Characteristics and Similarities of Disassembly of Electric Home Appliances for Parts and Materials

Yasuo Kondo*, Kenji Deguchi* and Tomoyuki Nakano*
* Division of Environmental System in Production Course in Design and Information
Engineering Graduate School of Tottori University
+ Correspondence should be addressed to Yasuo Kondo:
(4-101 Koyama-cho, Tottori-shi, Tottori-ken, 680-8552 Japan)

Abstract
Disassembly characteristics of electric home appliances for parts and materials were experimentally examined. All of the mono-material or functional UNIT components of FAX machines, fan heaters, gas water heaters, electric heaters, VCRs, PCs, washing machines, air conditionars and TVs were separated by disassembly and sorting. In the case of refrigerator, only 60wt% of the product was separated as mono-material or functional UNIT components. The fasteners in small electric home appliances were easily released with screwdriver(+), a precision type screwdriver(+), nippers and a spatula and had no corrosion or deformation. Additional tools such as ratchet type wrench and a saw were also required to release the fasteners of 4 major electric home appliances. The release time of the fastener in the 4 major electric home appliances was two to three times longer than that of the small ones, regardless of the fastener type. There were some remarkable relationships between the disassembly characteristics, release times, and reversibility of connections, and fastener types within the group of products with similar structures, such as among 4 major electric home appliances and among the small ones.

Key words: electric home appliance, disassembly, parts and materials sorting, intermediate treatment, recycling