DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF DURABILITY TESTING MACHINE
ABSTRACT
Durability is used for quantifying the quality of briquette as the ratio of the unbroken weight to initial weight of briquette. This equally measure the durability of briquette under impact load during transportation and handling. A durability machine was developed and has dimension of 300mm×(25×25×3mm)×450mm.It was powered by electric motor of size 0.93hp.The results show that briquette formed from moringa stover has durability of 50%,63.4% and 79% from treatment T1 (100g ) , T2 ( 200g ) And T3(300g) respectively with corresponding unit density of (0.126kg/m3,0.130kg/m3 and 0.194kg/m3).Castor stover has durability of 63.4%,73.3% and79,7% from treatment T1 ( 100g ) , T2 (200g ) And T3(300g) respectively and unit density of 0.162kg/m3,0.167kg/m3and 0.193kg/m3).sorghum stover has durability of (73.3%,79% and 87.4%) from treatment T1(100g), T2(200g) And T3(300g) and unit density of 0.316kg/m3,0.273kg/m3and 0.262kg/m3.the testing duration 3min and rotational speed 40rpm. . The durability test shows that sorghum stover has the highest durability compares to moringa stover and castor stover
TABLE OF CONTENT
Tittle page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract v
Table of Content vi
List of Figure vii
List of Table viii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Preambles 1
1.2 Statement of the Problems 2
1.3 Durability Characteristics 2
1.4 Objectives 3
1.5 Justification 3
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Definition of Durability 4
2.2 Durability measurement and equipment 4
2.2.1 Tumbler tester 4
2.2.2 Dural tester 6
2.2.3 Lingo tester 7
2.2.4 Holmen tester 8
2.2.5 Drop tester 9
2.3 Durability tester 10
2.3.1 Briquette durability test 11
2.3.2 Pellet durability test 11
2.3.3 Durability test of cubes 12
2.4 Factors affecting durability of briquette 13
2.4.1 Effects of feed constituent on durability of briquette 13
2.4.2 Effect on moisture content on durability of briquette 14
2.4.3 Effect of particle size on durability of briquette 15
2.4.4 Effect of steam conditioning/preheating on durability of briquette 15
2.4.5 Effects of binders/addictives on durability of briquette 15
CHAPTER THREEE: MATERIAL AND METHOLOGY
3.1 Material 16
3.2 Description of durability testing machine 16
3.3 Component part of the machine 16
3.3.1 Frame 16
3.3.2 Durability box 17
3.3.3 Pulley and belt 17
3.3.4 Bearing 17
3.3.5 Shaft 17
3.3.6 Key 17
3.3.7 Electric motor 18
3.4 Design consideration 18
3.4.1 Portability 18
3.4.2 Cost of production 18
3.4.3 Area/volume 18
3.5 Assembly of the construction 19
3.6 Design calculation 19
3.6.1 Determination of power transmitted shaft 19
3.6.2 Pulley design 20
3.6.3 Belt design 21
3.7 Performance evaluation 22
3.7.1 Experimental design 22
3.7.2 Experimental instrument 22
3.7.3 Experimental material 22
3.7.4 Experimental procedure 23
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULT AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Result 26
4.1.1 Durability and unit density of moringa ground 26
4.1.2 Durability and unit density of castor ground 27
4.1.3 Durability and unit density of sorghum ground 28
4.2 Discussion 29
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Conclusion 35
5.2 Recommendation 36
Reference 37
Appendix 39
LIST OF FIGURE
Figure 2.1 Holmen pellet tester 9
Figure 4.1 Durability line for moringa briquette 33
Figure 4.1.1 Unit density of moringa briquette 33
Figure 4.2 Durability line for castor briquette 35
Figure 4.2.1 Unit density of castor briquette 35
Figure 4.3 Durability line for sorghum briquette 37
Figure 4.3.1 Unit density of sorghum briquette 37
LIST OF TABLE
Table 3.1 Cost Analysis 25
Table 4.1.1 Durability of moringa briquette produced from different treatment of moringa ground. 26
Table 4.1.2 Durability of castor briquette produced from different treatment of castor ground. 27
Table 4.1.3 Durability of sorghum briquette produced from different treatment of sorghum ground. 28
LIST OF PLATE
Plate 1 Tumbler tester for durability testing machine 6
Plate 2 Dural tester for durability testing machine 7
Plate 3 Dural tester for durability testing machine 7
Plate 4 Durability testing machine 24
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Preamble
Durability is the assurance or probability that an equipment, machine or material will have a relative long continuous useful life, without requiring an inordinate degree of maintenance. It is the ability to undergo permanent deformation without cracking or fracturing.
Durability testing is performance testing equipment used to determine the characteristics of a system under various load condition over time. This testing help us to identify the stability of a transaction response times over the duration of the test.
The importance of durability is to know the shell life of an equipment or agricultural material like the other dimension of quality, it is easier to plan durability into a product design and manufacture process that it is alter the finished product. There are many ways to increase a product durability, you can increase it’s by using durable part an modules in your product. Another way to increase durability is to use redundancy redundant part can vastly increase durability, however it will increase the product weight and cost as well. And finally another way to increase durability is to design a product or equipment for the most demanding user, that way to the average user the products appear to be very durable (Tomas foster 2001).
When designing a product and its durability, you should design with your product base, user base, manufacturing base and value base in mind. Difference product bases require different levels of durability. The difference can be seen in an equipment, vehincles e.g (the two types of ford vehicles, the crown Victoria which is a law enforcement vehicle and the focus which is an economic car both vehicles are design from the ground up to be different types of cars with the different levels of durability. Another example is a non durable product is the common light bulb. Light bulbs are design to last about a year or less and the slightest power surge or vibration can break their filament , rendering them useless. It would be nearly impossible to increase the durability of finished light bulb. However if you design light bulb for extended life and use a quality manufacturing process, you can drastically increase the durability of the light bulb (Hall, 2001).
1.2 Statement of The Problem
Agricultural material during processing of briquette or pellet is one of the most environment problems in developing countries. The unavailability of equipment to test the durability of briquette/pellets produce from biomass cannot be over emphasized, hence there is need to develop a machine to solve these challenges.
However the decreasing life span of agricultural material draw the attention to the need to consider an equipment which will determine the span of a material.
1.3 Durability Characteristics
Durability characteristics are stated below:
i. Dust resistance.
ii. It will free from fire resistance.
iii. Radiation hardening.
iv. Thermal resistance.
v. Rot proofing.
vi. Rust proofing.
vii. Toughness.
viii. Water proofing.
ix. Ability to withstand wear, pressure or damage.
1.4 Objectives of the Project
The main aim of this project is to develop a machine that can be used to determine the durability of briquette produced from agricultural materials.
The objectives of this project work are to;
i. Design and fabrication of durability testing machine
ii carry out performance evaluation of durability testing machine
1.5 Justification
The development and performance evaluation of a durability testing machine will go a long way
i. to assist producer of briquette to determine the ability of the briquette produce to impact load
ii. to enhance the increase in production of biomass.
iii. to generate revenue from researches who engage the equipment for determination of the durability of briquette.
.