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design and fabrication of a trommel drum sand sieving machine

Experiment Findings · June 2021

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.26987.62240

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 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

A rotary screen (or trommel drum screen) is an inclined rotating drum with apertures on its

surface that creates a continuous cataracting motion to ensure that particles impinge on the

rotating screen (Montejo et al., 2013). Particles that are smaller than the apertures can be

separated, although the separation is never ideal. In comparison to other size separation

equipment, trommels have low maintenance and operating costs (Stessel, 1991) and can

handle larger throughputs. A trommel screen is also known as rotary screen and is mainly

used in the mineral and solid waste processing industries. It consists of a perforated

cylindrical drum which is normally elevated at an angle at the feed end. Physical size

separation is achieved as the feed material spirals down the rotating drum either by conveyor

or by gravity, where the undersized materials smaller than the screen aperture (4.75mm)

passes through the screen, while oversized material exists at the other end of the drum. Field

crop residues are considered one of the most critical problems which farmers face.

Accumulation of these residues in large quantities results not only in deterioration of the

environment but also in a loss of potentially valuable material. Manuring with these residues

through composting is a promising route, especially with the increase in fertilizer price.

Composting is the biological reduction of organic wastes to humus. The good composting

structure depends on the correct mixing and turning of materials as well as, after maturity the

correct screening of the produced compost. Screening improves the quality of the produced

compost for sale or use by removing unwanted objects such as rocks, metals, clumps, and

other trash. There are many factors that control the performance of compost cleaning machine.

These factors can be divided into two sections: (1) Machine and (2) Material.

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Machine variables include: sieve speed, sieve inclination angle, screen opening size and

feeding rate. Moreover, material variables such as compost moisture content and degree of

compost maturity are considered critical factors. The mentioned factors affect directly on the

compost losses, efficiency, productivity, energy and cost requirements.

Trommel Screen is a screen cylinder used to separate materials by size. The trommel screen

plays the replacement of vibration screens and disk screens as it is vibration free, easy

maintenance, cheaper to produce and higher durability. From the design and built point of

view the trommel screen does not require a whole lot of resources, technological

advancements and monetary input when compared to the other screens such as vibrating

screens and disk screens, and even manually handled screens whereas it works on basic

principles of physics and requires little amount of research and development. Hence building

a trommel screen results in implementing the technical knowledge into practical aspects and

this has been the main motivation of carrying out the project.

Construction of buildings requires sand as an important ingredient. Sand is used at different

stages in construction right from the foundation to the finishing work i.e. plaster. This sand

needs to be screened properly for various stages in construction, i.e. size of sand for

construction work is slightly coarse whereas that used for plaster work is fine. Conventionally

screening is normally done manually using fixed screens or manually operated machines. This

manual process is time consuming, requires high labour and costly. It is also observed that the

conventional machines have poor efficiency as the sand needs to be manually transported and

material handling takes place twice to get different sizes of sand. The poor efficiency of the

conventional methods of sieving sands can be attributed to the following facts stated below:

(1) These processes are carried out manually.

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 (2) Sieving of sand is carried out using rectangular mesh which is inclined at certain angle.

This causes a relative motion between the particles and the sieve.

(3) Depending on their size the individual particles either pass through the sieve mesh or

retained on the sieve surface.

There are different machines that are being used for sand sieving processes. In this project,

the process will takes place automatically and the time consumed during the whole process of

preparing the final mix is reduced. In the present sand sieving method, the sample is subjected

to horizontal movement in accordance with the chosen method. This causes a relative motion

between the particles and the sieve. Depending on their size the individual particles either

pass through the sieve mesh or retained on the sieve surface. This project demonstrates the

design & fabrication of both manually and automatically driven sand sieving machine which

have low cost, simple in operation, highly efficient, reliable and robust.

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 1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

A research was carried out by me before this project was concluded to be done and the results

of the research showed that close to 78% of construction companies and also almost 98% of

local construction industries such as Bricklayers in Nigeria do not have a system to separate

their aggregate which are the fine and coarse aggregates, large percent of these industries still

engage in the traditional ways of sand separation before use such as a manually hand operated

sieve. This incurs extra cost on the industries as labour can be very high depending on

demand and also there is an increase in waiting time for the final fine sieve and course

aggregate to be separated and ready for mixing. There is also an increase in material handling

which is a waste of time and resources. Below is a list of other problem statements that led to

this project research and development.

(1) The problem of size of sand in the market available requires spending more money if

the sand is needed in specific size or category which will increase the budget and time

to wait for the supplier preparing the goods.

(2) Contractors always prefer the most suitable way to cut their cost and time, example is

in a construction site where they have to finish the work before the due date, this

might be a problem since there is long waiting time for the good to arrive on site.

(3) However, most industries have sophisticated machines that can do this work of

sieving any substance or mixture, but sometime in construction sites, there is a need

for a special sieve machine that are comfortable and easy to use.

(4) Traditional method give low efficiency as it is operated manually but the automated

sand sieving machine have higher efficiency

(5) Traditional method require more labour.

(6) Traditional method is more time consuming during the process of separation.

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 (7) The cost of highly sophisticated machine is very high which is not affordable for

small scale foundries or industries and low level contractors.

(8) Modern machineries require high skill to operate.

(9) Field crop residues are considered one of the most critical problems which farmers

face. Accumulation of these residues in large quantities results not only in

deterioration of the environment but also in a loss of potentially valuable material.

1.3 AIM

To design and fabricate a trommel drum dry sand sieving machine.

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

Technology advancement has brought about the replacement of manual method of

Carrying out some activities with automated and more robust approaches. Examples of such

activities includes planting, harvesting, grinding, processing among others. The advantages of

the new automated methods over conventional/manual approaches are enormous. In this

regards, this work will develop a way of processing Okra without exposing it to loss of

nutrients.

1.5 JUSTIFICATION OF STUDY

There are several objectives of designing this project which are discussed as follows,

To design and fabricate new sieve machine which will enable the operator to carry out his job

effortlessly, and without having to spend too much money on labour as a single machine is

sufficient to do the same amount of work done by many workers under shorter time than

normal using the available resources. The design would also ensure a manual handle is

provided on the machine in order to enable the operator to carry out his job in case the site is

located in places where electricity is not accessible or available to power the electric machine.

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In summary, the machine is a two in one equipment, which means it is both manually

operated by turning a handle and automatically operated by an electric motor.

Small and portable machine which can be easily moved to the site where it will be used, light

weight and low central of gravity for stability and also to avoid tilting of the machine during

operation. The tires are made to be of large diameters to cater for the stability of the machine

in swampy or muddy sites. These tires ensure it does not sink to earth. The machine will

enable the operator to sieve into different sizes and grades of dry sand by the provision of a

removable screen or mesh.

The machine will enable farmers to separate weeded plants from useful humus sand.

1.6 SCOPE OF WORK

The project consists of designing and fabrication of an automatic trommel drum dry

sand sieving machine considering various important parameters so that contractors can gain

high profit. The project involves the process of designing the various parts of this separation

machine considering forces and ergonomic factor for people to use.

1.7 PRESENTATION OF THE STUDY

The entire project work is presented in five chapters. Chapter 1 gives an introduction

note highlighting the rationale of the study, specific objectives, while Chapter 2 represents

literature reviews of the project made in the past that are relevant to the objectives of the

present project. Chapter 3 explains the method adopted in the design and fabrication of the

project. The test result and analysis from the project carried out are discussed in chapter 4.

