Design and Implementation of a Novel Stationary Electromagnetic Eddy Current Separator

• Author / Creator

  Shahabbasi, Mohammad

• Metal recycling is a sustainable development which reduces greenhouse gases, maximizes
  the use of finite natural resources, and diverts material from landfills. Recycling
  can reduce the air pollution by 86%, water pollution by 76%, and energy consumption
  by 74%. The most common recyclable metals are aluminum and steel. The
  steel (Ferrous metals) can be easily separated out magnetically. Non-Ferrous metal
  such as Aluminum, whose productions are also very energy demanding, require more
  complicated sorting technologies like Eddy Current separators to recover the metal
  fractions. In this research, innovative magnetic structure suitable for power electronics
  is designed, optimized and implemented to eliminate the barriers of conventional
  rotating magnetic drum such as maintenance and energy consumption.
  Conventionally, magnetic drums are used for the separation of the non-ferrous
  metal. The conventional dynamic separators utilize power consuming rotors with high
  number of special rare earth magnetic poles, which makes them heavy, expensive and
  inflexible without the capability to adjust the frequency suitable for various particle
  sizes. Apart from dynamic separators, a number of static or stationary separators
  have also been proposed. However, the existing static solutions are not able to provide
  comparable magnetic fields to the dynamic separators and cannot achieve the required
  performance with an acceptable efficiency.
  In this dissertation, a variety of possible magnetic structures are analyzed, simulated
  by FEM, designed, and modeled leading to a novel static highly flexible planar
  structure to eliminate the barriers of the conventional static eddy current separators.
  The optimum structure and magnetic field is achieved using analytical derivation of a
  cost function based on practical industrial constraints. The optimized design is used
  to implement a scaled down prototype and the accuracy of the analytical model and
  FEM calculated magnetic field results are validated by experimental setup.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Eddy current separator
  • FEM

• Graduation date

  Fall 2022

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-90g2-g126

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Library with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.