Key Engineering Materials Submitted: 2018-03-19

ISSN: 1662-9795, Vol. 786, pp 335-341 Revised: 2018-05-26

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.786.335 Accepted: 2018-05-26
© 2018 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland Online: 2018-10-31

Design and Manufacturing of a Non-Standard Chain Parts for a Scraper

Chain Conveyor: A Case Study
Mohammed Gamil1,2,a *and Taher El-Bitar3,b
1
Shoubra Faculty of Engineering, Benha University, Cairo, Egypt
2
College of Engineering, Northern Border University, Arar, KSA
3
Central Metallurgical R&D Institute (CMRDI), Cairo, Egypt
a
mohammed.gamil@feng.bu.edu.eg, belbitart@yahoo.com
* Corresponding author

Keywords: Materials handling, Mechanical Design, Manufacturing, Chain conveyor, Case Study.

Abstract. This paper presents a complete case study for designing and manufacturing chain parts
for scraper chain conveyor (SCC) for a real client (chicken’s dietary supplements company). The
chain of the SCC is dilapidated due to joints and pins deterioration. The Productivity was reduced
as a result of operating at low capacity load and repeated maintenance. The condition of chain was
too worse and not able to be repaired. Furthermore, the chain was non-standardized. Therefore, a
complete design is required to replace the damage parts of the chain. The design procedures are: (1)
calculation of the expected loads that exert on the chain during operation, (2) selection of materials,
(3) designing the different parts of the chain taking into account safety, assembly process and
economic considerations. The final design was justified and validated. The SCC is working
properly and safety under various load capacities.

Introduction and Problem Formulation

Materials handling in the chicken fodder factories (CFF) is a key factor for increasing the
productivity as it reduces time loss and labor costs [1, 2]. Many types of materials handling systems
are used depending on the fodder type such as rice husk, soybeans, and shelled corn [3, 4].
The SCC is a chain conveyor system provided with rubber backed steel flights. Fig. 1 shows a
graphical presentation of the rubber backed steel flights. The present system is one of the best
materials handling solutions in CFF due to its high operational reliability, long life cycle and
suitable for transferring low densities fodder with high efficiency [5].Chain conveyor system may
works horizontally as flat belt or vertically as bucket elevator. It provides higher output than the
bucket elevator [6].

Fig. 1 Graphical presentation of the rubber backed steel flights.

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336 Recent Advances in Materials Science and Engineering

The current SCC is used in one of the chicken fodder factories (CFF). The chain conveyer has 14
m long from head- to tail-shaft. It was tailored especially for the chicken fodder factory since 1983.
The whole system was subjected to many local damages due to wear and/or fatigue, which
decreases the productivity of the whole factory. Fig. 2 shows some damaged parts of the SCC.
(a) (b)
Damaged Missing
wing link support link

Fig. 2 Photos for some damaged parts of the SCC.

The regular maintenance is impractical solution. It significantly decreases the productivity.
Replacing the chain by a new one is unacceptable due to economic issue. Hence, a decision was
taken to upgrade the whole SCC, putting into consideration a reliable design to enhance
productivity to cope with the increasing demands for chicken fodders.
The present case study is dealing with reliable design and manufacturing of a chain conveyor
suitable for transportation of chicken fodders. The aim of this paper is to provide a complete
reliable design for the damaged SCC parts including materials selection take into account the
economic and manufacturability considerations.

Design
The proposed design of conveyor composed of the link pins, bearing pins, roller support,
hardened rollers, wing links and supported links as shown in the exploded view given in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 Exploded view for the SCC parts.

 Key Engineering Materials Vol. 786 337

Fig. 4 represents an assembly drawing of the SCC. The wing links (red) are separated by two
link pins (gray) and one support link (blue). The in-between distance is used for scrapping the rice
husk used for the manufacturing the chicken fodder.

Fig. 4 SCC assembly drawing.