The summary and conclusion of the project are presented in chapter 5.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 INTRODUCTION

Trommels, or rotary screens, are important size separation units in material processing

operations when material size or grade matters (Stessel, 1991; Stessel and Cole, 1996; Stessel

and Kranc, 1992) and have been used in different waste management facilities, such as

material recovery facilities (MRFs), mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) plants, and

refuse-derived fuel (RDF) production plants (Wheeler et al., 1989).

The trommel is a rotating drum (or cylinder) with apertures in its surface, and it is inclined at

a small angle from the horizontal axial, which creates a continuous cataracting motion to

ensure that the particles within the trommel impinge on the rotating screen. Depending on the

rotational velocity (speed), from low to high, three different particulate motions are generated

inside a trommel: a) slumping (Chen et al., 2010) or clinker or cascade (Stessel and Cole,

1996), b) cataracting and c) centrifuging, as shown in Figure 2-1, of which cataracting is the

only favourable motion for the sieving operations.

Figure 1.1: Types of particulate motion in rotating cylinders: (a) slumping; (b) cataracting; (c)

centrifuging, adapted from Chen et al., (2010).

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With cataracting motion, particles that are smaller than the apertures can be separated at each

impingement. Usually, spikes (knives) and lifters are used inside a municipal solid waste

trommel to improve bag breakage and cataracting motion that ultimately improves the

efficiency of screening. And for construction site based, the machine is designed with metal

rods running down the drum in order to increase the efficiency. In comparison to other size

separation equipment, trommels have low maintenance and operating costs, but a higher

capital cost (Stessel, 1991).

In waste management, trommels have been frequently used for (a) grit removal from high

heating value materials; (b) screening out fine organics for composting or biological treatment

prior to landfilling; (c) the separation of recyclables such as aluminium cans and plastic

bottles in material recovery facilities; (d) quality enhancement of finished compost; (e)

processing construction and demolition waste (Huang et al., 2002; Sullivan et al., 1992); and f)

landfill reclamation (Chiemchaisri et al., 2010; Prechthai et al., 2008).

Additionally, trommels may be single-staged, double-staged, or multi-staged, depending on

the number of aperture sizes. Accordingly, they emit one, two, or more streams of undersized

material (Chen et al., 2010) in addition to the oversized material that leaves the outlet.

This chapter includes summary of the past literature and researches which are relevant to the

project. The literature associated with various aspects of the present project is divided under

the following subheads;

2.1 SAND SIEVING TECHNIQUES

Depending on the influence of ergonomics, economic and social factors, sieving is

done in different ways;

(1) Traditional way to sieve sand by hand

(2) Hand sieving machine using simple machine operated manually

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 (3) modern sieve machine using vibratory or rotatory motion

2.1.1 HAND SIEIVNG

The figure below shows the process used in sieving a mixture of coarse and fine

aggregates before the invention of powered machines. This process sieves the sand into different

desired sizes depending on the size of the screen or sieve being used. This smooth sand or the

product extracted is usually used as the main material in construction to build buildings, bridges

or roads. Smooth sand is required to achieve better quality surface finish, avoid segregation during

cement mixing and application. This method is also used in making sand casting in the foundry or

making any product based on the use of sand where surface finish is crucial to the design of the

product.

Figure 1.2: traditional hand sieving operation

2.1.2 SIEVING WITH ROTARY EQUIPENT

Figure 2.2 below shows a modified sieving method. It uses handle to rotate and make the

Sieving process more efficient, mainly used in small manufactured process plants such as in

Laboratories, cement factories, construction industries. Nowadays it has been upgraded using

motor to replace the human power since this machine is important in our daily life it has bee

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 Figure 1.3: manual hand sieving equipment

2.1.3 POWERED ROTATING SCREENS

All of the intake screens discussed so far have operated in a stationary mode (or at least

stationary whilst screening). An important group of screens rotate, screening solids

continuously through that part of the screen that is submerged, with accumulated solids

carried on the surface of the screen out of the water, to a zone where they may be washed off

the surface into some kind of sludge collector. The disc screen is a large frame carrying two

circles of wire mesh, sealed together at their circumference, and mounted on a substantial

hollow shaft. The screen sits in a flow channel, with its shaft across that channel, and

submerged to just above the shaft. Solids collected on the screen surface are carried out of the

hollow trommel by the rotation of the screen inclined at an angle, with heavier solids lifted by

suitable buckets. Screens of this type may be from 2 to 4.5 m in diameter, and can be mounted

in parallel for higher flow rates. Higher flows can also be achieved by mounting the disc with

just one circle of mesh across the input flow. These screens are simple in design, and are

mainly used for the removal of relatively fine solids from coarse solids.

Rotating drum screens are made from a sheet of wire mesh, mounted on the outside of a

cylindrical drum and rotating on a horizontal shaft. More complex forms of rotating drum

screens include the micro-strainer, which has a flow from inside the drum, through the screen,

and can trap solids down to a few micrometres, because of the cake of solids that collects

inside the screen, before it is washed off at the top. A different form of rotating screen is

exemplified by the Contra-shear and Roto-plug designs, which do not operate with a flooded

screen but are sludge thickeners and drainers ( Figure1.4). The dilute suspension is fed inside

the drum and the liquid drains quickly through the screen, while the separated solids fall to the

bottom of the drum where they travel along the bottom, parallel to the drum axis, draining

10
further as they do so, to leave by overflowing at the end of the drum. As these are sludge

processing.

Figure 1.4: Contra-shear screen

2.1.4 VIBRATORY SCREEN

A huge volume of solids is processed by means of vibratory screens. These can be either

horizontal or gently inclined, and they incorporate the use of vibratory motors to achieve the

required motion of the screen. In order to get flow of the separating solids across a horizontal

screen, the vibrating motors need to run in different directions to each other so that when they

are synchronized they will produce a straight line impetus, so that the solids will move across

the screen and enable it to be used for screening, conveying and dewatering. When the screen

is gently inclined the action of a simple vibration is normally sufficient to achieve the required

flow of solids across the surface of the screen. A vibrating screen may be firmly mounted on a

vibration system below the screen, or it may be suspended by cables from the overhead

vibration mechanism. These two are shown in Figure 1.4. Modern construction methods tend

to use stainless steel screen elements and high-density plastic construction materials for the

remainder, to give a reduction in mass, so enabling lower power motors to drive the system,

making the operation much more energy efficient.

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 Figure 1.5: vibratory screen

2.1.4 GYRATORY SEPERATORS

Gyratory screen separators, which impart a basically circular motion to the particles on the

screen, are used for high capacity separation by size of dry materials, and for wet separations

when oversize material constitutes a large percentage of the feed (a typical example is shown

in Figure). Common practice with gyratory screens has been to adapt the motion of one type

of machine to perform either wet or dry separations, since two distinctly different types of

motion are required for the best efficiency. The separation of fine solids such as dust from

more coarse solids such as gravel requires a crisp, long, horizontal motion to shear the feed

stream and quickly pass the fine solids through the screen. A minimum amount of vertical

motion is used to convey solids out of the separator. Dry separation, on the other hand,

normally requires precisely the opposite types of motion – minimum horizontal motion to

spread the material over the screen in a controlled pattern, and a strong vertical motion to

stratify the product so that particles can quickly pass through the screen openings.

