Estimating Electric Power Requirements for Mechanically Shredding Massage Chairs and Treadmills at a Recycling Plant

Junsoo Yoo, Choongwoo Lee, Sudong Kim, Jonghyun Choi and Jihwan Park
Additional contact information
Junsoo Yoo: Research and Development Team, Korea Electronics Recycling Cooperative (KERC), Suwon City 16226, Korea
Choongwoo Lee: Research and Development Team, Korea Electronics Recycling Cooperative (KERC), Suwon City 16226, Korea
Sudong Kim: Department of Public Administration, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea
Jonghyun Choi: Research and Development Team, Korea Electronics Recycling Cooperative (KERC), Suwon City 16226, Korea
Jihwan Park: Research and Development Team, Korea Electronics Recycling Cooperative (KERC), Suwon City 16226, Korea

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-15

Abstract: South Korea has operated under laws to collect and recycle the waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) utilizing a system based on the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system since 2003. In 2020, the number of products managed by the EPR increased from 27 to 50. Among the 50 products, massage chairs and treadmills are recognized as the items avoided in recycling centers or by recyclers due to their large volume, large weight, and long disassembly times. This study was a preliminary study in which the physical shredding process for massage chairs and treadmills could be introduced, and the electrical power requirements calculated. In the methodology, Vickers hardness was measured by sampling two actual products, and the tensile and shear strength were calculated from the hardness. Based on the shear strength, the force affecting the cutter was calculated and converted into torque and horsepower. In particular, the actual specifications of the crusher, designed and operated in the recycling center, were applied to the study, and the design was based on the treatment capacity of 10 tons per hour. Conclusively, the proper electrical power for crushing the massage chair and treadmill was analyzed as 719.5 and 459.7 HP, respectively.

Keywords: WEEE; proper electrical power; shredding; massage chair; treadmill; Vickers hardness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/8938/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/8938/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:8938-:d:611733

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().