut material recovery passage with good efficiency.
Furthermore, because water does not flow in the miscut material recovery passage, the miscut material which has been guided into the miscut material recovery passage moves on the miscut material recovery passage upward due to the vibrations transmitted in an upward aslant direction of the separation bed. Because moisture is removed from the miscut material as a result of this movement, it is preferred that the recovery opening of the miscut material be provided in an upper portion of the miscut material recovery passage.
However, in the case where it is unnecessary to remove moisture from the miscut material, the recovery opening of the miscut material may be provided in the vicinity of a lower portion of the miscut material recovery passage.
And it is possible to configure the above-described weir in such a manner as to be provided in a plurality of rows at prescribed intervals across the width of the separation bed. In this configuration, the miscut material which has not been recovered can be recovered by being caused to settle out between a weir and a weir.
The above-described shower device can be configured in such a manner as to be provided with a receiving box into which the water which is recovered with the miscut material and is filtered with a filter is poured and whose one side is formed low, and in such a manner that a plurality of partitions which are formed low at one side of the receiving box and are provided at prescribed intervals, with the result that the water which overflows from the above-described receiving box is allowed to flow onto the above-described separation bed from between the above-described partitions.
In this configuration, even when resin scrap mixes into the water which has been poured into the receiving box, the resin scrap floats on the water and hence the inconvenience that it is impossible to obtain a uniform water flow due to the clogging of the shower device does not occur.
In the case where the copper materials and the like which are recovered by being moved upward on the separation bed contain cylindrical small copper pieces obtained by cutting copper wires and small brass pieces obtained by cutting connector parts, there may be further provided a brass removal screening device into which copper materials and the like recovered by being moved upward on the above-described separation bed are charged and from which the above-described small copper pieces are taken out by separating the above-described small brass pieces. The electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus may be configured in such a manner as to selectively remove small brass pieces by means of the brass removal screening device by using a shape difference between the above-described small copper pieces and the above-described small brass pieces.
In this case, the above-described brass removal screening device can be configured in such a manner as to be provided with a mesh plate formed from a punching metal arranged horizontally and vibration additional means which gives vibrations transmitted in an upward slant direction to the mesh plate.
According to the present invention, paying attention to the phenomenon of the miscut materials contained in crushed materials gathering in a region in the vicinity of an upper end of the pool of water which is formed by the weir, there is provided on the separation bed a partition plate which forms a miscut material passage whose one end is open in the above-described region, where the above-described miscut materials gather, and through which water is not allowed to flow, and it is ensured that the miscut materials are separated and recovered by using this miscut material recovery passage. Therefore, it is possible to separate and recover the miscut materials with good efficiency, which enables the recovery rate of copper materials and the like to be substantially improved.
Embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings attached to the application.
Although copper materials and the like, which are the objects of recovery of the electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus of the present invention, include various kinds of metals contained in wire scrap, such as copper, aluminum, and gold, in the embodiments described below, a description will be given of the case where the object of recovery of the electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus of the present invention is copper.
In
In a lower portion of the separation bed 10, a weir 11 which holds back part of the water flowing on the separation bed is provided across the width of the separation bed, and a pool 12 of water is formed by the weir 11 in part of the lower portion on the separation bed 10.
The vibration generator 20, which is composed of, for example, an eccentric motor, is connected to a link attaching portion 10a provided on a bottom surface of the separation bed 10 via an X-direction link 20a and gives vibrations in an X-direction to the separation bed 10.
A filter 50a is provided on a lower surface of the resin scrap recovery box 50, and is configured to circulate and reuse the water recovered from the lower surface of the resin scrap recovery box 50.
Incidentally, although in Embodiment 1 the angle d of the separation bed 10 is set at 5 degrees, it is possible to set the angle d in the range of 3 degrees to 10 degrees.
In Embodiment 1 the vibration direction X given by the vibration generator 20 to the separation bed 10 is set at 45 degrees and the amplitude width is set at 2 to 3 millimeters. Furthermore, in Embodiment 1 the height of the weir 11 is set at 10 to 15 millimeters.