The gyratory screen has become a remarkably useful processing tool, able to separate several

solid fractions by the expedient of mounting a series of decks, one above the other on the one

vibrating frame.

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 Figure 1.6: Gyratory screen

2.2.1 DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF AUTOMATIC DRIVEN SAND SIEVING

MACHINE

2.2.2 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

The figure shows the sand filter and separator. The whole work is based on the mechanism of

slider crank mechanism. The rotation of the crank transfers the motion to the movement of

rectangular shape filter. It consists of the pulley and belt arrangement which rotates the crank

and through it slider consists of oscillating mechanism and the power is transmitted to the

slider crank mechanism. This mechanism is used to rotate the crank, the pulley which is

having an extended rod connected to the sliding portion of the rectangular plate directly by

means of a linkage. The rectangular plate is passed through the guide ways by means of

maintaining the cutting axis causing the rectangular sieve to move linearly on a guided path.

The crank is connected to the flywheel which transfers the motion from one to another, the

flywheel is connected to another wheel which is connected to the rectangular filter plate

through belt. The rotating motion of the electrical motor converts to the sliding motion using

two flywheels and belt. The sliding crank mechanism is used in this project. The flywheel

13
which is placed at the top is used as crank and connecting rod in between the rectangular plate

and flywheel brings about the linear motion of the rectangular sieve which is connected to it.

Figure 1.7: Developed CAD design of automatic sand sieving machine

2.3.1 DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF INCLINABLE TROMMEL SAND SIEVE

MACHINE

2.3.2 OPERATING PRINCIPLE

The project started with the fabrication of the three trommels. The structure of the frame of the

machine, assembly of the driving mechanism together with the other machine accessories

followed. Power hacksaw was used in cutting the angle bars into required lengths and then

assembled by welding to form the base frame and the inclinable frame. Shear press was used in

cutting large sizes steel sheets and formed using sheet metal bending brake. The bent steel sheets

are then connected by rivets to form the feed hopper, plaster sand hopper and the side shield.

Power tools such as hammer drill and angle grinder are used for drilling holes, cleaning up

welding flux, grinding sharp edges, and cutting small sizes parts. The fabricated parts were

assembled including sub-assemblies, with the use of bolts to finish the project. Some significant

adjustments were made in order to simplify the fabrication process without discounting strength,

durability and functionality of the adjusted element or part. The sand is poured into the innermost

trommel drum which has the smallest diameter and the largest sizes of mesh pores or holes and

this represents the first stage of the sieving process. Hence, the by product which is sand having

14
bigger size than the sieve pores is channelled out of the trommel from the second open end and

the sand which has passed through the sieve pores enters into the second stage of sieving and the

same process is repeated until the final process has been carried out and the sieving process has

been carried out giving out four different grades of sand.

2.4.0 SIZE SEPARATION OF PARTICULATES IN A TROMMEL SCREEN

SYSTEM

2.4.1 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

Prior to the test experiments, the tilt angles of the trommel body were measured by the angle

gage. A tachometer was employed to measure the rotational speeds of the trommel body.

Speeds of 23, 28, 33, 38, 43, 48, 53 and 63rpm were used. The mass flow rates of the filter

granules were measured by weighing the discharged filter granules in a bucket with an

electronic balance and taking into account the discharge time. In this study, the testing could

be divided into two stages, the screen system mode and the filter system mode. In the test

procedure for the trommel screen system, both undersized and oversized filter granules were

added to the feeding hopper. The filter granules passed through the feeding hopper to the

trommel body where undersized and oversized filter granules were separated using the screen

meshes, after which they were delivered on conveyors 1 and 2, respectively. In the

experiments, filter granules less than 2mm in size were obtained from conveyor 1. Residual

filter granules were obtained from conveyor 2. The validity of the developed screening

technique was evaluated and the trommel screen system filter system tested experimentally

(filter system mode). Using the silica sand supply device, clean filter granules were

continuously fed into the filter system. The dust laden gas was filtered from the inlet feed pipe

to the outlet of the filter system. The gas passed through the filter system to the outlet pipe,

and the dust particulates remained on the filter granules of filter system. The filter system

offers a reasonable resistance to the flow of gas and dust particulates, having to work with

different filtration conditions. The inlet of dust concentration was controlled by the screw
15
feeder and air fan. The inlet of dust concentrations were 7500 and 10,000ppmw. The outlet of

dust concentration was measured by the sampling probe. Besides, from the experimental

flowchart it can be seen that after passing through the filter system, the clean filter granules

were turned into the filter granules and dust particulates due to the collection dust particulates

in the filter granules. Then, the filter granules and the dust particulates discharged from the

filter system were transported to the trommel screen system by means of the feeding hopper.

The regenerated filter granules and the dust particulates were then separated. In this test, the

mass flow rate of dust particulates in conveyer 1 was simultaneously measured by an

electronic balance. Besides, the regenerated filter granules were delivered on conveyors 2.

The screening efficiency could be calculated from the masses of undersized (less than 2mm)

particles in the feeding hopper and conveyer 1:

����
���������� = 1 −
���

Where ��� and ���� were the masses of undersized particles (less than 2mm) in the feeding

hopper and conveyer 1, respectively. In this study, to increase the measurement accuracy

during the screening process, the undersized filter granules (less than 2mm) in the screen

system mode and the dust particulates in the filter system mode were removed for

measurement, respectively.

16
Figure 2.1: Schematic diagram of screening experiment carried out by the trommel screening

system with filter system.

2.5.0 DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF SAND SIEVING AND CEMENT MIXING

MACHINE

Generally while preparing the concrete for construction purpose, the process of sieving and

mixing is carried out separately. These processes are carried out manually. Sieving of sand is

carried out using rectangular mesh which is inclined at certain angle. In the present sand

sieving method, the sample is subjected to horizontal or vertical movement in accordance

with the chosen method. This causes a relative motion between the particles and the sieve.

Depending on their size the individual particles either pass through the sieve mesh or retained

on the sieve surface. There are different machines that are being used for sand Sieving and

cement mixing processes, but we are designing and fabricating a machine where sand sieving

and cement mixing takes place simultaneously. Thus the time consumed during the whole

process of preparing the concrete is reduced. In construction sites, currently the process of

sieving of sand and mixing of sand, cement and water are carried out separately. The process

of sieving of sand is carried out manually by using inclined rectangular mesh of required size.

17
It will take more time to sieve the sand and the sieved sand has to be brought to another place

for mixing purpose. During mixing, initially sand and cement is mixed. After that water is

added and again mixing is carried out. In these processes the time elapsed in each stage is

more? Our objective is to reduce the time elapsed during all these processes by carrying the

processes simultaneously. The output produced in this machine can be controlled. Therefore

the objective of the project can be summarized as follows,

1. To save time during sieving of sand.

2. To save time during mixing of sand, cement and water.

3. To ensure efficient mixing of ingredients.

2.5.1 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

Figure 2.2: Sand sieving and cement mixing machine

From the figure above, the sand is dumped into the channel which is placed at the top of the

machine channel which directly pours the sand into the tapered cylindrical mesh from the side

of the mesh with smallest diameter. The channel is designed in such a way that it acts as a

pathway to the sand so that there will be no spillage. When the sand enters the cylindrical

mesh with the help of channel, the tapered cylindrical mesh draws power from the motor with

the help of chain drives and starts rotating, as the tapered cylindrical mesh rotates the large

size particles gets separated from the small size particles and the large size particles will

remain inside the tapered cylindrical mesh. This fine particle of sand which is sieved enters

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the housing through the hopper which is provided below the tapered cylindrical mesh. When

the sieved sand enters the hopper, cement is also introduced into the hopper and water will be

added with the help of pipe directly into the housing where ribbon mixer is provided. The

ribbon mixer draws power from the motor and starts rotating. When the sand, cement and

water enters ribbon mixer, uniform mixing of ingredients (sand, cement and water) takes

place. Clearance which is provided between the ribbon mixer and the housing is minimum to

ensure the proper mixing of ingredients. Ribbon mixer will push the mixture out of the

housing with least possible time. In this housing an opening is provided where the sand,

cement and water which is mixed in an efficient manner is collected in a mortar pan.

