Custom Designed Plate Magnets to remove ferrous Tramp Metal

Plate magnets are a simple form of magnetic separator with blocks of magnets magnetically arranged inside a rugged stainless steel fabricated housing to project a magnetic field on the flat surface of the plate.  The projected magnetic field captures both fine ferrous contamination and larger pieces of tramp ferrous metal from various types of free flowing material (including powdery, moist, lumpy, and abrasive products through to large material that might choke, bridge, or cause rapid wear in magnetic cartridge or tube based separators).

Due to specific application requirements of the Italian project, the plate magnet was custom designed to produce a specific shape and intensity of magnetic field.  Each plate magnet had a face of 600 mm by 130 mm with a depth of 45 mm and weighed approx. 50 kgs.  These were the largest plate magnets manufactured in the UK by Bunting.  The custom design, using high-energy rare earth magnets, meant that a peak magnetic field of over 10,000 gauss was produced on the surface, which was flat as recommended for low density product flows, inverted installations and sanitary applications.

The plate magnets were positioned inside chutes and due to the size and weight of each unit, the customer required each one to be self-cleaning, whereby any captured metal would be automatically removed and discarded.  The self-cleaning design requires a counter plate to be placed against the surface of the plate magnet.  During the self-cleaning process, both the counter plate and the main body of the plate magnet is pulled away from the chute then the counter plate is pulled away from the main body.  Any magnetically entrapped material is held against the counter plate and becomes demagnetized as the plate magnet moves away allowing the ferrous material to falls away into a discharge collection area.

The 12 identical plate magnets were designed, manufactured and despatched within 9 weeks.  The size, weight and magnetic strength of each plate magnet dictated that each unit had to be packed separately for shipment to Italy.