Design, fabrication and performance evaluation of mobile leaf sweeper with shredder
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Date
2024
Authors
James Bryan C. Balagot and Christian Paolo A. Meña
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Abstract
The study was carried out to design, fabricate and evaluate the performance of a mobile leaf sweeper with a shredder in terms of collecting and shredding scattered leaves inside Central Luzon State University. the machine was fabricated based on the design plans, which included the five (5) main components, gasoline engine, vacuum system, shredding component, frame and transmission assembly.
The mobile leaf sweeper with shredder was created to meet the need and ease the challenges of hand-held broom sweeping tasks in various places. The machine undegoes preliminary and final testing in which the machine capacity and efficiency were determined using different speed of shredder.
Based on the performance evaluation of the mobile leaf sweeper with shredder, the results shows that Treatment 1 (800 rpm) obtained the highest machine capacity of 74.39 kg/hr and also, collecting efficiency of 89.00%. While in terms of shredding efficiency of the machine, the test result revealed that T3 (1400 rpm), got the highest effectiveness in shredding the collected leaves with a 90.00% rate. Given the result, it was evident that the particle size was uniform a lower rpm with an average value of 73.33% due to minimal suction pressure causing the leaves to stay in the shredding chamber longer and be shredded evenly. The study found that increasing vacuum rotational speed led to higher fuel consumption, with the highest values observed at 1400 rpm with a value of 0.7433 li/hr.
The investment cost of mobile leaf sweeper with shredder was Php 46,541.00. The calculated shredding cost was Php 1.89/kg. and the custom rate was set at Php 2.45/kg. to cover the investment cost, the machine needed to shred a total of 18,996.33 kilograms of driedleaves. When operating the machine for custom services at a rate of Php 2.45 per kilogram and with an annual usage of 1,248 working hours, the annual net income reached Php 255,677.74/ yr. This result in a payback period of just 0.18 years or 38 working days, assuming the machine operates 208 days per year to recover initial investment. Therefore, the study recommend 800 rpm to minimize fuel consumption while maintaining actual sweeping time, machine capacity, collecting efficiency, and shredding efficiency.