The frame is provided at the bottom which provides mechanical support and reduces or

minimizes the vibration problems. Bearings are used while mounting the shafts of ribbon

mixer and cylindrical mesh onto the frame. These bearings provided will avoid friction

between the moving parts and support radial or axial loads

2.6.0 DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF HORIZONTAL SIEVING MACHINE

Horizontal sieving machine is a machine designed to separate particles according to their

mesh sizes at different levels. In many industry for example the pharmaceutical, it is often

desirable to communite particulate matter. A small sieve such as used for sifting flour has

very small holes. Depending upon the types of particles to be separated, sieves with different

types of holes are used. Sieves are also used to separate stones from sand, a metallic plate or

sheet, or other similar device, with regularly spaced apertures of uniform sizes mounted in a

suitable frame or holder can be used in separating material according to their sizes.

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2.6.1 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

Figure 2.3: Horizontal Sieving Machine

This project is fabricated with the help of parts like a handle, crank and slotted link

mechanism, bearing, rail track, sieving box and a collecting box. The horizontal sieving

machine is worked on the basis of crank and slotted mechanism. The rail track is attached at

the base in which the collecting box moves in it. The collecting box is fixed with the crank

shaft in order to move when the crank shaft is reciprocated. The sieving box is placed inside

the collecting box and the machine is started. When the collecting box moves in the

reciprocating motion the sieving process is performed.

2.7.0 DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, TESTING OF A DRY SAND SIEVING

MACHINE

The size distribution is often of critical importance to the quality of the casting (product). A

sieve analysis can be performed on any type of non – organic or organic granular materials

including sands, crushed rock, clays, soil, granite, feldspar and coal, a wide range of

manufactured powders, grains and seeds, down to a minimum size depending on the exact

method. Being such a simple technique of particle sizing, it is probably the most common.

This process can as well increase the production rate of cast products instead of the use of the

manual traditional way of sand throwing method through a mesh tray more over up to six

different sand sizes can be sampled at a time depending on the arrangement of the trays. This

20
design can take four different sizes of sand grains, meaning four different sizes of mesh

arranged in layers of preference, from coarse on top to the finest at the bottom. Sand sieve is

of multiplayer and highly efficient. It can screen the materials into multiple levels products

according to the different materials grain size. (McCave and Syvitcki, 199).

2.7.1 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

The automatic sand sieving machine has been designed mainly for dry sand of size between

0.9mm – 0.01mm. The operation of this machine is very straight forward, simple and does not

require any special expertise, skill or knowledge. To set up the machine for operation: (i) fill

the sample of sand into hopper through the funnel. (20kg) (ii) turn on the electric motor after

ensuring that there is no loosed part on the machine. (iii) The movement of the hopper does

the shaking of the entire place in different segmentation. (iv) Disassemble the hopper and

remove each segment of the trays. (v) The finer ones will be at the bottom while the coarsest

will be on top. (vi) The left-over which cannot find its way through the screen is the removed

from the surface of the sieve.

2.8.0 FABRICATION AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A MECHANICAL

SIEVE SHAKER

The quality of product achieved by sand casting is partly a function of the kind of sand used

during moulding. Quartz and other silica rock particles are the source of silica sand which is

commonly used in moulding (Chipil and Basal, 2014). However, the natural sand does not

possess the actual properties needed for moulding. It consists of different shaped and sized

particles (particle size distribution), responsible for important physical and mechanical

properties of the product (Hagen et al, 1987). If the particle size distribution changes during

manufacturing process, then the quality of the finished product will also change. Hence only a

continuous monitoring of the particle size distribution can maintain constant product quality

21
(Ayodeji et al, 2014; Scott and Tim, 2015). In order to determine the particle size distribution

of sand, sieving is employed. Sieving is a unit operation carried out by allowing solid particles

of different sizes to pass through the pores of an orderly arranged set of stacked sieves in a

manner of the particle sizes and shape (Abubakar et al, 2015).

Figure 2.4: Pictorial views of the sieve shaker

2.2.7.2 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

Clay-free sand grains were obtained from the Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic campus. The sand

was sun dried for 2 days to ensure that it is completely free of moisture. 200g of the dried

sand was placed in the top sieve of the fabricated sieving machine and covered, with the other

sieves stacked in the order of decreasing mesh size from the top to the pan. The sieve shaker

is then rotated properly by turning the machine handle for about 10 minutes. The various

sieves are then taken apart and its content weighed, including the pan. The experimental

procedure for the manual sieving entailed shaking the six set of sieves unstacked in the

machine with hand with equal amount of sand sample on the top sieve for the same duration

as with machine sieving. The content in each sieve is also weighed, including the pan.

22
2.8.0 MULTIPURPOSE SAND SCREENING MACHINE, Akshay G. Phadtare)

2.8.1 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

Power supply to the shaft on which a bevel gear is mounted on it, and a second bevel gear at a

right angle to it has been mounted on a drill shaft to which a drill bit is being attached. At one

end of the shaft is connected to power supply, other end is being joined to a circular disc,

through this circular disc scotch yoke mechanism is being performed (rotator y motion is

converted to reciprocating motion). Also in between these two ,a helical gear is mounted

basically gear or cogwheel is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh

with another toothed part in order to transmit torque, in most cases with teeth on the one gear

being of identical shape, and often also with that shape on the other gear. Two or more gears

working in tandem are called a transmission and can produce a mechanical advantage through

a gear ratio and thus may be considered a simple machine. Geared devices can change the

speed, torque, and direction of a power source thereby producing translation instead of

rotation.

2.2.8.3 JUSTIFICATION

We can see that all the production based industries wanted low production cost and high work

rate which is possible through the utilization of multi-function operating machine which will

less power as well as less time, since this machine provides working at different center it

really reduced the time consumption up to appreciable limit. In an industry a considerable

portion of investment is being made for machinery installation. So in this paper we have

proposed a machine which can perform operations like drilling, sawing, grinding at different

working centres simultaneously which implies that industrialist have not to pay for machine

performing above tasks individually for operating operation simultaneously.

23
2.9.0 DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF SOLAR POWERED TROMMEL SCREEN

Trommel Screen is a screen cylinder used to separate materials by size. The trommel screen

plays the replacement of vibration screens and disk screens as it is vibration free, easy

maintenance, cheaper to produce and higher durability. From the design and built point of

view the trommel screen does not require a whole lot of resources, technological

advancements and monetary input when compared to the other screens such as vibrating

screens and disk screens, whereas it works on basic principles of physics and requires little

amount of research and development.

