Special Screw Conveyor for Recycling Light Bulb Waste

General Description

End user needed a solution for conveying, tumbling and classifying the components of waste incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs. KWS worked closely with Complete Recycling Solutions to design a very unique conveyor for the application. Waste light bulbs are fed into the conveyor by a rotary airlock and discharged to a sidewall belt conveyor. The glass, copper and other valuable components are then sold as recycled raw materials to other industries.

Design Parameters

KWS Advantages

Engineers from Complete Recycling Solutions and KWS worked together to design a rotating tubular housing conveyor to convey, tumble and classify the waste light bulbs. Using our extensive engineering experience, Mechanical Engineers from KWS designed the unit based on the input parameters and modeled the system using 3D parametric design software.

Special Features

The screw flighting is welded to the inside of the tubular housing and the housing rotates on a trommel or roller supports. Product is fed into the tapered inlet end by a rotary airlock with a special 90 degree stationary discharge chute. The product discharges through a slotted opening on the tubular housing at the opposite end to a sidewall belt conveyor that then conveys the product for processing. The product tumbles against the inside walls of the tubular housing, breaking up the light bulbs as the flights move the product toward the discharge. The tubular housing was direct connected to an in-line drive unit with a special exterior bushing.