Magnet Fragment Collector

Crawley, Australia - Colin Campbell - Thursday, October 27th, 2005 : goo

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Deminers spend much of their time locating and exposing scrap metal fragments. Statistics from Afghanistan show that 1000 sqm are cleared for every mine or UXO removed., where the average rate of metal fragments per unit area is one metal fragment per 3 sqm. (The range of metal framgents per area is 30 items per sqm to one fragment per 500 sqm - for approximately 500 minefields in soft ground conditions). [Modelling Minefield Clearance Performance, technical report available on request]. A magnet could remove ferrous/magnetic fragments before demining commences, reducing the time needed for manual demining.

In response to a request from UNOCHA, we are designing a heavy duty electromagnet for use with a back-hoe excavator. The machine will be used to scrape the ground with the bucket teeth, to a depth of about 5cm. Experience suggests that much of the fragmentation from exploding ammunition is retained in the top 5cm of earth. The magnet will be attached to the underside of the bucket behind the teeth, enclosed within a 6mm stainless steel sheath to protect the magnets from blast mine explosions. Steel shielding should protect the magnets from the worst effects of a major blast initiated by the bucket teeth.

A permanent magnet veriant of the device has been manufactuered and tested on a grenade range near Perth. The results of this trial were extremely positive and support scope for further research and development work to refine the method of fragment removal.

There is considerable interest in this concept among demining experts, especially in connection with mechanical demining machines, for collecting metal fragments from the ground prior to manual demining activities.

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