Technical field of the invention

The invention relates to a diverting roller for a waste separator for separating non-ferrous metal parts from waste supplied on a conveyor belt, comprising: a hollow circular-cylindrical jacket for diverting the conveyor belt, two bearing carriers on which bearings are present in which the jacket is journalled, and a magnetic rotor which is parallel to and extends in the jacket and is provided with a cylinder wall provided with magnets and which is provided with at least one rotor shaft which is eccentric journalled in relation to the jacket.

To recover metals from waste streams, diverting rollers having a magnetic rotor within the jacket that is in contact with the conveyor belt, are used. The configuration of the magnets in the magnetic rotor and the rotational speed of the magnetic rotor create an inductive field. The inductive field ensures that non-ferrous metal parts are separated from the rest of the waste flow. For optimal operation of the magnetic rotor, the jacket should be as thin as possible and preferably as hard as possible. For the jacket, therefore, special materials are used that are strong and hard enough to be made thin in this application.

Background of the invention

Such a diverting roller as well as a waste separator provided with such a diverting roller are known from WO2016 / 003286A1. Such waste separators are used in highly polluted environments. This causes a high degree of wear on certain parts. One of the parts that wear out regularly is the jacket. The wear of the jacket can have a major impact on the rest of the diverting roller. Because the magnetic rotor is magnetic and also sets air in motion, environmental dirt and dust can penetrate into the magnetic rotor when the jacket wears and holes occur in the jacket. This can cause a lot of damage. If the jacket is worn and holes occur in the jacket, the conveyor belt and thus the waste separator will come to a standstill.

Summary of the invention

An object of the invention is to provide a diverting roller of the type described in the preamble, in which the above-described drawbacks of the known diverting roller do not occur. To this end, the diverting roller according to the invention is characterized in that the jacket is made up of a number of layers present on top of each other and has an inner side and an outer side, a first distance from the inner side a first elongated indication element is present between two successive layers, and wherein at a second distance from the inner side which second distance is greater than the first distance a second elongated indication element is present between two successive layers, which indication elements extend from a first end of the jacket to the other, second end of the jacket.

When the cylinder wears out during use, the second indication element will become exposed over time and will subsequently wear out. If the first and second indicator elements are different colored ribbons, they become visually discernible the moment they or part of them are exposed, indicating that the jacket is due for replacement.

If the jacket is not replaced in time after the second indication element has become exposed, the first indication element will become exposed after some time. This is a warning that if the jacket is not replaced immediately, it can wear out and cause damage.

When the diverting roller is used in a waste separator, a conveyor belt is present over part of the outside of the jacket, so that only a part of the outside of the jacket can be visually observed. By applying at least three first indication elements and at least three second indication elements, at least one is always visible when they are exposed, so that visual inspection is always possible.

If the indication elements are metallic strips, they can be detected by a metal detection sensor. When these strips are worn away, the metal detection sensor will no longer detect metal and as a result of this, a signal will be issued that the cylinder must be replaced. If the indication elements are electrically conductive wires, a signal is emitted upon wear causing interruption of the wires and thus no visual inspection is necessary either. These electrically conductive wires are preferably attached end-to-end to contact rings connected to the jacket. These contact rings are connected via sliding contacts to a signaling unit that emits a signal if the wires are interrupted.

By placing the sliding contacts on the inside of the jacket, no contamination of the sliding contact can occur, which reduces the chance of a failure due to poor contact.

The invention also relates to a waste separator for separating non-ferrous metal parts from waste, comprising: a frame, an endless conveyor belt, two diverting rollers mounted in the frame, around which the conveyor belt is present, and - drive means connected to one of the diverting rollers for driving the conveyor belt, wherein one of the divert rollers is formed by the diverting roller described above.

The invention further relates to a method for manufacturing the above- described jacket of a diverting roller, comprising applying a first layer on a mandrel and then applying several layers successively over each other, characterized in that after the application of the first layer or after the application of a number of layers, the first indication element is applied in the axial direction of the jacket on the top layer from a first end of the jacket to the other, second end, then a number of further layers are applied and then the second indication element is applied from the first end of the jacket to the other, second end and then the remaining layers of the jacket are applied.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment of the waste separator according to the invention shown in the drawings. Hereby is:

Figure 1 an embodiment of the waste separator according to the invention in perspective; Figure 2 an exploded view of the diverting roller of the waste separator with drive motor in perspective;

Figure 3 the diverting roller shown in Figure 2 in longitudinal section; Figure 4 a detail of the diverting roller shown in figure 3 at the location of the contact and slip rings;

Figure 5 a side view of the jacket of the diverting roller shown in Figure

3; and

Figure 6 a mandrel with a wrapped jacket thereon of the diverting roller shown in figure 3 in longitudinal section.