Copper materials 41, resin scrap 42, and miscut materials 43 are contained in the crushed materials charged from the crushed material charging device 40 onto the separation bed 10. The specific gravity of the copper materials 41 is 7.9, the specific gravity of the resin scrap 42 is in the range of 0.9 to 1.9, and the specific gravity of the miscut materials 43 is between the specific gravities of the copper materials 41 and the resin scrap 42.
In the electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus 100 of the above configuration, when the crushed materials are charged from the crushed material charging device 40 onto the separation bed 10, with the water not allowed to flow from the shower device 30 onto the separation bed 10, the copper materials 41, resin scrap 42, and miscut materials 43 contained in the crushed materials move on the separation bed 10 while repeating small jumps due to the vibrations given by the vibration generator 20 to the separation bed 10.
Incidentally, in the electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus 100, a uniform water flow (indicated by the arrows Y in
The copper materials 41 settle out onto the bottom surface of the pool 12 because of their larger specific gravity than water, come into contact with the upper surface of the separation bed 10, and move upward on the separation bed 10 while repeating small jumps due to the vibrations given by the vibration generator 20 to the separation bed 10. The arrow A of
The copper materials 41 which have moved upward on the separation bed 10, fall downward at the upper end of the separation bed 10, and are recovered in the copper material recovery box 60.
In contrast, in the pool 12 the resin scrap 42 floats on the upper surface of the pool because of its smaller specific gravity than water, is caused to flow by a water flow, moves downward on the separation bed 10, overflows the weir 11, and reaches the lower end of the separation bed 10. The arrow B of
The resin scrap 42 which has moved downward on the separation bed 10, falls downward with the water at the lower end of the separation bed 10, and is recovered in the resin scrap recovery box 50.
On the other hand, although the miscut materials 43 settle out in the pool 12, the specific gravity thereof is between the specific gravities of the copper materials 41 and of the resin scrap 42 and hence the force with which the miscut materials move upward on the separation bed 10 and the force of flowing the miscut materials downward by a water flow are almost equal, with the result that the miscut materials accumulate in the vicinity of the upper end of the pool 12 and continue increasing in number in the vicinity of the upper end of the pool 12.
If this condition is left as it is, the force with which the miscut materials 43 move upward on the separation bed 10 increases, and eventually the miscut materials 43 move upward. If the miscut materials 43 mix in the copper materials 41, then the grade of the recovered copper materials decreases. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the miscut materials 43.
Therefore, in Embodiment 1, on both sides on the separation bed 10, the partition plates 13, 14 which extend from the upper end of the separation bed 10 to the vicinity of the upper end of the pool 12 are provided, and a region having the length L between the partition plate 13 and the partition plate 14 is configured in such a manner that although water is allowed to flow from the shower device 30, water is not allowed to flow in the regions on both sides on the separation bed 10 partitioned by the partition plate 13 and the partition plate 14, and that the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16 are formed in the regions on both sides on the separation bed 10 partitioned by the partition plate 13 and the partition plate 14, whereby the miscut material 43 accumulating in the vicinity of the upper end of the pool 12 is recovered via the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16.
Further, in Embodiment 1, end portions 13a, 14a corresponding to the openings of the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16 of the partition plate 13, 14 are configured in such a manner as to be bent toward the sides of a widthwise middle portion of the separation bed 10.
The reason for this is that by this measure, the miscut material 43 accumulating in the vicinity of the upper end of the pool 12 is guided with good efficiency into the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16 formed in the regions on both sides of the separation bed 10.
That is, when the end portions 13a, 14a of the partition plates 13, 14 are configured in such a manner as to be bent toward the sides of a widthwise middle portion of the separation bed 10, the water passage of the water allowed to flow from the shower device 30 is made narrow in these portions and hence the water level increases, with the result that it is possible to efficiently guide the miscut material 43 accumulating in the vicinity of the upper end of the pool 12 into the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16 formed in the regions on both sides of the separation bed 10.
Because the water is not allowed to flow in the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16, the miscut materials 43 guided into the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16 move in the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16 while repeating small jumps due to the vibrations given by the vibration generator 20 to the separation bed 10 in the direction indicated by the arrows C.
While the miscut materials 43 are moving upward in the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16, moisture is removed from the miscut materials 43. The miscut materials 43 pass through recovery openings 15a, 16a above the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16 and are recovered in the miscut material recovery box 70.
