Method for designing an electrostatic separating device of a mixture of different material granules and associated devices

A method for adjusting a collection area of an electrostatic separating device of a mixture of different material granules, the electrostatic separating device being characterized by electrostatic separating device parameters and the collection area being characterized by collection area parameters, the collection area extending between a first end and a second end, the collection area including dividers delimiting compartments with the ends,

• the collection area parameters being chosen from geometric parameters of the collection area and operating parameters of the collection area during the sorting of the mixture,
• each geometric parameter being chosen in the list consisting of the position of the ends, the vertical position of the collection area, the number of dividers, the position of each divider, and the length of each divider, and
• each operating parameter being chosen in the list consisting of the purity of the granules accumulated in each compartment and the mass of the granules accumulated in each compartment,
• the method for adjusting comprising a computer-implemented phase of optimizing the values of the collection area parameters and a phase of adjusting a collection area by an adjusting unit,
• the phase for optimizing comprising:
• providing a sorting performance value to be met by the electrostatic separating device when at least one predefined mixture to be sorted is introduced into the electrostatic separating device, and
• at least one optimization of a value of at least one parameter from the set of electrostatic separating device parameters using an optimization technique, the optimization technique including the use of a model associating the sorting performance of the electrostatic separating device,
• the optimization technique being implemented with the electrostatic separating device parameters, under the constraint that the sorting performed by the electrostatic separating device has the provided sorting performance value, in order to obtain an optimized value for each collection area parameter,
• the optimization technique further comprising:
• calculating the trajectory followed by each granule of the at least one predefined mixture,
• modeling the initial electric charge distribution of each material of the at least one predefined mixture according to a Gaussian distribution,
• modeling the initial velocity distribution of each material of the at least one predefined mixture according to a Gaussian distribution, and
• modeling the evolution of the position of the granules according to a function depending on the electrical charge of the granules accumulated in each compartment of the collection area,
• the phase of adjusting comprising a step of physically providing the electrostatic separating device with the collection area and a step of physically adjusting the provided collection area so that the collection area parameter have the value of the optimized collection area parameters.