Leveraging its innovative spiral arrangement of neodymium magnets in a rotating drum, Durr Systems has refined its EcoMagno magnetic separator to suit the needs for process fluid cleaning in a broader range of industries. Already well established as a tool for cleaning immersion tanks in automotive paint shops, it now can be used in electroplating, machining and the food industry.
Until now, the separator has been used primarily for cleaning pretreatment baths for car bodies. It features an innovative operating principle that means the separation process no longer needs to be interrupted to remove the accumulated particles. In automotive paint shops, immersion tanks filled with cleaning fluid remove grease, metallic particles, and other contaminants from car bodies during pretreatment. To ensure consistent cleaning standards, the process fluid in these tanks requires continuous cleaning, which is where EcoMagno comes into play.
Durr’s patented innovation consists of a drum with neodymium magnets arranged in a spiral pattern. The drum rotation produces a steady downward movement of the separated magnetic particles towards the bottom. In this way, close to 100% of the magnetizable particles can be
Unlike conventional solutions, EcoMagno does not need to interrupt the filtration process to remove magnetic particles. Instead, linearly moving magnets, the so-called wipers, transport the separated particles from the cylinder surface out of the vessel. This unique function, together with continuous autonomous cleaning of the system, is the only one of its kind on the market, says Durr. Conventional products rely on bag filters with permanent magnets or automatic bar magnets that stop cease operation during cleaning. Its specially developed preinstalled unit can easily be integrated into an existing system, requiring only an electricity supply and two flange connections.
Currently, about 80 of the units are used in the automotive industry. For cleaning a process tank, the magnetic separator needs a flow rate of 60 to 240 cubic meters per hour. With flow rates of up to 20 cubic meters per hour often being adequate in other industries such as electroplating, machining or the food processing, now Durr has scaled down the EcoMagno to be suitable for these other applications.
The Durr Group is a mechanical and plant engineering firm headquartered Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany north of Stuttgart. With about 20,000 employees and €4.6 billion in sales, it makes automated equipment for numerous industries including industrial automated guided vehicles and, through its Schenck Rotec subsidiary, balancing equipment with integrated shaft magnetization for rotor testing. See www.durr.com.
