Systems and methods for improving the stability of non-ferrous metals on a conveyor

{
  "publication_number": "US10836584B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Systems and methods for improving the stability of non-ferrous metals on a conveyor",
  "abstract": "A conveying system, such as a conveying system for material including non-ferrous metals, includes a conveying belt and a stabilizer. The conveying belt includes a conveying surface and is adapted to convey the material on the conveying surface. The stabilizer is configured to apply a stabilizing force onto the material on the conveyor belt such that the material is stabilized while being conveyed. A method of stabilizing material on a conveyor belt includes receiving the material on the conveying surface of the conveyor belt, conveying the material at a conveying speed with the conveyor belt, and applying the stabilizing force onto the material with a stabilizer such that vertical displacement of at least some of the material is dampened and/or minimized at the conveying speed.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A conveying system comprising: a conveyor belt comprising a conveying surface, the conveyor belt adapted to convey material on the conveying surface; and a stabilizer configured to apply a stabilizing force onto the material on the conveyor belt, wherein the stabilizer comprises at least one magnet above the conveying surface, wherein the at least one magnet is configured to apply a downward magnetic field as the stabilizing force onto the material.",
    "2. The conveying system of claim 1, further comprising a first roller and a second roller downstream from the first roller, wherein the conveyor belt is movably supported on the first roller and the second roller, and wherein the second roller is at an end of the conveying system.",
    "3. The conveying system of claim 2, wherein the second roller comprises an eddy current separator roller configured to apply a magnetic field onto the material on the conveyor belt.",
    "4. The conveying system of claim 2, wherein the stabilizer is provided adjacent to the second roller such that the stabilizing force is applied onto the material at the second roller.",
    "5. The conveying system of claim 2, wherein the stabilizer is provided upstream from the second roller such that the stabilizing force is applied onto the material at a location upstream from the second roller.",
    "6. The conveying system of claim 2, wherein the first roller and the second roller are configured to move the conveyor belt at a conveying speed of from about 10 m/s to about 20 m/s, and wherein the stabilizer is configured to apply the stabilizing force onto the material on the conveyor belt such that the material is stabilized at the conveying speed.",
    "7. The conveying system of claim 1, wherein the at least one magnet is adjustable to adjust the stabilizing force.",
    "8. The conveying system of claim 1, wherein the at least one magnet comprises a plurality of magnets, wherein the stabilizer further comprises a first region comprising a first subset of the plurality of magnets and a second region comprising a second subset of the plurality of magnets, and wherein the magnetic field generated by at least one of the magnets of the first subset is different from the magnetic field generated by at least one of the magnets of the second subset.",
    "9. The conveying system of claim 1, wherein the at least one magnet comprises a plurality of magnets, wherein the stabilizer further comprises a triggering region and a stabilizing region, wherein the at least one magnet is in the stabilizing region.",
    "10. The conveying system of claim 1, wherein the at least one magnet comprises a plurality of magnets, wherein each magnet is independently controllable, and wherein the conveying system further comprises: a sensor upstream from the stabilizer; and a controller, wherein the sensor is configured to detect a position of at least one non-ferrous piece of metal of the material on the conveying surface, and wherein the controller is configured to activate at least one of the plurality of magnets corresponding to the position on the conveying surface.",
    "11. The conveying system of claim 1, wherein the stabilizer is configured to apply the stabilizing force in a stabilizing region, wherein the stabilizing force comprises an upstream stabilizing force at an upstream portion of the stabilizing region and a downstream stabilizing force at a downstream portion of the stabilizing region, and wherein the downstream stabilizing force is different from the upstream stabilizing force.",
    "12. The conveying system of claim 1, further comprising: a controller; and a sensor configured to detect a position of at least one non-ferrous piece of metal of the material on the conveying surface, wherein the controller is configured to control the stabilizer based on at least one of the position on the conveying surface or a conveying speed of the conveyor belt.",
