Abstract
Rare earths are an important resource for many electronic components and technologies. Examples abound including Neodymium magnets used in mobile devices and computer hard drives (HDDs), and a variety of renewable energy technologies (e.g., wind turbines). Approximately 21,000 metric tons of Neodymium is processed annually with less than 1% being recycled. An economic system to assist in the recycling of magnet material from post-consumer goods, such as Neodymium Iron Boron magnets commonly found in hard drives is presented. A central component of this recycling measurement system uses an array of 128 Hall Effect sensors arranged in two columns to detect the magnetic flux lines orthogonal to the HDD. Results of using the system to scan planar shaped objects – such as hard drives – to identify and spatially locate rare-earth magnets for removal and recycling from HDDs – are presented. Applications of the sensor array in other identification and localization of magnetic components and assemblies will be presented.
