DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC METAL CHIPS COLLECTING MACHINE USING LOCALLY SOURCED MATERIAL

Abstract

An Electromagnetic metal chip

collecting trolley has been

designed and fabricated to reduce the

labour and time involved in

metal chips collection. The machine is incorporated with an

electromagnet made up of an insulated enamelled wire

wound on three iron rod bolted on a

metal plate. The magnetized metal plate having total field

strength of 2084.5 AT/m is required to

pick total of 1kg of metal chips when the system is connected to a 12 volts, 40Amperes DC

power supply. The DC battery also powers a 12 volts dc motor with the torque of 5.34Nm

required to turn the electromagnet housing for discharging the collected metal chips. The drive

mechanism is achieved via the help of four contact bearings and a bevel gear arrangement. The

whole mechanisms are controlled by the operator via switches fitted on the machine handle. This

machine is four wheeled with the two front wheels

having two degrees of freedom (DOF) for

easy directional movements.