Identifying the applied force. First of all, the chain pull force (F) was theoretically calculated.
Hans Renold Company issued a guide for conveyor chain designer [7], it provides the following
simple formula to calculate the total chain pull force (F) in Newtons;

F = 9.81 × L [(2.05 × Wc× µc) + (Wm× µm)] + X. (1)

Where L is the head- to tail-shaft distance (m), Wc is the total mass per meter of the chain (kg/m)
including attachments and fittings, µc is the coefficient of friction due to the rolling of chain on the
steel skid base, Wm is the mass of loaded materials per meter (kg/m), µm is the coefficient of friction
between the loaded materials and the steel skid base, and X is the extra pull force of the chain due
to side guide friction. The extra pull force, X (in Newtons), can be calculated from Eq. 2 [7];

X = 2.25 × 104 GLH2. (2)

Where G is the side friction factor and H is the material height (m). For this conveyer, L equals
14 m, Wc is 5 Kg/m, µc is considered as 0.12, Wm is approximately 7.5 kg/m, µm is considered as
0.5, while G is considered as 0.05 and H is equal to 0.19 m [7]. By substituting these values into
equations 1 and 2 and solving for F, the resultant force F is equal to 1253 N.

Identifying the working stresses.

Link Pins. The link pins are processed by cold forming of 3 mm thickness (t) steel strips. The
links are subjected mainly to tensile stress. The tensile stress can be calculated by using Eq. 3, [8],
for a correct material selection;

σ = F/ (D-d) t. (3)

Where, (D) and (d) are the outer and inner diameters of the head and tail of link pins (see Fig.5).
The values of (D) and (d) were measured as 18 and 5.7 mm respectively. From Eq. 3, the calculated
tensile stress is equal to 17 N/mm2 approximately.
338 Recent Advances in Materials Science and Engineering

Fig. 5 Cross sectional area at the head of a Link pin.

Support and Wing Links. The support and wing links are made from 3 mm thickness strips (the
same thickness of the link pins). The outer and inner diameters of support and wing links are 18 and
8 mm respectively. By substituting these values into equation 3 and solving for σ, it was found that
the calculated tensile stress (σ) is equal to 21 N/mm2 approximately.

Bearing Pins. The bearing pins of 6 mm diameter are subjected to double shear stress. Eq. 4 can
be used for calculations of the shear stress (τ), [8];

τ = 2F/ πd2. (4)

The calculated value of the shear stress is 22.2 N/mm2 approximately.

Materials Selection
Proper selection of materials used in manufacturing the components increases the efficiency of
the scraper chain conveyor system, as it minimizes damages at any part and faults of any
component. The selected material should fulfill the following requirements; withstand the applied
load, good cold formability, and commercially available. It was found that the cold rolled drawing
steel will satisfy these requirements. EN 10130 DC05 steel (European standard) is one of the most
popular cold rolled steel that can be used for this application. Therefore, a 3 mm sheet of this steel
is used to manufacture the link pins, support links and wing links. Table 1 presents the chemical
composition of the commercially available EN 10130 DC05 steel with respect to the standard EN
10130 DC05 steel.
Table 1 Chemical composition of the selected steel compared with the standard values.
Chemical composition
Element [wt%]
C Si Mn P S Al
Selected steel 0.05 0.03 0.17 0.011 0.002 0.0311
EN 10130 DC05 0.06 max. 0.03 max. 0.35 max. 0.025 max. 0.025 max. 0.01 min.

Table 2 presents the tensile mechanical properties of the 3 mm steel sheet compared with the
standard values of steel grade EN 10130 DC05.

Table 2 Tensile mechanical properties of the 3 mm steel sheet.

Mechanical properties
Steel grade Yield strength Ultimate strength Elongation
[MPa] [MPa] [%]
EN 10130 DC05 (Commercial) 275 337.5 42.7
EN 10130 DC05 (Standard) 280 max. 270-410 28 min.
 Key Engineering Materials Vol. 786 339

