No abstract

There is nothing new about the fact that higher concentrations (up to 50 times) of valuable materials can be found in e-waste, compared to mined ores. Moreover, the constant accumulation of excessive amounts of waste equipment has a negative impact on the environment. The components found in electronic equipment may contain hazardous materials or materials that could be recycled and reintroduced into production processes, thus reducing the carbon footprint created by waste electrical and electronics equipment (WEEE). Sustainable e-waste recycling requires high-value, integrated recovery systems. By implementing a two-stage experimental sorting stand, this paper proposes an efficient and fast sorting method that can be industrially scaled up to reduce the time, energy and costs needed to sort electronic waste (e-waste). The sorting equipment is in fact an ensemble of sensors consisting of cameras, color sensors, proximity sensors, metal detectors and a hyperspectral camera. The first stage of the system sorts the components based on the materials’ spectral signature by using hyperspectral image (HSI) processing and, with the help of a robotic arm, removes the marked components from the conveyor belt. The second stage of the sorting stand uses a contour vision camera to detect specific shapes of the components to be sorted with the help of pneumatic actuators. The experimental sorting stand is able to distinguish up to five types of components with an efficiency of 89%.

No abstract

This study proposes a numerical technique for the optimisation of the deposited layer thickness in electrochemical cells using the insulating shields. The aim is to develop a systematic adjustment of the insulating shield position in order to obtain a more uniform distribution of the deposited layer at the cathode. The optimal position of the insulating shield is managed by a genetic algorithm. Both the layer thickness profile and the position of the insulating shield are calculated by using the level set method. The main advantage of this technique is that during the whole computational process, the same triangular finiteelement mesh with a fixed connectivity is used. An example related to the optimisation of the layer thickness distribution in the vicinity of a singularity (incident angle between the electrode and insulator ¼ 1808), using an insulating shield is presented.

For the last two decades The European Association for Education in Electrical and Information Engineering (EAEEIE) has been dedicated and continue to support the Electrical and Information Engineering (EIE) education in Europe. SALEIE (Strategic Alignment of Electrical and Information Engineering in European Higher Education Institutions) is one of its new EU projects which coagulate a global team aiming to provide higher education models in the EIE disciplines that can respond to the key global technical challenges. The SALEIE project's work package WP3 (Global Challenges) is related to: state-of-the-art in implementation of the Bologna recommendation for Bachelor and Master, EIEconnected technical, existing models in EIE higher education and their degree of response to key global technical challenges as well as some examples of curriculum models which see the day light during the SALEIE workshops. That is the subject that the proposed paper deals on.