Bunting has redesigned and refurbished the industrial magnetizer at its Reddit manufacturing facility in the U.K. This redesign follows the increased demand for Bunting magnetic separators. Bunting says that the updates will make the DC impulse industrial magnetizer at its facility the largest in the U.K., outside of academia.
At the Redditch manufacturing facility, Bunting's industrial magnetizer charges permanent magnet assemblies used in overband magnets, drum magnets, and pulley magnets. The magnet assemblies are built in an uncharged state and then placed within the magnetizer for charging to create a focused and specific shape of magnetic field. The nature of this created magnetic field dictates how the magnetic separator will separate ferrous metals and magnetically susceptible materials from non-metallic materials as in the recycling, mining, and quarrying sectors.
Bunting's operations team continually reviews manufacturing processes for improvement opportunities and highlights industrial magnetizer update benefits. These benefits included significant operating efficiency improvements.
The refurbishment involved a complete mechanical and electrical overhaul. However, production demands dictated that the time allowed for the refurbishment was limited to a maximum of 10 days.
The Redditch impulse industrial magnetiser is rated at 50kW, drawing a continuous amount of DC from the main power. Each energizing phase lasts for only 10 seconds and generates approximately 500kJ of energy. The 12-tonne magnetizer stands 1.5 metres tall on a three- by two-metre footprint.
Since the upgrade, the magnetization of a magnet assembly requires significantly fewer ‘magnetic hits,' reducing the energy consumed by the magnetizer by over 30 percent. The resultant quicker magnetizing process results in freeing production resources, accommodating the extra demand. The size scope of chargeable magnet assemblies has also increased up to 2000 by 1400 by 400 millimetres, weighing approximately 5 tonnes.