Further, although small amounts of copper materials 41 and resin scrap 42 are contained in the miscut materials 43 recovered in the miscut material recovery box 70, the miscut materials 43 recovered in the miscut material recovery box 70 are crushed again by a grinding machine, which is not shown, and are recharged from the crushed material charging device 40 onto the separation bed 10, whereby it is possible to recover copper materials again.
According to Embodiment 1 also the copper materials contained in the miscut materials 43 can be recovered with good efficiency in this manner and hence the recovery rate of copper materials from electric wire scrap can be further improved.
Further, in Embodiment 1 the configuration is such that the partition plates 13, 14 are provided on both sides on the separation bed 10 and the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16 are formed in the regions on both sides on the separation bed 10, whereby miscut materials 43 are recovered via the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16. However, the configuration may be such that a partition plate is provided only on one side on the separation bed 10, whereby a miscut material recovery passage is formed in the region on one side on the separation bed 10 and the miscut materials 43 are recovered via this miscut material recovery passage.
In the electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus 100 of Embodiment 1, as shown in
In the case where this circulating system is adopted, part of the resin scrap not removed by the filter 50a and of the scattered resin scrap may sometimes mix in the water, causing the clogging of the shower device 30, with the result that it is impossible to obtain a uniform water flow. If a uniform water flow cannot be obtained in the shower device 30, gaps of water flow are formed in these portions on the separation bed 10 and the resin scrap 42 moves upward on the separation bed 10. If the resin scrap mixes in the copper materials 41, the grade of recovered copper materials decreases.
Therefore, in Embodiment 1, an overflow system as shown in
In the shower device 30 shown in
According to such a configuration as described above, thanks to the action of the partition 30c, it is possible to supply shower-like uniform water onto the separation bed 10. Even when at this time, resin scrap mixes in the water poured into the receiving box 30a, this resin scrap floats on the water and hence the inconvenience that it is impossible to obtain a uniform water flow because of the clogging in the shower device 30 does not occur.
The electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus 200 of Embodiment 2 of the present invention shown in
As in Embodiment 1 described with the aid of
Further, in the lower portions of the separation bed 10 the duplex weirs 11a, 11b are provided with a prescribed spacing therebetween. A pool 12a of water is formed by the weir 11a in part of the lower portion on the separation bed 10, and a pool 12b of water is formed by the weir 11b below the pool 12a.
Further, on both sides on the separation bed 10, the partition plates 13, 14 which extend from the upper end of the separation bed 10 to the vicinity of the upper end of the pool 12a are provided, and a region having the length L between the partition plate 13 and the partition plate 14 is configured in such a manner that although water is allowed to flow from the shower device 30, water is not allowed to flow in the regions on both sides on the separation bed 10 partitioned by the partition plate 13 and the partition plate 14, whereby the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16 are formed in the regions on both sides on the separation bed 10 partitioned by the partition plate 13 and the partition plate 14.
In the electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus 200 of such a configuration, when crushed materials containing copper materials 41, resin scrap 42, and miscut materials 43 are charged from the crushed material charging device 40 shown in
In this connection, the copper materials 41 settle out in the pool 12a because of their larger specific gravity than water, come into contact with the upper surface of the separation bed 10, and move upward on the separation bed 10 while repeating small jumps due to the vibrations given by the vibration generator 20 to the separation bed 10. The arrow A of
In contrast, in the pool 12a the resin scrap 42 floats on the upper surface of the pool because of its smaller specific gravity than water, is allowed to flow by a water flow, moves downward on the separation bed 10, overflows the weirs 11a, 11b, and reaches the lower end of the separation bed 10. The arrow B of
On the other hand, the miscut materials 43 accumulate in the vicinity of the upper end of the pool 12. The miscut materials 43 are guided into the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16, move upward on the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16 while repeating small jumps due to the vibrations given by the vibration generator 20 to the separation bed 10, and are recovered from the recovery openings 15a, 16a in the direction of the arrows C.
Because in this embodiment the length of the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16 is small, moisture is not sufficiently removed from the miscut materials 43.