High strength and supper wear resistance are required for bearing pins. Hence, high carbon steel-
hard drawn wire is suitable for this purpose. The commercially available AISI 1065 C-steel satisfies
these requirements. Table 3 presents the chemical composition of the steel wire.
Table 3 Chemical composition of steel wire used in producing the bearing pins compared with AISI
1065 C-steel.
Chemical composition
Element [wt%]
C Si Mn P S
AISI 1065 C-steel (Commercial) 0.697 0.239 0.987 0.0124 0.0102
AISI 1065 C-steel (Standard) 0.6-0.7 0.4 max. 0.6-1.2 0.04 max. 0.05 max.
The chemical composition of the steel wire used in producing the bearing pins coincides with the
standard specifications of AISI 1065 C-steel. For more confidence, the steel wire was subjected to
tensile testing according to DIN 50125 at the room temperature with a cross-head speed 10
mm/min. Table 4 presents the tensile mechanical properties compared with the standard
specification A 648-04a for steel wire at the hard drawn condition.
Table 4 Tensile mechanical properties of the 6 mm diameter bearing pin.
Mechanical properties
Steel grade
Yield strength [MPa] Ultimate strength [MPa] Elongation [ %]
Wire steel for bearing pins 1395 1605 12
Steel A 648-04a class II --- 1450 min ---

Finite Element Analysis

A finite element simulation package (SOLIDWORKS) was used to compare the results of the
stress distribution with the measured mechanical properties of the selected materials and to ensure a
considerable factor of safety for the different parts of the chain conveyor.
Each link pin would be subjected to a tensile load with a value equals to F/2, where F was
calculated by the equation developed by Hans Renold Company [7]. i.e. Each link pin would be
subjected to 626.5 N tensile load. The link pin is presented by the finite element package in Fig. 6
(a) with a color distribution. The color-coded simulation data legend shows that the link pin with
selected steel is completely safe because the maximum stress near to the terminal slots is
approximately 71.28 N/mm2 which is far from the yielding strength (275 N/mm2).

(a) (b)

Fig. 6 Stress distribution in the (a) link pins (b) support link.
Similarly, it was found that the support link is receiving 21 N/mm2 tensile stress (σ). The stress
distribution demonstrated on the support link by the finite element (see Fig. 6 (b)) shows that the
340 Recent Advances in Materials Science and Engineering

possible maximum value of stress is 78.29 N/mm2, while the yield stress of the steel plates is
275 N/mm2. Moreover, Fig. 7 (a) shows that the wing link is subjected to both normal and bending
stresses. The maximum stress presented by finite element is 78.85 N/mm2 for the wing link which is
much lower than the yielding strength of steel plate (275 N/mm2).
It is clear that the maximum stress for link pins, support links, and wing links occurs near to the
elliptical hole. These results are in good agreement with other studies [9, 10].
Stress distribution of the steel bearing pin is presented in Fig. 7 (b). It was found that the
resultant stress due to the applied force (1253 N) is 78.3 N/mm2 which is much lower than the yield
strength of the bearing pin (1395≈1400 N/mm2).

(a) (b)

Fig. 7 (a) Normal and bending stress distribution in wing link (b) stress distribution of bearing pin.

Manufacturing processes
The SCC components were produced by applying a CO2 laser cutting on 3 mm thickness steel
sheets that tabulated in table 1 in order to produce the link pins, support links and wing links as
shown in Figs.8 (a), (b) and (c), respectively. The wing links are then subjected to bending
operation for producing of the wings as shown in Fig. 8 (d).

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Fig. 8 (a) Link pins, (b) Support links (c) Wing links after laser cutting (d) Wing links after
bending.

Fig. 9 (a). (b) and (c) show the actual manufactured parts of the SCC. The produced parts have
acceptable accuracy and excellent fitting.
 Key Engineering Materials Vol. 786 341

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 9 The actual manufacured parts of the SCC: (a) link pin (b) wing link (b) assembly for wing
winks together with roller support and hardened rollers.

Summary
The current case study presents a complete design and manufacturing for different parts of the
SCC. Commercial available materials were used to produce the different parts. The finite element
simulation was performed to verify and support the design process. The manufacturing processes
for the designed parts were presented. The final design was validated and the chain is working
safely.

Acknowledgment
The authors are thankful to Shoubra faculty of engineering, Benha university and CMRDI for
providing financial and technical support for carrying out this study.

References
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[5] P. M. McGuire, Conveyors: application, selection, and integration: CRC Press, 2009.
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agricultural machines: American society of agricultural engineers St. Joseph, Mich, 1993.
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