In industrial and manufacturing operations, maintaining the purity and quality of raw materials and supplies is crucial to ensure smooth running production processes and quality results. Magnetic separators are an increasingly important part of these operations. In this article, we look at a magnetic separator used in a bearing manufacturing company.

Magnetic separator in a bearing manufacturing company

A company specialising in the manufacture of wheel bearings faced a challenge that many industrial companies are familiar with - how to keep the working emulsion in optimum condition and extend its life. The machining emulsion is a key medium in the wheel bearing manufacturing process. However, the problem was that this emulsion was prone to contamination by metal particles. These metal particles came from a variety of sources including raw materials, tools and even the machines themselves. Once these metal particles got into the emulsion, they caused problems.

To solve this problem, the company decided to deploy an automatic magnetic flow separator. The flow-through magnetic separator was placed in the emulsion passage and attracted metal particles as they passed by. By removing the metallic impurities from the emulsion, the emulsion was kept in optimal condition. This significantly extended its lifetime. With a clean emulsion, the company was able to significantly reduce the frequency of emulsion changes. This resulted in lower costs for purchasing new media and reduced waste. The 32% extension of the emulsion lifetime had an unmissable impact on the cost and efficiency of the production process. Not only did the company save money on emulsion and tooling costs, but it also improved the quality of its products and reduced its negative impact on the environment through waste reduction.

What is the primary purpose of a magnetic separator?

• Equipment protection: Magnetic separators help protect machinery and equipment from damage caused by metallic contaminants. Metal particles can cause wear and scratch surfaces, which can lead to expensive repairs and component replacements.
• Improving product quality: In industries where product purity is critical, such as food or pharmaceuticals, magnetic separators help to remove metal impurities, ensuring a high quality end product.

Magnetic separators are devices that use a magnetic field to remove magnetic impurities from various materials. These separators play a key role in the removal of unwanted particles, not only from substances such as coolant, but also from a variety of specific materials including chocolate and flour.

At the heart of each separator usually pulses a neodymium magnet, which is one of the strongest magnets available on the market. However, we can also find separators with ferrite or SmCo magnets at the centre. These innovative tools find applications in a variety of industrial fields. In particular, they are used in the food industry, paper industry, recycling, mineral extraction, automotive industry, pharmaceutical and chemical industries and many other sectors where they play an indispensable role.

We saved an engineering company 500,000 CZK a year

Imagine an engine and gearbox manufacturing company where precision manufacturing is key. Previously, the company spent a significant amount of money on new tools and cutting edges for machine tools, due to wear caused by metal micro-particles in the emulsion. These microparticles can degrade tool blades and lead to rapid wear.

With the installation of magnetic separators, the situation has fundamentally changed. Magnetic separators effectively remove metallic contaminants from working emulsions, extending the life of machine tools. As a result, annual costs were reduced, ultimately saving more than CZK 500,000 per year.

What is the breakdown of magnetic separators?

The classification of magnetic separators is based on the nature of the material that passes through the separator and is subsequently cleaned. They can be divided into separators for bulk materials or mixtures and separators for liquids and semi-liquids. Bulk materials can include, for example, flour, sugar or grain. On the other hand, in the category of liquids and semi-liquids we include, for example, chocolate, ketchup or cooling emulsions.

Another aspect for categorizing separators is the way in which the separators are operated and cleaned. The magnets must always be cleaned of trapped metal particles and it is very important to do this regularly. These operations can be done either automatically or manually, depending on the particular type of separator.

The use of magnetic separators has several advantages. Firstly, they ensure the purity of the products, which is key to meeting legal standards, while also protecting the consumer. In the engineering sector, these devices are also used to purify liquids during the production process. They enable companies to reduce service costs because clean fluids are kinder to production technology.

In the world of engineering and industrial manufacturing, thousands of crowns are wasted every year on spare parts, service and new tools because of one little thing - metal particles and dirt in working emulsions. Fortunately, there is a solution that can dramatically increase profitability: the magnetic separator.

In the food industry, the use of separators plays a key role in ensuring the safety and quality of food products. These devices are designed to remove foreign particles such as metals, plastics and glass from food raw materials and products. This minimises the risk of contamination and ensures that food is safe to eat. With separators, higher standards of hygiene can be achieved in production processes, which is essential for preventing the spread of disease and maintaining the purity of food products.

The use of modern separation technologies in the food industry not only protects consumers, but also improves product quality and minimizes production losses. This enables food companies to meet stringent regulatory and normative requirements.

Magnetic separator in sugar production

We can look into other areas than just automotive or engineering. A great example is the magnetic plate separator, also known as a magnetic lantern, installed in a sugar company. In this case, this particular separator has proved its worth in separating crystalline sugar from unwanted impurities, bearing in mind that the sugar fraction reaches a size of 0.6 mm.

This type of magnetic separator is neatly housed in a 200 mm diameter pipe and is capable of processing 25 to 30 tonnes of crystalline sugar in the course of one hour. Separating such fine material required the use of a special version of the separator equipped with the strongest neodymium magnets. Thanks to this design, the separator achieves an extremely high magnetic induction of 7500 G, which can meet the requirements for separating ferromagnetic impurities as small as 0.5 mm.

To achieve absolute purity, a cabinet separator equipped with magnets with an extreme magnetic induction of 18,700 G is still placed at the end of the cleaning process, which allows ferromagnetic impurities up to 1 micron in size to be effectively separated.