METHODOLOGY

PLANNING

CONCEPTUALISATION

SELECTION OF CONCEPT

DESIGN OF COMPONENTS

SIMULATION

FABRICATION

ASSEMBLY OF THE COMPONENTS

COST ESTMATION
PLANNING:
The aim of the project is to provide an efficient form of folding machine for a particular type
of cloth[Indian traditional wear-saree] and to do it with more ease and lesser time. The first
step was to conduct a literature survey which made clear that no similar devices exists in the
market but the folding mechanisms are already brought to working state by many
companies.

The roles and responsibilities of overseeing the project including schedules, design
,fabrication and budget estimation is equally shared among all the members of the team.
The resources required such as materials, equipment and tools for the fabrication are to be
bought from vendors then machined and assembled or it can be supervised by the team
members while the whole process is being executed by private contractors.
Budget estimation will be quite varying since this the first kind of device and the cost of
materials and resources can only be decided during the project execution. The budget will
get further accurate as the fabrication process is brought into progress.

CONCEPTUALISATION:
The folding mechanism is based on the existing folding board on the market. Prior to the
folding process the length of the cloth has to be reduced to a suitable amount at which the
folding process is more easier.

original size of the cloth

x/n

required size of the cloth

y
To attain this measurements the saree has to be vertically rolled around a cuboidal flat plates
or around a retractable U shaped forks. This method is chosen so that the folding process is
as feasible as folding a shirt or a trouser.
To avoid the formation of wrinkles on the cloth or overlapping of two or more layers of the
cloth, it has to be passed through a pair of rollers which are held together at a distance no
more than the thickness of the cloth. This rollers will provide a controlled feed of the cloth
while it is being rolled.

DESIGN AND ASSEMBLY:

A set of roller pair of shorter diameter and length slightly more than width of the cloth as
measured initially, is attached at the top end of the device. The two ends of the rollers are
supported by two vertical columns on either side of the base. The rollers are free to rotate
but held together such that the cloth does not slip between them.

Sample rollers- required

without the shown frame
or the stands

The cloth is to be rolled to reduce its length, so on each of the vertical columns, two
retractable U shaped forks are attached at mid-hieght which are automated hydraulically or
pneumatically and the forks rotate about their own axis in perfect sync.

Assumed model
of the folding
device
A hydraulic activated folding platform is attached on the top portion of the base. The size of
the folding platform is slightly larger than the required size of the cloth for folding.

Three pneumatic holders are attached at equal distances on one of the larger sides of the
folding platform. These are provided with sensors and are activated only when the cloth is
paced on the platform. These holders serves the purpose of holding the cloth while one end
of the cloth is being flipped over the other end and it avoids the overlapping of the cloth
layers.