Since its April 2019 launch, Bunting has designed, built, and shipped 120 ElectroMax Overband Magnets worth more than £3 million. These compact, air-cooled separators remove tramp ferrous metal from conveyed material while providing stronger performance with less weight than comparable permanent magnets.
The ElectroMax Overband Magnet uses a strong, deep electromagnetic field to lift and separate ferrous metal from conveyed materials such as waste, mined ore, and quarried rock. Unlike other electro overband designs, its electromagnet is air-cooled rather than oil-cooled. This reduces the unit’s weight and size and eliminates the need for cooling oil.
The ElectroMax Overband Magnet is 185% stronger than equivalent Permanent Overband Magnets and 25% lighter. The development was in response to customers’ requests for smaller, lighter, and more compact Electro Overband Magnets without compromising separation performance. The ElectroMax is ideal for applications where space is limited or when extra separation power is required.
In November 2020, Bunting expanded the range by introducing the ElectroMax-Plus Overband Magnet. This model operates at suspension heights of up to 600 mm, compared with 450 mm for a standard ElectroMax. At a 500 mm suspension height, the ElectroMax-Plus has a Force Index more than 105% higher than the equivalent ElectroMax. The additional magnetic force removes small tramp ferrous metal that permanent overband magnets commonly miss.
Since launching ElectroMax in April 2019, Bunting has designed and built 120 units in a range of sizes for customers across Europe, North America, Africa, and Australasia.
The smallest ElectroMax Overband Magnet is the EMAX 100, which weighs just over 2,000 kg and is suitable for conveyors with 1,000 mm-wide belts. One installation removes tramp ferrous metal from 400 metric tons per hour of gypsum rock at a quarry in Leicestershire, UK. At the site, the EMAX 100 is suspended 400 mm above a 900 mm-wide belt traveling at 2.14 m/s.
In contrast, the EMAX-Plus 180 is the largest ElectroMax designed and built by the Redditch team. Despite its magnetic power, the EMAX-Plus 180 weighs only 4,900 kg, with a 1,800 mm-long electromagnet mounted inside a frame measuring 3,350 mm long by 1,400 mm wide.
Bunting has built three EMAX-Plus 180 units, with two installed at a coal terminal in Virginia, USA. The magnets are mounted 450 mm above a conveyor with a 1,800 mm-wide belt traveling at 5 m/s. Together, the two EMAX-Plus 180 overbands remove tramp ferrous metal from 5,000 metric tons of coal per hour.
The third EMAX-Plus 180 is installed in an Indonesian limestone quarry. It removes tramp ferrous metal from 200 metric tons of limestone per hour while suspended 400 mm above a conveyor with a 1,800 mm-wide belt.
“Listening to our customers led to our development of the ElectroMax Overband Magnet, which has become one of our most popular magnetic separators,” explained Bunting’s European Technical Director, Adrian Coleman. “We continued developing the technology with the ElectroMax-Plus, further enhancing the magnetic power to weight and size ratio. As the demand for enhanced metal separation requirements become more widespread, an increasing number of customers are turning to the ElectroMax.”