Development of Laser base CRT TV recycling technology by Panasonic
Due to use of different types of glass in the front panel and funnel of cathode ray tube (CRT) TVs, it is necessary to separate them before recycling. The conventional method in separating the front and funnel up to now uses an electrically heated wire around the joint area, but this method requires great amount of time and at the same time causes thermal stress fractures due to local heating requiring a manual correction to clean the cut surface. To increase the efficiency in recycling process in CRT TV sets Panasonic has developed a laser based recycling technology where the separation of front and back panel on CRT type TVs can be achieved at a much quicker and cleaner manner.
Recycling of used CRT TVs is expected to rise due to introduction of digital terrestrial broadcasting which is scheduled for completion in 2011 in Japan. The new technology uses laser radiation resulting in a drastic reduction in processing time due to less manual work. Through use of this new technology recycling process of one tube will take only 50 seconds according to Panasonic, a three times faster than previous method. The laser head in this new laser technology features a “Surface Profiling” in order to maintain a constant distance between the focal point and surface of the glass. The new technology achieves a high quality cut with no mixing of front and back panel through “Radiation Energy” control resulting in adjusting laser beam light intensity to the circumferential velocity. Panasonic is planning to extend the use of this newly developed laser based recycling technology to flat panel TVs in a near future.
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