(BOP) - FCI Marianna's UNICOR staff and Florida State University (FSU) Panama City electrical and computer engineering students collaborated to build a highly efficient scrap metal sorter. FSU students are expected to complete a worthy improvement project as part of their graduation requirements. When FCI Marianna's recycling factory manager, Drew Short, heard the students were looking for a project, he described to a professor at the school the operational dilemmas associated with the manual separation of scrap metal. The students rose to the occasion by designing and building the Overband Magnetic Separator (OMS).
The OMS is a 75-pound electromagnet suspended 4 ½ inches above a moving conveyor belt populated with disassembled smaller electronics scrap. As the belt moves, the overhead magnet attracts ferrous metals and deposits them into a bin. Any remaining non-ferrous metals, such as gold, silver, copper, and other non-iron content metals, are released into another bin further along the conveyor belt. The OMS separates as much as 60 pounds of metal in as little as 2 ½ minutes, dramatically increasing the volume of electronics scrap being recycled, with 99 percent accuracy.
The OMS was donated by the college to UNICOR. The University plans to remain engaged in further development and improvement of the project.
This is just one example of UNICOR's ongoing efforts to foster collaboration with the community.