2.2.9.1 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

Figure 2.5: solar trommel drum

The solar panel absorb the incoming solar radiation and charges the battery. This is connected

to a motor that rotates the belt drives via pulleys. The rotational motion of the belt drives is

transmitted to the periphery of the wheel rims and in turn rotates the trommel (cylindrical

mesh structure). Material feeds into the drum, is lifted by the rotation and aerated as it falls

down. This action is repeated with each revolution along the length of the drum. The finer

material passes through the screen openings while the lager material tumbles towards its

eventual exit at the rear of the drum. Hence, a coarse feed (say from a primary crusher) is fed

24
at the upper end of the grizzly. Large chunks roll & slide to the lower end (tail discharge)

while small lumps having size less than the opening in the bars fall through the grid into a

separate collector

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1.0 INTRODUCTION

This chapter briefly describes the methodology used for the development of a trommel drum

dry sand sieving machine based on considerations of engineering properties of aggregates and

the details of procedures adopted for performance evaluation of developed machine for

optimizing operating parameters and analytical methods. Present study was carried out after

studying different research reports which are mentioned in the previous chapter i.e., Review

of Literature. The materials used for construction of trommel drum dry sand sieving machine

and various experimental methods employed for evaluation of the developed prototype is

documented in this chapter.

25
Figure 3.1: isometric view of trommel drum sieving machine

26
Figure 3.2: orthographic view of the frame

27
Figure 3.3: orthographic view of the trommel drum

28
3.1.1 PROJECT FLOW CHART

In fabrication process, there is a planning of the overall progress to make sure the project is

executed and finished on schedule and the flow chart is represented below.

START

Get and present project title

Meeting with supervisor to

discuss about the project

Submit proposal

Design NO

YES

Concept design

Material selection

Final concept

Letter of approval submission

to central workshop

Material preparation
BOM

Fabrication

Report

Figure 3.4: flowchart

Presentation
29

Finish
The methodology adopted in developing trommel drum dry sand sieving machine has been

divided into the following sections.

3.2 Principle of Operations

3.3 Construction Features

3.4 Design Calculations of trommel drum dry sand sieving machine

3.5 Performance Evaluation of the machine

30
3.1.2 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

The electrically powered trommel drum dry sand sieving machine is simple in design

and in construction. In this machine, aggregates of different sizes are separated into different

grades by the cataracting motion between the aggregates and the internal surface of the

rotating trommel sieve.

The dry sand of unequally sized aggregates are charged into the trommel drum from

the input side and is allowed to flow down through the length of the trommel drum as sand

with lower size than the size of the sieve apertures passes through the sieve body, and then the

sand with bigger sizes than the size of the sieve apertures will stay in the rotating drum and is

brought to the output side of the trommel drum by gravity due to the angle of inclination

between the two ends of the trommel drum. The angle of inclination with respect to the

revolutions per minute (rpm) is well calculated and selected as it greatly affects the coefficient

of performance of the machine. Since a conveyor is not used inside the machine then it is best

to adopt the use of gravitational force in order to bring the residue that is not sieved out of the

machine output. These aggregate of bigger sizes are then collected in the tray which is

provided at the bottom of the machine to avoid spattering of sand all over the machine and

also to avoid raising of dust in situations where dusty sand is being sieved.

The power to drive the machine is provided by a two phase electric motor connected

to the shaft of the trommel drum through specified V-belts and four stage speed reduction

pulleys arranged together.

31
3.1.3 CONSTRUCTION FEATURES

The knowledge of machine design and strength of materials made us to understand the

significance of properties of materials in choosing material for this particular design. The

below are the factors put into consideration, for the material selected for this particular

machine.

1.The mechanical properties, such as strength, elasticity, toughness etc.

2.The chemical properties, which include, corrosion

3.Other properties, includes cost, durability, availability, manufacturing requirements.

During the development of the power operated trommel drum dry sand sieving machine, it

was kept in mind that the equipment should be suitable for marginal and medium building

construction of capacity in.

Material selection

All materials will be locally sourced based on the local content Initiatives in Nigeria. In this

design, alloy steel and mild steel were used. Mild steel was used for frame, hoppers and

collector, alloy steel was used for the trommel drum. Since different materials are involved in

the fabrication, appropriate joining process and alloy electrodes would be used.

3.1.4 FRAME

The frame is made of mild steel. The overall dimensions of the frame were 1524 mm length,

1200 mm width and 1219.20 mm height. Same size of MS angle iron (35 mm x 35 mm x 5

mm) was welded across all the members of frame to make it as rigid a frame as possible. The

main frame supports the entire weight of the machine. The frame has a bottom set of tires and

castor wheels of 50KG capacity were preferred for the machine due to its self-braking

capacity during operation to avoid unwanted movements of the machine.

32
3.1.5 TROMMEL DRUM

The mesh used is also made of alloy steel, the metallic mesh is made to lie on rolled metal

bars in 3 pairs of diameter size 1000 mm and length 1348 mm rotating about the axis of a

shaft of length 1524 mm and diameter 20mm.

3.1.6 SPEED REDUCTION PULLEYS

Speed reduction pulleys are used in this project in order to have the trommel rotate at a slower

speed but sufficiently high torque. An electric motor is used which has about 1200 rpm. The

trommel is required to run between 30 to 40 rpm. The 2 pairs of pulleys runs through an

arrangement of 2 pairs of shaft and 3 sets of pillow bearings of sizes 20 mm.

3.1.7 HOPPER ASSEMBLY

Three hoppers were assembled together in this project in order to guide materials into

and out of the machine and also to collect the sieved sand. To enhance easy flow of the sand

mass and reduce impingement force of sand hitting the inner surface of the trommel drum, the

first hopper which guides sand into the machine was made with flat MS sheet bent at the two

sides of 500mm length, 340 mm diameter and thickness of 1 mm. The throw-in type feeding

hopper was selected to feed sand into the machine by gravitational flow.

The second hopper is located at the output of the machine which is opposite the inlet,

it helps in guiding the aggregates, stones, end every other masses bigger than the aperture of

the sieve out of the machine into a provided means of collecting those masses. The hopper is

800 mm in length and 740 mm in with and 1 mm thickness and is made from MS sheet bent at

the two sides across its length.

33
 The third hopper is a sieved sand collecting tray which is used to collect the seized

sand coming out from the outer surface of the sieve across its length, it is made from MS

sheet bent at the two sides across its length and is shaped such that it spans from the right end

of the trommel drum toward the left side of the machine. This is done so as to catch all flying

sand particles as it leaves the trommel drum and also in order to reduce dust. The hopper is

1600 mm in length and 1300 mm in width, inclination angle of 35° and 2 mm thickness. The

angle of mounting was made to be at 350 and the depth of tray behind the trommel drum is 50

mm.

3.1.8 POWER TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

The power transmission system of the trommel drum dry sand sieving machine was

designed by considering an electric motor as prime mover having 1.492 kW power and rated

speed of 1200 rpm and also by a manual handle which can be used interchangeably after

disconnecting the trommel drum from the motor by removing the V-belt from the trommel

drum pulley. The system was developed for a trommel drum peripheral speed of 4 m-s-1. The

power from the electric motor is transmitted to trommel drum shaft and speed reduction

pulley shaft by using a compound drive V-belt of A cross section. The suitable diameter of

pulley was selected and mounted on trommel drum shaft and speed reducing shaft. A pulley

of 75 mm diameter was provided on electric motor to transmit the power from table 1.1.