Incidentally, small amounts of copper materials 41 and resin scrap 42 are contained in the miscut materials 43 recovered in the miscut material recovery box 70, and small amounts of miscut materials 43 settle out the upstream side of the weir 11a and between the weir 11a and the weir 11b. The miscut materials 43 caused to settle out the upstream side of the weir 11a and between the weir 11a and the weir 11b, along with the miscut materials 43 recovered from the recovery openings 15a, 16a, are crushed again by a grinding machine, which is not shown, and are recharged from the crushed material charging device 40 onto the separation bed 10.
As described above, according to Embodiment 2, it is possible to recover the copper materials included in the miscut materials 43, including the miscut materials 43 caused to settle out on the upstream side of the weir 11a and between the weir 11a and the weir 11b, and hence it is possible to further improve the recovery rate of copper materials from electric wire scrap.
Also in Embodiment 2 above, the configuration may be such that a partition plate is provided only on one side on the separation bed 10 and a miscut material recovery passage is formed in the region on one side on the separation bed 10, whereby the miscut materials 43 are recovered via this miscut material recovery passage.
Furthermore, although the recovery openings 15a, 16a of the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16 are provided in the vicinity of the lower portions of the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16, in the same manner as in Embodiment 1 the recovery openings 15a, 16a may be provided above the miscut material recovery passages 15, 16.
Incidentally, in the case where wire harnesses used in vehicles and the like are treated using the electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus of the above configuration, certain amounts of plate-like small brass pieces are included in the copper materials and the like which fall downward from the upper end of the separation bed 10 by being moved upward on the separation bed 10 because the connectors of wire harnesses are made of brass. The presence of small brass pieces lowers the grade of the recovered copper.
Therefore, for the case where the object to be treated using an electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus of the above configuration is wire harnesses used in vehicles and the like and the copper materials and the like recovered by being moved upward on the separation bed 10 shown in
A brass removal screening device 300 shown in
A hopper 400 is provided at the left end of the brass removal screening device 300, and copper materials and the like which are the objects of brass removal, containing cylindrical small copper pieces 401 obtained by cutting copper wires and plate-like small brass pieces 402 obtained by cutting connector portions, are charged from the hopper 400 into the brass removal screening device. Incidentally, copper materials and the like recovered after upward movement on the separation bed 10 of
As shown in
In this connection, in this embodiment the direction Z in which vibrations are given by the vibration applicator 304 is set in such a manner as to provide an inclination of approximately 7 degrees with respect to the vertical direction so that the jumping height b of the jumping trajectory of the small copper pieces 401 and small brass pieces 402 indicated by broken lines in
In this configuration, the cylindrical small copper pieces 401 and plate-like small brass pieces 402 which have fallen from the hopper 400 onto the screen mesh plate 302 of the brass removal screening device 300 move slowly in the direction of the arrow D while jumping as indicated by the broken lines in
And during this movement, the cylindrical small copper pieces 401 fall from the holes 302a of the punching metal of the screen mesh plate 302 onto the copper material recovery passage 303 below, pass through the copper material recovery passage 303, and are recovered in the copper recovery box 305.
Because the small brass pieces 402 have a plate-like shape, the small brass pieces do not fall downward through the holes 302a of the punching metal of the screen mesh plate 302, and move on the screen mesh plate 302 in the direction of the arrow D. And the small brass pieces 402 fall downward at the end portion of the screen mesh plate 302 and are recovered in the brass recovery box 306.
Incidentally, because vibrations are given by the vibration applicator 304 to the screen mesh plate 302, in this treatment clogging does not occur in the screen mesh plate 302.
By adopting the brass removal screening device 300 of the above configuration, even in the case where the object of treatment is wire harnesses used in vehicles and the like, it becomes possible to remove almost all small brass pieces, and this enables higher-quality copper materials to be recovered.
Incidentally, in the above-described embodiments, the description was given of the case where the object of recovery of the electric wire scrap high-grade recovery apparatus is copper materials. However, the same configuration can be adopted also in the case where the object of recovery is other metals contained in wiring scrap, such as aluminum and gold.
Incidentally, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and many variations can be made by the ordinary creative ability of those skilled in the art so long as the variations are in the range of the technical philosophy of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-160044 | Jul 2011 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP12/65978 | 6/22/2012 | WO | 00 | 10/23/2012 |
