Design and prototyping of debris clean and collection system for a cylinder block assembly conveying line following an engineering systems design approach

Abstract

Several debris cleaning systems were designed and assessed to clear and collect metal debris accumulated in the grooves of a cylinder block internal conveying line. Systems engineering design approach was employed in this study and a typical design process was followed. Four cleaning system designs, two vacuum cleaning systems driven by their own power and battery systems and two mechanical cleaning systems which take advantage of motion of the conveying line, are presented. Compared to the self-powered vacuum cleaning systems, the systems driven by the motion transmitted from the cylinder block (moving together with the conveying line) through drivetrain systems such as gear train and belts were preferred because of their lightweight, reduced material cost, and low maintenance requirement. Among these two systems, the device in which the motion is transmitted through a belt system was finally chosen for prototyping and testing because the belt system is simpler and cheaper than the gear train. A prototype was manufactured for this design and test results showed that the device can be easily integrated into the current conveying line to safely and effectively remove the accumulated debris with minimal cost and almost no human intervention.