[Kharage, 4(4): April, 2015] ISSN: 2277-9655

Scientific Journal Impact Factor: 3.449

(ISRA), Impact Factor: 2.114

IJESRT
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES & RESEARCH
TECHNOLOGY
ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF GRAVITY ROLLER CONVEYOR USING
ANSYS
[Link] [Link]*, Prof. Balaji Nelge, Prof. Dhumal Ketan
*
PG Student, M.E. (Design Engg.), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dhole Patil college of
Engineering, Wagholi, Pune, India.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indira college of Engineering, Talegaon, Pune, India.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dhole Patil college of Engineering, Wagholi, Pune, India.

ABSTRACT
The main objective of this study is to explore the analysis of Gravity roller conveyor. This has entailed performing a
detailed Study of existing Gravity Roller Conveyor system and optimize the critical part like roller, C-channel etc. by
using composite material, so to minimize the overall weight of the assembly without hampering its structural strength.
A proper Finite Element Model is developed using Cad software Pro/E Wildfire 5. Results of Static, Modal and
Transient analysis of existing design and optimized design are compared. The material used for roller and C-channel
frame is a composite material i.e. carbon fiber.

KEYWORDS: structural strength, material handling systems, optimized design, weight reduction, composite
material, FEA.

INTRODUCTION
A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical Types of conveyor
handling equipment that moves materials from one
location to another. Conveyor systems are commonly
used in many industries, including the automotive,
agricultural, computer, electronic, food processing,
aerospace, pharmaceutical, chemical, bottling and
canning, print finishing and packaging. Although a
wide variety of materials can be conveyed, some of the
most common include food items such as beans and -Powered Belt Conveyor systems - Gravity
nuts, bottles and cans, automotive components, scrap -Pneumatic conveyor systems
metal, pills and powders, wood and furniture and grain Conveyor systems
and animal feed. Many factors are important in the - Vibrating conveyor systems
accurate selection of a conveyor system. It is important - Live Roller Conveyor systems
to know how the conveyor system will be used
beforehand. Some individual areas that are helpful to Gravity roller conveyor system
consider are the required conveyor operations, such as Gravity conveyor provides one of the most versatile &
transportation, accumulation and sorting, the material economical means of moving product gravity
sizes, weights and shapes and where the loading and conveyor can quickly move large quantities of items
pickup points need to be[3]. in virtually any direction with a minimum of effort &
expense. Fig. 1 shows the application of gravity roller
conveyor.

Gravity conveyor move the product in two ways :

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1) On a pitch, utilizing the natural flow of In existing design, the weight of roller & C-channel
gravity or (Frame) is more, so there is scope of weight reduction
2) On a level line where conveyance of the item of this component.
is accomplished by pushing.
PROBLEM DEFINATION
Gravity, or non-powered, roller conveyors are ideal for The Gravity roller conveyor assembly normally
moving most unit loads which have a firm, flat bottom involves the use of channels, rollers and shaft that are
surface. They can use in both permanent & portable heavy by virtue of their structure and the material used
applications[15]. as steel.

OBJECTIVES OF THE WORK

The main objective is to suggest the alternative
material for roller used in Gravity roller conveyor for
weight optimization. The following are important
points regarding this objective of study -
1. Study existing roller conveyor system and its
design.
2. Geometric modeling of existing roller conveyor.
3. To carry out linear static, modal, transient and
optimization analysis of existing roller conveyor by
using ANSYS 14.0 Workbench software.
4. Using composite material for conveyor parts i.e.
Fig 1 : gravity roller conveyor roller.
5. To carry out Analysis of Modified design for same
Details of existing gravity roller Conveyor as loading condition.
follows: 6. Recommendation of new solution for weight
Length of conveyor = 3000 mm optimization.
Width of roller = 450 mm
Overall width of conveyor = 600 mm LITERATURE SURVEY
Load capacity = 100 kg/m S.S. Gaikwad et. al, in this paper, an attempt is made
Roller diameter = 60 mm to reduction in weight of existing roller conveyor by
Roller pitch = 100 mm optimizing the critical parts of (e.g. Roller,) conveyor
No. of roller / meter = 10 Nos without hampering its structural strength. The existing
Height of roller from ground = 600 mm Roller conveyor designed is considered for this project
Table no.1- Components of conveyor work. The dimensions being 2200 mm length, 30 inch
Name of Component Material Qty. above ground and inclined at 2 to 4 degree with the
ground and the weight to be carried by the conveyor -
C-Channel for ISMC 100 2 280Kg (350 kg with added factor of safety). This is the
Chassis weight of the largest component to be transported over
Rollers Mild Steel 30 the conveyor. The conveyor would normally
Shafts Mild Steel 30 encounter gradually applied loads while the
components are lowered by hoist. For reasons of
Bearing Std. 60 safety, a `sudden load’ is already considered during its
design phase. Static analysis of roller of existing
C-Channel for ISMC 100 4
Supports
conveyor is carried out find out maximum deflection
& stress. Then Optimization is carried out by
Table No.-2-Total Weight of Existing Conveyor Assembly modifying the dimensions of roller .Then analysis of
Name of Component Weight (Kg) optimized roller are carried out to find out maximum
C-Channel (Frame) 54.97 deflection & stress. 29.54 % of weight reduction is
Rollers 166.46 achieved due to Optimized design. About 56.18 Kg.
Shafts 40.58 weight reduction achieved by optimized design than
Bearing 14.96 existing design. Actual physical model is done for
C-Channel for Supports 20.81 validation using optimized design parameters and it is
Total weight of assembly 297.78 found that the design is working safely.
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Scientific Journal Impact Factor: 3.449
(ISRA), Impact Factor: 2.114

