Solid material comminution or disintegration – Processes – With classifying or separating of material
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-08
2004-02-03
Bray, W. Donald (Department: 3725)
Solid material comminution or disintegration
Processes
With classifying or separating of material
C241S019000, C241S046017
Reexamination Certificate
active
06685116
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for impact crushing printed circuit boards of electric household instruments and OA equipment, which include television receivers, personal computers, air-conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, and electronic ovens, into pieces of a few to ten centimeters square and separating (removing) from the pieces of the printed circuit boards electric components which are deformed but substantially kept in their shapes. Also, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for impact crushing the separated components or defective electric components claimed during the production into pieces and recovering by groups valuables such as copper, steel, and aluminum from the crushed pieces. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for impact crushing into pieces small electronic instruments, which include a video recorder/player, a small set of audio components, a radio/cassette, a vacuum cleaner, a hair dryer, and a hand-held telephone, and recovering valuables, either components or materials, from the pieces. Moreover, the present invention relates to a method of disassembling electronic components, which include tuners, radiator-provided devices, transformers, flyback transformers, and deflection yokes, into at least two groups of pieces (materials). For example, a method is provided for impact crushing the deflection yokes removed from a cathode ray tube and separating them into at least winding coils and crushed resin substrate pieces which are then recovered.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
One of such methods of recovering valuables from electronic instruments such as television receivers is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (Heisei)5-147040, in which wastes including metals, plastics, and foamed resins are crushed and subjected to wind separation, metal separation, and plastic separation for recovering the valuables in desired groups (of materials). Also, disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (Heisei)10-15519 is a method of burning shreds of waste at lower temperatures to remove unwanted ingredients as exhaust gas and recovering not-burnt valuables from the remaining waste left at the bottom of a furnace. A method of recycling printed circuit boards is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (Heisei)10-314711. This dry distillation method is designed for, after removing electronic components (including resistors, capacitors, coils, ICs, radiators, and flyback transformers), sheathed wires (cables) connecting between the electronic components, and solder adhering the components and wires to each printed circuit board, heating the printed circuit board to a range from 300° C. to 450° C. to carbonize resins of the printed circuit board and then recovering the resins, copper foils, and glass fibers in desired groups. Alternatively, a method is provided for grinding off solder from printed circuit boards on which a variety of electronic components are mounted, dismounting the electronic components, and recovering them in particular groups. Disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (Heisei)10-64431 is a method of recycling deflection yokes installed in a cathode ray tube of a television receiver. According to the method, a means is employed for disassembling the deflection yoke to separately recover its components.
However, the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (Heisei)5-147040 requires cooling the waste with liquid nitrogen or the like during the impact crushing. As the pieces of a particular size produced by crushing the waste are separated into respective materials, the overall system will be bulky thus increasing the cost of its facilities and recycling operation. The method disclosed in Publication (Heisei)10-15519 is implemented with a combustion furnace and a system for making the exhaust gas harmless and will hence increase the cost of the facility and recycling operation. The dry distillation method for printed circuit boards also has such a problem. The method of grinding off the solder from printed circuit boards before dismounting the components takes a considerable length of time while requiring a series of maintenance actions for replacing worn-out or clogged grinding stones. The method of disassembling the deflection yoke to recover its components in different material groups requires a hardly amount of time for its accomplishment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed towards crushing at a first step a printed circuit board on which various components are mounted within a short period of time to separate and recover the components and relevant wires which are deformed more or less but maintained in substantially their original shapes. It is also directed towards crushing at a second step some of the components, including tuners, radiator sheets for ICs, and transformers, separated at the first step to separate in desired groups (of materials) and recover valuables. The present invention is further directed towards crushing an electronic instrument such as a video recorder/player, a radio cassette recorder/player, a set of small audio devices, a cleaner, a hair dryer, or a hand-held telephone, at a first step to disassemble into at least two different components. It is also directed towards crushing at a second step the components of the electronic instrument separated at the first step to separate and recover valuables in different material groups. It is further directed towards crushing a resin body e.g. of a deflection yoke in a short period of time to separate the body from deflection coils. A crushing apparatus according to the present invention employs no blades but drives rotor extensions and upright studs for impact crushing, hence eliminating such extra maintenance jobs for grinding or replacing the blades.
For solving the foregoing problems, the crushing apparatus of the present invention comprises a rotor having a truncated substantially conical projected center mounted perpendicularly at the center of rotation thereof and protrudent members (e.g. round bars)mounted perpendicularly on extensions thereof extending radially from the center of rotation, a rotor rotating means for rotating the rotor, a bottom-closed case in which the rotor is installed at the bottom. In particular, a plurality of protrudent members (e.g. round bars) extending horizontally are mounted on the inner side of the bottom-closed case. The rotor is rotated at a speed of a few hundreds to two thousand revolutions per minute. The crushing apparatus of the present invention is based on the impact crushing effect (a plastic fracture) caused by collision energy between the rotor and the object to be crushed and collision energy between the object to be crushed and the bottom-closed case wall and between the object to be crushed and the protrudent members, which is different from the shearing effect (a shear cutting) with the use of blades or knives. The crushing apparatus of the present invention may be arranged with the rotor axis and the bottom-closed case tilting at a desired angle to the vertical.
According to the present invention, a method of crushing a printed circuit board is provided comprising the steps of loading a first printed circuit board into the bottom-closed case of the crushing apparatus and rotating the rotor on which the studs (bars) are mounted to crush the first printed circuit boards into pieces of a size ranging from a few to ten centimeters square and separate various components, wires, and second printed circuit boards from the first printed circuit boards.
According to the present invention, a method of disassembling a deflection yoke is provided comprising the steps of loading a deflection yoke into the bottom-closed base of the crushing apparatus and rotating the rotor to separate the deflection yoke into deflection coils (winding coils) and crushed pieces of a resin base.
According to the present invention, a method of disassembling a tuner is prov
Furuya Yoshiaki
Hirata Norio
Hisazumi Takao
Irie Shoichi
Shimizu Kaoru
Bray W. Donald
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
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