Simulation on the PCB particle trajectories in corona electrostatic separation according to grade of copper

Abstract

The movements of ground PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) according to their metal contents in the corona electrostatic separator were investigated. The PCBs removed electronic co mpo nents consist almost of cop per and FR-4 (F la me Re ta rdant Level-4). Therefore, electronic components had been disassembled from PCBs for concentrating copper contents. And then the PCB particles were prepared by crushing printed circuit boards. The PCBs were not completely dissociated when they had been milled because PCBs are composed of layered structure. Therefore, in this study, the separation of PCB par ticles was proposed based on their metal contents. The equation of motion a bout ground PCB, metal-nonmetal composition, was derived from the existing model of detachment point by adding copper grade variable. The trajectories of PCB particles were simulated by the equation using MATLAB 2013b. Experiments of electrostatic separation were carried out for confirming validity of the equation. The PCB particles are affected by their metal contents It is founded that the particles have higher copper grade resulted in better correlation through computations and experiments.