3.2.1 DESIGN CALCULATIONS OF THE TROMMEL DRUM DRY SAND

SIEVING MACHINE

The behaviour of the structure and machine members under the action of internal and

external loads, the resulting deformation and stresses associated with the forces. It is directed

towards determining specific parameters to attain a system in equilibrium.

34
3.2.2 POWER TRANSMISSION SYSTEM CALCULATIONS

Compound drive V-belt system of A-cross section was selected for power transmission and

speed reduction as this system works satisfactorily at speed from 4 m-s-1 up to 40 m-s-1

(Chandra, 1981). The selection of the pulley and belts were selected as;

a.Rated power developed by electric motor = 1.492 kW (2, hp × 0.746)

b.Rated speed of electric motor = 1200rpm

c.Maximum peripheral speed of trommel drum = 4 m-s-1

d.Trommel drum diameter = 403 mm

e.Diameter of pulley on motor from table… = 75 mm

f.Diameter of driven pulley = 300 mm

g.Speed of first stage driven pulley = 300 rpm

h.Diameter of driver pulley on driven = 45 mm

i.Speed of second stage driver pulley on driven = 300 rpm

j.Diameter of last stage driven pulley = 350 mm

k.Speed of last stage driven pulley = 38.57 rpm

The speed of the trommel drum shaft was calculated using the formula:

πDN
Trommel drum peripheral speed (m.s-1) = 60
(1)

Where,

35
 D = Diameter, (m)

N = Speed, (rpm)

So, for the first stage pulley drive

� 2 � 1
�1
= �2
(2)

� 2 75
1200
=300

� 2 = 300 rpm

Hence, pulley 2 and 3 are mounted on the same shaft and therefore rotate at the same

speed.

� 2 = �3 = 300 rpm

For the first stage pulley drive,

� 4 � 3
�3
= �4

� 4 45
300
= 350

� 4 = 38.57 rpm

Trommel drum shaft speed, rpm

Velocity ratio = Motor shaft speed, rpm
(3)

35
Velocity ratio = 1200 = 0.032

36
 3.2.3 V-BELT DESIGN

A belt provide a convenient means of transferring power from one shaft to another. Belts

are frequently necessary to reduce the higher rotational speeds of electric motors to lower

values required by mechanical equipment (Spotts, 1985) . The belt driver relies on

frictional effects for its efficient operation. When the belt connecting two pulleys is

stationary, the tensions in the two portions of the belt are equal but when torque is applied

to the driving pulley, one portion of the belt is stretched and becomes the tight side while

the other portion becomes slack side.

The properties of a V-belt of cross section viz., density, cross sectional area and allowable

tensile stress (σ) were taken as 1000 kg m-3, 143.75 mm2 and 2.5 MPa (Khurmi & Gupta,

2005). From standard table of V-belt, groove angle ranges between 30°, 34° and 38°. For

the design, the average of 34° is carefully selected. 0.28 was considered as coefficient of

friction (μ) between pulley and belt (Khurmi & Gupta, 2005).

Fig 3.5: V-Belt with Pulley (Khurmi & Gupta, 2005)

The mass of the belt per meter length,

37
m = Cross section area, m2 x Length, m x Density, kg-m-3 (4)

m = 143.75 x 10-6 x 1 x 1000 = 0.14375kg per meter length of belt

The centrifugal tension of the belt (Tc) for first stage drive is given by;

�� = � × � × V2, N (5)

Where,

m is the mass of the belt per meter length, kg

V is the velocity of the belt, m-s-1

g is the acceleration due to gravity

(� × � × �)
V= 60

3.142 ×0.075 ×1200

V= 60

V = 4.712 m-s-1

The centrifugal tension of the belt (Tc) for second stage drive is given by;

�� = � × � × V2, N (6)

(� � � � �)
V= 60

3.142 ×0.045 ×1200

V= 60

V = 2.8278 m-s-1

Therefore, for first stage belt Tc = 0.143 x 9.81 x 4.7122

Tc = 31 N

For second stage belt Tc = 0.143 x 9.81 x 2.8272

38
Tc = 11.2 N

Maximum tension in the belt,

T = σ, N-mm-2 x section area of the belt, mm2 (7)

Where,

σ is the allowable tensile stress (2.5MPa)

T = 2.5 x 106 x 143.75 x 10-6

T = 359.37 N

Therefore,

Tension in tight side of the belt for first stage, T1 = T - Tc (8)

T1 = 359.37 – 31

T1 = 328.37 N

Tension in tight side of the belt for second stage, T1 = T - Tc

T1 = 359.37 – 11

T1 = 348.37 N

The tension in the slack side of the belt (T2) for an open belt drive for first stage can be

calculated as;

O M r2−r1 d2 −d1 300−75

Sinα = O 1M = x
= 2x
= 2×406.4 = 0.278
1 2

α = sin-1 0.278

α = 16.070

Angle of lap between the belt and the smaller pulley, ϴ = 180 – (2 x α)

39
ϴ = 180 – (2 x 16.07) = 147.860

147.86 × π
ϴ= 180
= 2.58 rad

The tension in the slack side of the belt (T2) for an open belt drive for second stage can

be calculated as;

O M r2−r1 d4 −d3 350−45

Sinα = O 1M = x
= 2x
= 2×406.4 = 0.375
1 2

α = sin-1 0.375

α = 22.030

Angle of lap between the belt and the smaller pulley, ϴ = 180 – (2 x α)

ϴ = 180 – (2 x 22.03) = 135.940

135.94 × π
ϴ= 180
= 2.37 rad

3.2.4 TENSIONS IN THE BELTS

The tensions in the belt for the first stage is given by

�1
loge �2
= μ. θ cosec β (9)

where,

T1 is the tension on the tight side of the belt

T2 is the tension on the slack side of the belt

μ is the coefficient of friction between the belt and the pulley, which is taken

as 0.28 (Khurmi & Gupta, 2005)

θ = Angle of contact or lap between the belt and the pulley

40
2β = Groove angle of the pulley, carefully taken as 34º, therefore β = 17º

Therefore, from equation 8

�1
Loge �2
= μ. θ cosec β

328.37
Log � = 0.28 2.58 cosec17°
�2

328.37
= �2.47
�2

328.37
�2
= 11.82

328.37
�2 = 11.82

�2 = 27.78 N

The tensions in the belt for the second stage is given by;

�1
Loge �2
= μ. θ cosec β

348.37
Log � = 0.28 2.37 cosec17°
�2

348.37
= �2.27
�2

348.37
�2
= 9.68

348.37
�2 = 9.68

�2 = 35.99 N

3.2.5 POWER TRANSMITTED PER BELT

41
Power transmitted per belt for first stage is expressed as,

P = (T1 -T2) V ` (10)

P = (328.37 – 27.78) x 4

P = 1202 W = 1.202 kW

Power transmitted per belt for second stage is expressed as,

P = (348.37 – 35.99) x 4

P = 1249 W = 1.249 kW

Number of V-belts required to transfer power of cylinder pulley from motor pulley was

calculated by following this formula;

Total power transmitted

= Power transmitted per belt (11)

1.492
= 1.202
= 1.24, say 2

So, two V-belts were selected for power transmission

3.2.6 LENGTH OF THE BELT

Length of the belt is given by;

