Overhead Self Cleaning Magnets for recycling industry
Last Updated on Friday, 13 February 2009 11:18
Overhead magnets are used in recycling lines of all types. These magnets are self-cleaning and remove ferrous metals from any type of material. Typically; these overhead magnets are installed in the line, after a shredder (grinder) and always above a metal-free area of a conveyor. The metal-free are can be made of wood, but mostly these are fiberglass sections. This is necessary so that the conveyor does not become magnetized and therefore work against the magnet itself.
In a lot of cases, these overhead magnets are also used before a shredder. This would be done in a recycling line like Municipal Solid Waste (Garbage) lines, or even plastic recycling installations, to clean out as much metal as they can before the material gets into the downstream processes.
The overhead self cleaning magnet is used for example in the pallet manufacturing and pallet recycling industry to remove all of the nails from the wood chips. A pallet contains as much as two pounds of nails, but since they are relatively soft ferrous materials, they are no problem for our grinders and they are no trouble to remove after the nails have been separated from the wood during the grinding process. Here is a video clip of an overhead magnet at work in a wood application;