Automated separation of permanent magnets from vehicle motor drives
Within all vehicle drive motors there are rare earth containing permanent magnets which reside within the rotor assembly. EMR are looking for time and cost effective ways to automate the disassembly and increase the throughput of the separation of the permanent magnets and copper coil from the rotor housing.
Opportunity
Challenge opens
30/11/2023
Challenge closes
24/01/2024
Benefit
EMR are looking to explore ways to automate the disassembly of vehicle drive motors to separate out the permanent magnets and copper coil. Successful projects will be awarded up to £25k over 3 months to explore their solution with the challenge holder with the possibility of further adoption upon successful trials.
Background
As one of the world's leading metal recyclers, EMR plays a pivotal role in the provision of sustainable materials across the globe. With a history spanning 70 years, they have grown from a single UK business to a multi-national corporation. Their experience, vast capabilities and commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) values, places EMR amongst the most respected and trusted waste recycling companies in the world.
EMR are the largest UK end-of-life vehicle recycler. In the recycling process, the whole vehicle is shredded. Most of the components have a route for recycling, and the drive motor can be collected, the copper coils and rotor disassembled and magnets manually stripped out however it is not economic or practical to separate the parts in this way.
There is a need to develop an automated disassembly process which would separate the rare earth magnets from the rotor. This would allow for these permanent magnets to be recycled and materials to be integrated back into the supply chain, reducing reliance on virgin materials and geopolitically sensitive global supply chains.
The magnets are made from rare earth elements that are classified by the UK as Critical Minerals. Critical minerals are fundamental to pretty much everything we do. e-mobility is an important market with an increasingly heavy demand for critical materials – For example there is an average of 5kg of rare earth magnets in a Battery Electric Vehicle that if recovered, could contribute to the UK’s security of supply through circularity.
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