Method and apparatus for sorting metal
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for separating metal pieces from a plurality of mixed material pieces, comprising the steps:
- placing a plurality of mixed material pieces comprising a plurality of metal pieces of varying size on an upper surface of a conveyor belt;
moving the conveyor belt and the mixed material pieces passed a plurality of shielded inductive proximity sensors and a plurality of unshielded inductive proximity sensors;
transmitting the outputs of the shielded inductive proximity sensors and the plurality of unshielded inductive proximity sensors to a computer to determine the locations of a plurality of metal pieces, wherein the outputs correspond to an indication of the location of one or more of the plurality of metal pieces;
actuating one or more air jets to separate the metal pieces from the mixed material pieces;
based on the outputs from the sensor andplacing the metal pieces in a first bin and placing the non-metal pieces in a second bin.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for sorting metals from a batch of mixed material scrap includes an array of inductive proximity detectors, a processing computer and a sorting mechanism. The inductive proximity detectors identify the location of the metal pieces and the processing computer instructs the sorting mechanism to place the metal and non-metallic pieces into separate containers.
110 Citations
6 Claims
-
1. A method for separating metal pieces from a plurality of mixed material pieces, comprising the steps:
-
placing a plurality of mixed material pieces comprising a plurality of metal pieces of varying size on an upper surface of a conveyor belt; moving the conveyor belt and the mixed material pieces passed a plurality of shielded inductive proximity sensors and a plurality of unshielded inductive proximity sensors; transmitting the outputs of the shielded inductive proximity sensors and the plurality of unshielded inductive proximity sensors to a computer to determine the locations of a plurality of metal pieces, wherein the outputs correspond to an indication of the location of one or more of the plurality of metal pieces; actuating one or more air jets to separate the metal pieces from the mixed material pieces;
based on the outputs from the sensor andplacing the metal pieces in a first bin and placing the non-metal pieces in a second bin. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
Specification