� �2 +�1 2
�= 2
�2 + �1 + 2� + 4�
(12)

� 300+75 2
L= 2
300 + 75 + 2(406.4) +
4(406.4)

L = 1488.31 mm

42
Fig 3.6: Design for compound belt drive pulleys

Table 3.1: Dimensions of standard V-belts according to (Khurmi & Gupta, 2005) IS: 2494-

197

3.2.7 CALCULATIONS FOR THE ROTATION OF THE SHAFT

Some parameters are put in place for the calculations such as the type of force acting on

the shafts, the bearing support, torsional rigidity and stress induced, twisting and bending

moment. Some properties the shaft must possess are listed below: (Khurmi & Gupta, 2005).

a.It should have high strength

b.It should be easily machinable

43
 c.It should have low notch sensitivity factor

d.It should have good heat treatment properties

e.It should have a high wear resistance property

There are two type of shaft: (Transmission shaft and Machine shaft) (Khurmi & Gupta, 2005)

The standard sizes (Diameter) of transmission shafts, according to America Society for

Mechanical Engineers, ASME (Khurmi & Gupta, 2005)are;

a.25 mm to 60 mm with 5 mm steps;

b.60 mm to 110 mm with 10 mm steps;

c.110 mm to 140 mm with 15 mm steps; and

d.140 mm to 500 mm with 20 mm steps.

The following stress are induced in the shaft (Khurmi & Gupta, 2005)

a. Shear stress due to the transmission of torque (torsional load)

b. Bending stresses (tensile or compressive) due to the forces acting upon the machine

elements such as the pulley, and the weight of the shaft itself.

c. Stresses due to combined, torsional and bending loads.

The maximum compressible working stress in compression or tension are (Khurmi &

Gupta, 2005) 112MPa for shafts without allowance for keyways and 84MPa for shafts

with allowance for keyways

The maximum permissible shear stress may be taken as; (Khurmi & Gupta, 2005) 56MPa

for shafts without allowance for keyways and 42MPa for shafts with allowance for

keyways

44
3.2.8 CALCULATION ON THE TORSIONAL STRESS OR RIGIDITY OF THE

SHAFT

� � � �
�
= =
� �
(13)

Where,

τ is the Torsional shear stress (42 MPa taken for mild steel, (Khurmi & Gupta, 2005))

T is the twisting moment or Torque

r is the radius of the shaft (12.5mm)

J is the polar moment of inertia of axis of rotation of the shaft

C is the modulus of rigidity of the shaft material (78GPa for mild steel (Khurmi & Gupta,

2005))

ϴ is the angle of twist between the bearing and shaft

L is the length of shaft (1100mm)

According to (Khurmi & Gupta, 2005) , the torsion equation is based on the following

assumptions

a. Uniform material through the shaft. (the material should be homogenous)

b. Uniform distribution of twisting force along the length of the shaft

c. Twisting force under elastic limit

d. The cross-section of the shaft is considered as planar and circular both before and after

twist.

45
e. The distance between the two normal section is the same both before and after the twist

� × 60 ×1000
T= 2 � �
(14)

1..492 × 60 ×1000
T= 2 ×3.142 ×1200

T = 11.87 N-m

Force acting on it,

T
F=� (15)

Where r is the radius of the larger pulley acting on the shaft.

11.87
F = 0.175

F = 67.83 N

π × d4
J= 32
(16)

3.142 × 204
J= 32

J = 15710 mm4

T×l
ϴ = C×J (17)

11870 ×1630
ϴ = 78000 ×15710

ϴ = 0.01577 rad

0.01577 x 180
ϴ= π

ϴ = 0.900

So,

46
 16�
d3 = � × � (18)

16 × 11870
d3 = � × 42

d = 11.29 mm

3.2.9 DESIGN OF SHAFT WHEN SUBJECTED TO BENDING MOMENT

� ��
�
= �
(19)

Where,

M is the bending moment

I is the moment of inertia of C.S.A of the shaft

�� is the bending stress (100 N-mm, (Khurmi & Gupta, 2005)), and

y is the distance from the neutral axis of the outermost fibre

Assuming the shaft is a simply supported shaft carrying a central load,

(� × L)
�= 4
(20)

(67.83 × 1488)
�=
4

M = 25232.76 N-mm

�
y=2 (21)

(π × �4 )
�= 64
(22)

(π × σ � ×�3 )
�= 32
(23)

So,

47
 32�
�3 = (24)
(� × � �)

32 × 25232.76
�3 =
(3.142 × 100)

�3 = 3853.04 mm

d = 13.697 mm

From the above considerations, the designed shaft diameter when subjected to twisting

moment and bending moment was found to be 11.29 mm and 13.697 mm respectively.

Due to the non-availability of the designed shaft diameter value and on the safer side, 20

mm diameter shaft was selected for trommel drum shaft.

3.3.1 DISCRIPTION OF TROMMEL DRUM SIEVE

Generally, cataracting motion occurs when the trommel rotates at around 40-60% of its

critical rotational speed (ωc). Critical rotational speed produces an angular acceleration equal

to gravity (i.e., 1 g) at the surface of the trommel, causing centripetal motion inside the

trommel where the material will remain in contact with the surface of the trommel. 50% of the

critical speed usually is favourable and is discussed in Tchobanoglous et al. (1993) and

Tchobanoglous and Kreith (2002) textbooks. Intense material agitation will start from

rotational speeds greater than 75% of critical rotational speed, keeping dry sand away from

the screen (Sullivan et al., 1992).

The critical rotational speed is calculated using the particle flight trajectory, as shown in the

diagram below. From the simplified force balance on the vertical axis for a particle at point

(1), the angle of departure (α, rad) can be calculated from Equation

48
 Figure 3.3: Particle trajectory inside a trommel
ω2�
α= sin−1 gcosβ� (25)

Where ω is the rotational velocity (rad/sec),

�� (m) is the radius of the trommel,

β is the inclination degree (rad).

π
f rotation is at critical speed (ωc) a particle can reach point (2) in figure 3.3, i.e., � = 2 . Since

the inclination degree is very small (usually between 2-5 degrees) cos� ≈ 1, thus, the critical

speed can be calculated using Equation 26.

�
��
�� = 2π× 60
(rpm) (26)

Equations 25 and 26 were calculated assuming a particle does not slip down on the rotating

screen. Otherwise, higher rotational velocity is needed when slippage occurs in order to

generate the cataracting motion. Lifters can compensate for slippage and improve the

cataracting motion; however, their impact has not been modelled.

49
3.3.2 PROBABILITY OF PASSAGE

The probability of a sand particle passing through a screen or sieve aperture is given as;

�� 2
�= 1− × �� when �� < �� (27)
��

Where �� and �� are the sizes of particle and aperture respectively, and

�� is the ratio between the area of apertures and the total area of the screen surface.

When particles are not uniformly sized,

The cumulative probability of passage after n impingements for particles of size �1 ,

defined as (�1,), will be calculated based on;

� � = 1 − (1 − �)� �(�1 ) (28)

Where,

�(�1 ) is the number fraction of particles of size �1 . (�1) is obtainable from the number-based

particle size distribution (PSD).

