Industrial magnets are used during the mining process to remove tramp metal from the production line. Whether from excavation, explosives or even human error, there are often bits of unwanted metal left behind that can cause issues down the line. The purpose for industrial magnets in this capacity is to prevent impurities from entering into the final product, and to protect valuable equipment from damage. Tramp metal can easily tear conveyor belts and cause unnecessary wear and tear to other sizing equipment such as pulverizers and crushers.
How do industrial magnets work to remove ferrous particles?
Depending on the size and application of a particular plant, a number of options can be put in place to improve output quality and maintain the functionality of costly equipment. Magnets used at the beginning of the conveyor system extract larger metal scraps, such as bucket teeth, bolts and even tool bits, while magnets used later on in the production line can remove smaller ferrous impurities.
Some of the magnetic separators that are used in the mining industry include:
Suspended plate magnets: As indicated by their name, these separators are suspended above the conveyor belt system. Electromagnet separators are extremely powerful and are able to extract tramp metal from fast moving belts with deep burden depths. Permanent Magnetic separators are highly efficient as they require no energy to operate and maintain functionality even in the event of power loss.
Cross belt separators: These industrial magnets are also suspended over a conveyor belt similar to suspended plate magnets. They are in fact a self cleaning suspended plate magnet that is equipped with a continuous belt running over the magnets face, thereby discharging the tramp metal out the side or away from the head pulley.
Magnetic Drum Separators: Manufactured with ceramic or rare earth magnets, these separators are useful for high volume applications. They pull metal particles to the outer drum and then direct this tramp metal away from the output line. Drum Separators are self cleaning and take up very little space, so they are both effective and efficient.
Custom Industrial Magnets
In the mining industry, every application has different requirements, space limitations and budget constraints. That’s why it’s important to use a magnetic technology company with the experience and capacity to design and build custom solutions to improve uptime, productivity and output quality.