Steinert to display UniSort BlackEye at K 2016
Steinert to display UniSort BlackEye at K 2016
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Traditional optical sorting machines’ sensors have to date been unable to distinguish the different types of black plastics from one another because the soot used to blacken the plastic absorbs the visible and infrared wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. “The UniSort BlackEye closes this gap and makes a pure separation of comminuted black components possible,” says Hendrik Beel, managing director at the Steinert Group. “The investment pays off quickly because it enables operators to produce pure and thus more valuable granules.”
At the heart of all Steinert sorting systems is the detection unit, which is located above the conveyor belt and equipped with hyper spectral imaging (HSI) technology. A source of light illuminates the plastic flakes on the conveyor belt, while a camera system analyses the reflected light.
“The spectrum of this reflected light is missing certain frequencies that are characteristic of the different types of plastic. This means that each type of plastic has more or less its own ‘fingerprint’,” Beel says. “Using stored reference spectra, analysis software that was developed by the Steinert Group then recognizes whether an item is made of plastic, wood, glass or paper, and whether it is a dark object.”
Steinert says one of the reasons its analysis is reliable is because the camera doesn’t scan the conveyor belt pixel by pixel. Instead, it simultaneously scans 320 pixels across the entire belt width, enabling even tiny variations in the NIR spectrum to be detected.
To separate polyolefins such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) from one another or to sort other types of plastic, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), out of a mixture of materials, the software transmits the corresponding position data to the compressed air system installed at the end of the conveyor belt, opening the appropriate high-speed valve that releases a blast of compressed air, causing the targeted material to be ejected.
“The UniSort BlackEye operates quickly enough to scan belts moving at up to four metres per second,” Beel says. “During this time, it can scan about 35 million detection points or up to 5,000 objects. This makes it ideal for efficient industrial applications for crushed plastic parts measuring between 10 and 30 millimetres.”
On average, the UniSort BlackEye has a throughput rate of one tonne of plastic flakes per hour, the company says.
Steinert says it also has incorporated a stabilising system called Active Object Control (AOC) to ensure the plastic flakes stay on the conveyor belt at such high speeds so that detection precision remains high. The AOC produces an airflow in the same direction and at the same speed as the conveyor belt. This airflow pushes the flakes flat on the belt and also keeps them in the flight parabola behind the belt. “That way, we are ensuring that the plastic parts hardly move after they are detected and that the position data remain unchanged for the ejection system,” Beel says. “It enables much higher belt speeds and thus higher throughput rates than with standard systems. This makes sorting even more efficient.”
In 2014, Steinert introduced the UniSort Black, a machine that has been in sorting facilities for lightweight packaging from household goods (separated into “yellow bins” in Germany). This machine sorts dark and black objects as well as the other residual materials that the upstream technology misses because NIR systems cannot recognize them, according to the company.
“The UniSort BlackEye is the next logical step in this evolution of the sorting systems, because it can distinguish black plastics according to the categories PE, PP, PS and PVC,” Beel says. “We at Steinert will continue to work on developing innovative sensor technology for optimising processes in the value chain.”
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Source: Recycling Today
Steinert to display UniSort BlackEye at K 2016
<![CDATA[The Steinert Group, a German company specializing in magnetic separation and sensor sorting, has launched the UniSort BlackEye, an optical sorting system that enables recyclers to sort black plastics by type, greatly increasing the value of the sorted material. The machine will be on display at K 2016, 19-26 October in Dusseldorf, Germany, in Hall 9 at booth B23. Traditional optical sorting machines’ sensors have to date been unable to distinguish the different types of black plastics from one another because the soot used to blacken the plastic absorbs the visible and infrared wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. “The UniSort BlackEye closes this gap and makes a pure separation of comminuted black components possible,” says Hendrik Beel, managing director at the Steinert Group. “The investment pays off quickly because it enables operators to produce pure and thus more valuable granules.” At the heart of all Steinert sorting systems is the detection unit, which is located above the conveyor belt and equipped with hyper spectral imaging (HSI) technology. A source of light illuminates the plastic flakes on the conveyor belt, while a camera system analyses the reflected light. “The spectrum of this reflected light is missing certain frequencies that are characteristic…