Motivation

This past summer I worked for Paragon Films located in Union Gap Washington. One of their production lines, for the wrap films does not have a core feeder. The problem for the production line, without the core feeder, is having to go fill the bed of cores manually in short time periods. To add, the lines run 24/7 unless they slow them down for maintenance or other issues that occur on the machine so constant surveillance of the machine is necessary to avoid any wrap ups on the rollers.

During the time spent working there, most of the time, the employee assigned to work on that line would fall behind due to the constant struggle of having to go behind the wrapper and fill the bed with paper cores. As a prior employee of Paragon Films and knowing the hard work it took to get the job done, it is necessary to finish the project started by the plant manager. As a future engineer it is also my job to improve the efficiency of a system or design a device that will improve the work place.

Moreover, this project will also allow me to demonstrate the skills I have acquired through my years in the Mechanical Engineering and Technology Major at Central Washington University.

Function Statement 

  
A device is needed that will be able to hold cores and lift the cores up to a conveyor belt that will then transfer the cores onto a smaller tilt belt that drops the cores onto a core bed.

Design Requirements

These are the requirements for the Core Feeder:
 

• Must be able to attach to the existing bed and production line and detach.

• Must be able to hold up to a whole skid of cores, 525 cores at a time.

• It will keep up with demand of cores of wrap machine of 5-8 cores per 45 seconds.

• Has to be able to adjust to different core diameters ranging from 3 to 5 in.

• Core reservoir has to be at a safe distance of at least 3 feet.

• The loader must have a way of changing core lengths ranging from 12 to 30 in.

• Core reservoir will have gate to manually fill with cores.

• It must load cores to the table from the reservoir automatically.

• Must be able to run 24/7.

• Cost: Limit of $15,000.

Engineering Merit

For this project, material selection will be required to manufacture a solid base for the core reservoir to avoid any bending from the load, assuming a uniform load. Also, a selection of electric motors for the conveyor belts and chain drives including the best alternative of a gear type. Furthermore, designing or selecting gears for a lift system is also necessary. The design process will require bending stress number calculations: . Keep in mind that this device will be running 24/7 so the appropriate selection is vital. Since this device will be detachable, a part has to be designed to fit on to the existing machine as well as the new feeder system.

Scope of this Effort

The device requires different systems to fully function, but an effort will be made to make the device work as one system. The whole system will include a core reservoir to hold the cores, a lift system, and the conveyor system to transfer the cores to an already existing bed. Most of the time that will be spent is doing SolidWorks drawings to check if the system will work as one and if there is any interference with all moving parts.

Success Criteria

Core feeder loads cores into machine. Core feeder keeps up with the demand of cores of the wrap machine and or lessen the time of having to manually place paper cores on wrap machine. Also, core feeder system maintains a constant supply of cores without overloading the wrap machine. To present this process a video will be taken when system is set by the production line. Starting from the core reservoir, a short video will be taken to show that the reservoir holds the amount of cores given by the requirements and that the cores are able to travel through the agitator door. Next, the video will show the transfer of the cores rolling on to the bucket lift, showing that they go into the bucket without falling. From here, it will show the travel time up to the conveyor belt which will then push the cores onto a tilting conveyor that loads the existing core bed. The device will be active for an entire day, 24hrs, to see how well it keeps up with the winder machine, if changes need to be made, they will be done so the following day.

Success of the project

The success of the project will ultimately come from the efficiency at which the machine runs and if it will keep up with the demand of the wrap machine. The wrap machine does each transfer in about 45 seconds, if the Core Feeder can keep up with the time frame then the device will have performed to its designed function. The process starts at the core reservoir, where all the cores will be manually loaded. The main function of the core reservoir is for holding the paper cores and for uniform release of the cores. The actuator door maintains the cores in the bin until more cores need to be loaded to the core lift. The core lift will be rotating constantly, pausing a couple seconds for the core release shaft to drop in the cores to the bucket. The lift will then transfer the cores up to the conveyor that. The conveyor will then transfer the cores to a second conveyor that will hold the cores until the required amount has been reached. Depending on the size of the cores, 6 to 8 cores will be lined up, after the amount desired is reached the conveyor will tilt down allowing the cores to roll onto the existing bed.