S.H. Masood et. al, this paper presents a application

D.K. Nannaware et. al, in this paper we studied of concept of concurrent engineering and the
existing conveyor system and optimized critical parts principles of design for manufacturing and design for
of roller conveyor system like Roller, C-channels for assembly [4, 5], several critical conveyor parts were
chassis and support, to minimize the overall weight of investigated for their functionality, material
assembly and material & cost saving. Paper contains suitability, strength criterion, cost and ease of
geometrical modeling and finite element modeling of assembly in the overall conveyor system. The critical
existing design and optimized design. Geometrical parts were modified and redesigned with new shape
modeling is done using CATIA V5 and finite and geometry, and some with new materials. The
modeling was done with the help of ANSYS software improved design methods and the functionality of new
.Results shows safe design of optimized design. conveyor parts were verified and tested on a new test
Optimization gives optimum design for same loading conveyor system designed, manufactured and
condition with huge amount of weight reduction. assembled using the new improved parts. The
Using optimized procedure and using practical improved methodology for design and production of
available structure 39.26% weight reduction is conveyor components is based on the minimization of
achieved. materials, parts and costs, using the rules of design for
manufacture and design for assembly. Results
Suhas M. Shinde et. al, the current trend is to provide obtained on a test conveyor system verify the benefits
weight/cost effective products which meet the of using the improved techniques. The overall material
stringent requirements. The aim of this paper is to cost was reduced by 19% and the overall assembly
study existing conveyor system and optimize the cost was reduced by 20% compared to conventional
critical parts like roller, shafts, C-channels for chassis methods.
and support, to minimize the overall weight of
assembly and material saving. Critical parameter M. A. Alspaugh et. al, this paper presents latest
which reduces the weight is C channels, roller outer development in belt conveyor technology & the
diameter and roller thickness. Though value of application of traditional components in non-
deflection, stress is more in case of Optimized design, traditional applications requiring horizontal curves
but it is allowable. 30.931 % of weight reduction due and intermediate drives have changed and expanded
to Optimized design. belt conveyor possibilities. Examples of complex
conveying applications along with the numerical tools
Rajratna A. Bhalerao et. al, one of the major required to insure reliability and availability will be
equipment in material handling is roller conveyor. As reviewed. This paper referenced Henderson PC2
the roller conveyors are not generally subjected to which is one of the longest single flight conventional
complex state of stress they can be designed by conveyors in the world at 16.26 km. But a 19.1 km
providing higher factor of safety it leads to conveyor is under construction in the USA now, and a
unnecessarily increase in material cost. This can be 23.5 km flight is being designed in Australia. Other
reduced effectively by separately designing conveyor conveyors 30-40 km long are being discussed in other
part and testing whole assembly for transient and parts of the world.
mode shape analysis for critical parts.
Shirong Zhang et. al, in this paper the improvement
Yogesh T. Padwal et. al, a lot of work has been done of the energy efficiency of belt conveyor systems can
from years to save weight and cost of applications, it be achieved at equipment and operation levels.
still continuing with great effort. The recent trend is to Specifically, variable speed control, an equipment
provide weight or cost effective products which meet level intervention, is recommended to improve
severe requirement. The purpose of this paper is to operation efficiency of belt conveyors. However, the
study current conveyor system and optimize the current implementations mostly focus on lower level
critical parts like roller, shafts, C-channels for chassis control loops without operational considerations at the
and support, to reduce the overall weight of assembly system level. This paper intends to take a model based
and save the material. Critical parameter which optimization approach to improve the efficiency of
reduces the weight is C-channels, roller outer diameter belt conveyors at the operational level. An analytical
and roller thickness. 34.931 % of weight reduction due energy model, originating from ISO 5048, is firstly
to Optimized design. proposed, which lumps all the parameters into four
coefficients. Subsequently, both an off-line and an on-
line parameter estimation schemes are applied to
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identify the new energy model, respectively. direction of the slant and gains momentum. It covers a
Simulation results are presented for the estimates of distance before coming to to halt, which depends on
the four coefficients. Finally, optimization is done to coefficient of friction trolley mass, energizing length
achieve the best operation efficiency of belt conveyors of the platform, angle of inclination etc. Analysis of
under various constraints. Six optimization problems GAOTC has been done using the computer program.
of a typical belt conveyor system are formulated, This paper is discussing the studies on length of travel
respectively, with solutions in simulation for a case of the trolley using various combinations of the length
study. and friction of the platform with the applications.

