Experimental analysis of the transport and the separation of plastic and metal micronized particles using travelling waves conveyor

The movement of the powdery material occurs in a multi-phase non-uniform electrostatic field at determined values of the voltage and the frequency, using travelling wave technique. This technique was applied for very small particles such as bacteria and other similar particle size. The objective of this work is to analyze the movement of PVC micronized particles and the feasibility of the separation of PVC/copper granular mixture of average size 100 μm. Two-phase and three-phase conveyors, which are supplied by high voltage amplifiers controlled by digital function generators, have been the subject of a parametric experimental investigation. Several factors were analyzed such as the voltage level up to 1400 V, the frequency, the phase shift and the number of phases of the conveyor. The obtained results showed that depending on the values of the above factors: i) the micronized particles can move instantly right after switching the conveyor, ii) the particles move towards one direction or the other of the conveyor iii) the separation of a granular mixture of plastic and copper micronized particles is possible.