Design of the drive mechanism for a reciprocating coal feeder

Material handling is undoubtedly the most important and in fact an indispensable job in industries for it is encountered at every stage right from the time raw materials enter the factory gate to the point when it leaves in form of finished products. The engineering of material handling falls under two categories depending on form of material: bulk solid handling and unit handling. In case of handling lumpy materials like coals etc. , feeder plays a vital role as an uninterrupted source of uniform feed provider to the conveyor system. Although several feeders like belt, apron, screw, feeders etc are available, reciprocating feeders are still in use because it ensures a continuous and controlled feed rate, is low in cost, its drive mechanism is simple, it can handle wide range of miscellaneous materials including lumps, easy in assembly and disassembly and maintenance requirement is quite low. The challenge which we have taken via the project, is to design a drive mechanism for a reciprocating coal feeder. We call it a challenge because we have to design various intricate components like couplings, worm reducers, gearbox etc. We call it complicated since all the components are interdependent on each other to a great extent. So we cannot design anything randomly . We have to take into considerations the smallest of small things like the various forces acting, how each component can fail under various stress conditions. We have to optimize everything right from the motor selection, to speed reduction ratio selection, to the capacity of coal which we can handle. We are going to follow the above-mentioned strategies so that our project does not remain just a theory but can become a reality for industries