Detailed description of the drawings

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the waste separator according to the invention in perspective. The waste separator 1 has a frame 3 in which two diverting rollers 5 and 7 are journalled, around which an endless conveyor belt 9 is present. The rear diverting roller 7 is connected to drive means (not visible in the figure) and the front diverting roller 5 is provided with an Eddy-current separator. At the rear end of the conveyor belt 9 is a feed hopper 11 through which the waste to be separated is supplied. At the front end of the conveyor belt 9 is a discharge funnel (not visible in the figure) through which waste falling from the conveyor belt is discharged, as well as a collection container 13 for the flying non-ferrous metal particles.

Figure 2 shows the front diverting roller 5 of the waste separator provided with the Eddy-current separator, cut away in perspective. The diverting roller 5 has a hollow jacket 15 which is journalled at both ends 15c, 15d via bearings 17 on bearing carriers 19, which are formed by discs which are connected to the frame 3 via fixing arms 21. A magnetic rotor 23 is present in the jacket 15, which rotor is parallel to the jacket 15 and is provided at the ends with two rotor shafts 25, which are mounted in the bearing carriers 19 via further bearings 27. These further bearings 27 are located eccentrically in the bearing carriers 19. The cylinder wall 29 of the magnetic rotor is provided with a large number of permanent magnets 31 and 33. One of the rotor shafts 25 is connected to a drive shaft 35 of a drive motor formed by an electric motor 37 which is attached to one of the bearing carriers 19. During operation, the magnetic rotor 23 rotates at 3,000 to 4,000 revolutions per minute to process the waste stream. In figure 3 the diverting roller 5 is shown in longitudinal section. At both ends 15c and 15d of the jacket 15 of the diverting roller 5 there are two contact rings 45 on the bearing carriers 19. These contact rings 45 are connected by wires to the indication elements present in the jacket 15, which are not visible in this figure. The indication elements in this embodiment are formed by electrically conductive wires. The diverting roller 5 is furthermore provided with sliding contacts 47 which are in contact with the contact rings 45. These sliding contacts 47 are connected to a signaling unit 49 which emits a signal when the wires are interrupted, which can be determined, for example, by no more current flowing through them.

Figure 4 shows an enlarged detail of the diverting roller shown in Figure 3 at the location of the contact and slip rings. In this figure the indication elements 41 and 43 formed by electrically conductive wires are shown in the jacket 15 and it can be seen that they are connected via wires or contactlessly to the contact rings 45 which are connected to the signaling unit 49 via the sliding contacts 47.

In Figure 5 the jacket 15 of the diverting roller is shown in side view. Around the circumference of the jacket 15, three first indication elements 41 are evenly distributed around the circumference and three second indication elements 43 are evenly distributed around the circumference. The jacket 15 has an inner side 15a and an outer side 15b. The first indication elements 41 are present at a first distance D1 from the inner side 15a and the second indication elements 43 are present at a second distance D2 from the inner side 15a, which second distance D2 is greater than the first distance Dl. In this embodiment, the indication elements 41 and 43 are formed by metal strips and the diverting roller is provided with metal detection sensors 51 which can detect the presence of the metal strips and which are in communication with a signaling unit 53 which gives a signal if no metal strip is detected, which is the case with extensive wear.

In figure 6 a mandrel 61 with a just wrapped sheath 15 of the diverting roller thereon is shown in longitudinal section. It can be seen herein that the first elongated indication element 41 is present between two consecutive layers 55 and 57 of the jacket 15 and the second elongated indication element 43 is present between two consecutive layers 57 and 59. The indication elements 41 and 43 extend from a first end 15c of the jacket 15 to the other, second end 15d of the jacket 15.

When the jacket 15 is being manufactured, a first layer 55 (or a number of layers) is wound on a mandrel 61, after which three first indication elements 41 are distributed over the circumference on this layer (or the outermost layer), such that the first indication elements 41 extend from the first end 15c to the second end 15d of the jacket in the axial direction of the jacket. Subsequently, further layers 57 are successively wound one over the other on the first layer 55 and the indication elements 41 present thereon, after which three second indication elements 43 are provided on the outermost layer. Finally, the remaining layers 59 of the jacket 15 are wound onto the outermost layer with the second indication elements 43 present thereon.

Although the invention has been elucidated in the foregoing with reference to the drawings, it should be noted that the invention is by no means limited to the embodiment shown in the drawings. The invention also extends to all embodiments deviating from the embodiments shown in the drawings within the scope defined by the claims. Thus, the indication elements 41 and 43 can also be formed by differently colored ribbons. By periodic visual inspection it can be observed whether the ribbons become locally visible, which is an indication of the degree of wear of the jacket 15.