The efficiency of separation by the trommel is calculated based on the equation;

� � ,�
� �� , �� = � ��, �� (29)
� �

�� is the size of sand that will pass through sieve apertures

�� is the size of sand that will be retained on the sieve

The total volume of particles passing through an aperture (��) is:

�� �� �� �(�� )
�� = ���� ���� � � �(� )
(30)
� � � � �

Where,

�� and �� are the aperture diameter and particle diameter for circular apertures;

���� and ���� are the smallest and largest sand particle sizes;

�� (��) is the number-based sand particle distribution PSD;

(�� ) is the volume of the sand particle of diameter �� .

50
3.3.3 SAND PARTICLES FLIGHT TRAGECTORY

Using the flight trajectory diagram shown in figure 3.3, Equation 31 is derived geometrically

from the vertical distance from particle departure (point 1) and particle landing (point 3),

neglecting small inclinations of the trommel. The total particle horizontal displacement along

the trommel length has two components, displacement during flight and displacement during

vertical fall. The total horizontal displacement per impingement (l) is given as shown below

Assuming sin� = �, as � is small.

� = (��cos� + cos� + cos�) (31)

Equation (31) is rewritten, as Equation (32) below.

�
���
= Φ = (��cos� + cos� + cos�) (32)

Where, t is the time of flight between departure and landing points, and can be solved

geometrically using Equation (33).

1
�� = sin�cos� + sin2αcos2α + 2sinα cosδ + sinα 2 (33)

Where geometrically,
π
� = 3� – 2

Finally, the length of the trommel screen (��) for n impingements is given in Equation (34).

�� = �� = ���� (34)

Briefly, in order to design a trommel, parameters such as trommel radius (��); inclination

angle, (�) which is between 2-5 degree; and rotational velocity (�), which is 40-60% of its

critical rotational speed (ωc) are required. The length of the trommel is a function of the*

amount of impingements required to satisfy the desired removal efficiency. Alter et al. (1981)

developed graphs for the number of impingements required for the specified efficiency.

3.3.4 TROMMEL DRUM DRY SAND SIEVING MACHINE DESIGN FOR FRAME

The frame is designed to carry machine components such as the trommel drum, electrical

motor, pulley system, hoppers and collector. The given parameters were adopted;
51
Length of frame(L) = 1219.2 mm

Breadth of frame(B) = 914.4 mm

Height of frame(H) = 914.4 mm

Since the frame shape is rectangular in shape, the area (A) of the frame is given by:

�=� � (35)

= 1219.2 x 914.4

= 1114.8 × 103 mm

3.2 BILL OF ENGINEERING MATERIAL

CAPITAL COSTS
S/N ITEM QUANTITY PRICE(N)
1 ELECTRIC MOTOR (2 HP) 1 21000
2 BELTS 2 1000
3 SWITCH 1 500
4 PILLOW BEARINGS 3 4800
5 85MM CASTOR WHEELS 4 6000
6 PULLEYS 4 6000
7 MANUAL HANDLE 1 800
8 PACKET OF ELECTRODE 1 1700
9 MESH 6 5000
10 CUTTING DISC 1 600
11 WIRE PLUG 1 200
12 FABRICATION & ASSEMBLY COST 1 5000
13 BOLT & NUTS 15 1500
14 HOLLOW SHAFT 1 2000
15 METAL FLAT BAR ¾ BIT 2 1760
16 SQUARE METEL ROD 4 5400
17 TOTAL 63,260

Table 3.2: table of bill of engineering material

52
 CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 RESULT ON SIEVE

The automatic horizontal sand sieving machine has been designed mainly for dry sand of size

between 0.9mm – 0.01mm. The operation of this machine is very straight forward, simple and

does not require any special expertise, skill or knowledge. The sieve is being driven by an

electric motor of 1200 rpm through two stages of speed reduction pulleys that are belt driven.

To set up the machine for operation:

(i) Turn on the electric motor after ensuring that there is no loosed part on the machine.

(ii) Fill the sample of sand into hopper through the funnel gradually. (20kg)

(iii) The rotation of the trommel drum does the sieving.

(v) The finer sand particles will pass through the sieve while the coarsest will remain inside

the drum which will eventually fall out through the exit hopper.

��
The efficiency was obtained thus: �
× 100

Where Ms = Mass of sieved sand

M = Total mass of sand particles

18.9
Therefore, × 100 = 94.5% at 25 rpm, 12 degrees
20

The design factors, calculations and construction are consistent. The machine was tested in
the workshop and it was confirmed in good working condition. The construction was carried
out under adequate precautionary measures, thus no accident occurred. The cost, as estimated,
is considerably affordable and the machine is economical, in terms of time and effort. The
efficiency, calculated, is 94.5%, thus the machine’s durability is high, based on the discussion
of results.

53
4.1.1 INCLINATION TEST

This is done to determine the optimum inclination of the trommel for dry feed. In performing
the test, 20Kg of all-in aggregates is used. Sand is gradually poured in the feed hopper and
allowed to flow down into the trommel drum naturally.

Table 4.1 – 4.6 represents the inclination test conducted to determine the optimum inclination
of the trommel for sand aggregates. The data shown below are the critical inclination (e.g. 11°,
12° and 13°).

The test shows that at an inclination of 13° for sand, the screening process only takes an
average time of 15.71 seconds, but the problem is the quality of the sieved aggregates. The
aggregates run too fast through the trommel screen and as a result, they were not properly
sieved. It appears now that the optimum angle for screening dry sand is 12. Optimum
inclination is 11° considering the speed, the amount not sieved in percent, and quality of the
sieved aggregates.

Table 4.1. Results from Inclination Test Using Dry Sand at 11° Inclination

weight of
Weight of percentage
TRIAL Time (sec) sand not
Sand (Kg) not screened
screened

1 20 20.34 0.025 0.5

2 20 22.12 0 0
3 20 22.58 0.05 1
AVERAGE 20 21.68 0.025 0.5

Table 4.2. Result in Inclination Test Using Dry Sand at 12° Inclination

weight of
Weight of percentage
TRIAL Time (sec) sand not
Sand (Kg) not screened
screened

1 20 17.91 0 0
2 20 17.28 0.05 1
3 20 17.01 0 0
AVERAGE 20 17.40 0.0167 0.33

54
 Table 4.3. Result in Inclination Test Using Dry Sand at 13° Inclination

weight of
Weight of percentage
TRIAL Time (sec) sand not
Sand (Kg) not screened
screened

1 20 15.97 0 0
2 20 15.97 0 0
3 20 15.19 0.05 1
AVERAGE 20 15.71 0.0167 0.33

55
 4.1.4 EFFECT OF FEED RATE AND INCLINATION ANGLE ON SIEVING
OPERATION

Using 20Kg of fine and coarse sand mixture.

Fig 4.1 Graph of angle versus output

56
 CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 CONCLUSION
Based on the results of the study, the fabricated Horizontal Trommel Sand Sieving Machine

satisfied the requirements of the objective. The conducted tests and experiment attests that

varying the inclination of the trommel greatly affects the screening time. It can be concluded

that as the inclination increases, the screening time decreases affecting the amount of sand

that will be properly sieved leading to poor outputs. The machine can be operated from 1° to

12° inclination for dry sand to perform the screening process with good quality output.

57
5.1 RECOMMENDATION

After the successful completion of the project, It is recommended to develop on the

machine in order to facilitate the use of the machine in areas where there is no electricity

supply to power the electric machine that turns the trommel drum by running the machine on

solar power system.

58
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