Daniel J. Fonseca [Link], this paper Conveyor Lihua ZHAO et. al, The paper analyzes two typical
equipment selection is a complex, and sometimes, failure forms of roller and conveyor at the belt
tedious task since there are literally hundreds of conveyor, and describes the maintenance methods of
equipment types and manufacturers to choose from. prevention and elimination failures to ensure the
The expert system approach to conveyor selection normal operation of belt conveyor.
provides advantages of unbiased decision making,
greater availability, faster response, and reduced cost Yibowei Moses et. al, in this paper the Mechanical
as compared to human experts. This paper discusses properties of composites based on epoxy resin (ER)
the development of a prototype expert system for filled with metal powders and carbon fibers have been
industrial conveyor selection. The system, which was studied. Metal particles (MP) having different particle
developed on Level V Object, provides the user with a shapes were used as fillers. The composite preparation
list of conveyor solutions for their material handling conditions allow the formation of a random
needs along with a list of suppliers for the suggested distribution of metallic particles in the polymer matrix.
conveyor devices. Conveyor types are selected on the Carbon fiber (CF) is one of the most useful filler
basis of a suitability score, which is a measure of the materials in composites, its major use being the
fulfillment of the material handling requirements by manufacture of components in the aerospace,
the characteristics of the conveyor. The computation automotive, and leisure industries. Carbon fiber
of the score is performed through the Weighted reinforced epoxy (C-E) composites filled with
Evaluation Method, and the Expected Value Criterion different weight proportions of steel were fabricated.
for decision making under risk. The prototype system Materials added to the matrix help improve operating
was successfully validated through two industrial case properties of a composite. The penetration and
studies. hardness behavior of the composites have been studied
and were carried out using an Indentation rig and
Pawar Jyotsna et. al, The aim of this paper is to study Shore D hardness tester respectively. The epoxy was
existing Belt conveyor system and optimize the critical filled with CF: MP in the ratio 10%:40%, 20%:30%,
parts like Roller, Lchannelsand support, to minimize 30%:20%, and 40%:10%. It was observed that with
the overall weight of assembly. Paper also involves increasing CF content the surface hardness increases
geometrical and finite element modeling of existing but better resistance to penetration was got with
design and optimized design. Geometrical modeling increasing MP.
was done using Catia V5R20 and finite modeling done
in ANSYS14.0. Results of Linear static, Modal and B.E. Gite et. al, Many new raw materials have been
Transient analysis of existing design and optimized discovered and many ground-breaking composite have
design are compared to prove design is safe. In this been developed, of which not all but some have proved
paper we work on the roller design and optimization. to be a phenomenal success. Carbon fiber is one of
Chetan Kothalkar et. al, in this paper an oscillatory these materials, which is usually used in combination
type short distance gravity actuated trolley conveyer is with other materials to form a composite. The
conceptualized to be used for conveying light material properties of carbon fiber, such as high stiffness, high
to and fro to shorter distances. This is a unique tensile strength, low weight, high chemical resistance,
conveyer which uses the gravity principle of the high temperature tolerance and low thermal expansion
gravity conveyor but differs from it . It has two makes them one of the most popular material in civil
hinged platforms at its ends on which the wheeled engineering possessing strength up to five times that
trolley rests. To move the trolley, platform is to be of steel and being one-third its weight, we might as
raised by an angle more than the limiting angle of well call it ‘the superhero’ of the material world.
friction between the platform and the trolley wheels.
Overcoming the static friction, the trolley moves in the
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PROPOSED FLOW OF WORK AND Engineering College,Loni, India,

METHODOLOGY International Journal of Scientific &
Engineering Research, Volume 5, Issue 7,
July-2014.
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Analysis of a Roller Conveyor System for
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Saving”Jawaharlal Nehru College of
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Technologies Vol.3 Issue 25 April, 2012.
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CONCLUSION energy efficiency optimization of belt
In most of the research papers the authors were tried conveyors”, Department of Automation,
to optimizing weight of conveyor assembly by Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
reducing diameter of the roller because roller is the Department of Electrical, Electronic and
crucial part of the conveyor assembly and its weight is Computer Engineering, University of
more as compared to other components. Here an Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of Industrial Engineering. The University of
I would like to express my gratitude to the many Alabama, Tuscaloosa 35487, USA,Expert
people who have assisted me during this. Special Systems with Applications 26 (2004) 615–
thanks must go to my guide Prof. Balaji Nelge for their 623.
continued support, guidance and friendship. Also I [8] Lihua ZHAO, “Typical failure analysis and
would like to give special thanks to my co-guide Prof. processing of belt conveyor” School of
Ketan Dhumal. Mechanical Engineering, Northeast Dianli
University, Jilin City, Jilin Province
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