    "13. A method of stabilizing material on a conveyor belt comprising: receiving the material on a conveying surface of the conveyor belt; conveying the material at a conveying speed with the conveyor belt; and applying a stabilizing force onto the material with a stabilizer such that vertical displacement of at least some of the material is dampened and/or minimized at the conveying speed, wherein the method further comprises detecting a position of a non-ferrous metal of the material on the conveying surface before applying the stabilizing force, and wherein applying the stabilizing force comprises applying the stabilizing force at the position on the conveying surface.",
    "14. The method of claim 13, wherein the conveying speed is from about 1 m/s to about 20 m/s.",
    "15. The method of claim 13, wherein at least some of the material comprises non-ferrous metal, and wherein the stabilizing force is applied on the non-ferrous metal.",
    "16. The method of claim 13, wherein the stabilizer comprises at least one magnet, and wherein the stabilizing force comprises a magnetic field.",
    "17. The method of claim 16, further comprising controlling the magnetic field by controlling at least one of a strength of the magnetic field, a frequency of the magnetic field, or a direction of the magnetic field.",
    "18. The method of claim 13, wherein the stabilizer comprises a plurality of magnets, wherein a first subset of the plurality of magnets is arranged in a first region and a second subset of the plurality of magnets is arranged in a second region, wherein applying the stabilizing force comprises applying a first magnetic field by the first subset of the plurality of magnets and applying a second magnetic field by the second subset of the plurality of magnets, and wherein the second magnetic field is different from the first magnetic field.",
    "19. A conveying system comprising: a conveyor belt comprising a conveying surface, the conveyor belt adapted to convey material on the conveying surface; a stabilizer configured to apply a stabilizing force onto the material on the conveyor belt; a controller; and a sensor configured to detect a position of at least one non-ferrous piece of metal of the material on the conveying surface, wherein the controller is configured to control the stabilizer based on at least one of the position on the conveying surface or a conveying speed of the conveyor belt."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "This application relates to conveyor belts, and more particularly to conveyor belts configured to carry mixed materials.\n\nConveyor belts are used in a number of industries for conveying different kinds of material. As one example, conveyor belts are used in metal recycling. During metal recycling, the conveyor belt may be used with an eddy current separator, which uses a powerful magnetic field to separate non-ferrous metals from waste after ferrous metals have previously been removed. The eddy current separator is commonly provided as an end roller of the conveyor, and the conveyor belt conveys mixed waste such that at the end of the conveyor belt, non-ferrous metals are thrown forward from the belt while non-metals fall off the belt due to gravity. Traditionally, conveyor belts with eddy current separators are run at low speeds (e.g., about 1-3 m/s) such that the material on the belt is stable. To achieve higher throughputs in production environments, the belt speed must be high (e.g., up to about 10-20 m/s). However, at such higher speeds, the material on the belt is not stable and bounces or moves around on the belt. Such movement decreases the separation effectiveness of the eddy current separator because the pieces may bounce out of range of the magnetic field created by the eddy current separator and/or the material may become stacked up (i.e., the material is not a monolayer), which is more difficult to separate.",
  "cpc": [
    "B65G 21/2009",
    "B03C 1/0332",
    "B03C 1/0335",
    "B03C 1/16",
    "B03C 1/247",
    "B03C 2201/20",
    "B03C 2201/32",
    "B65G 21/2018",
    "B65G 2203/043",
    "B65G 47/42",
    "B65G 47/503",
    "Y02P 10/20"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B03C 1/16",
    "B03C 1/247",
    "B65G 21/20",
    "B65G 47/42",
    "B65G 47/50"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Novelis Inc Canada"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Michael R. Kosmicki",
    "Adwait A. Thakur"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2019-07-08",
  "publication_date": "2020-11-17",
  "grant_date": "2020-11-17",
  "priority_date": "2018-07-09",
  "application_number": "US-201916504712-A",
  "family_id": "67441706",
  "cited_by_count": 2,
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}