Field
This disclosure relates to material separation, such as recovery of metals from end-of-life vehicles.
Description of the Related Art
Approximately 12-15 million vehicles reach the end of their use each year in just the United States alone. For economic and ecological reasons, recovery of the metal and other materials contained in the scrap vehicles is becoming more important. About 65% of a typical car is made from steel, and the rest is made of other metals plus glass, rubber, foam and fiber.
The process of vehicle recycling typically first includes the pretreatment or de-pollution (e.g., removal of tires, battery, lubricants and fuel), shredding the vehicle using an industrial shredder (essentially a large hammer mill), and then sorting the shredded pieces to recover valuable material. Sorting is typically accomplished with a series of devices—first to extract ferrous metal pieces and then to extract non-ferrous metal pieces. The rates at which the material separators work can limit productivity and thus profitability.
Throughout this disclosure, elements appearing in figures are assigned three-digit reference designators, where the most significant digit is the figure number where the element is introduced and the two least significant digits are specific to the element. An element that is not described in conjunction with a figure may be presumed to have the same characteristics and function as a previously-described element having the same reference designator.