SASTECH 99 Volume 11, Issue 1, Apr 2012

Redesign of Grain Feeder, Distributor and Egg Collector System in Poultry Farm

Gali Dileep Kumar1, Prakash Unakal2, Supradip Das3 1-M.Sc. [Engg.] Student, 2- Professor and Head, 3- Asst. Professor,

Department of Design, M.S. Ramaiah School of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru-560 058

Abstract

Indian Poultry Industry is one of the fastest growing segments of the agricultural sector today in India. The production of eggs and broilers has been rising at a rate of 8 to 15% per annum. Though there is a tremendous growth in poultry industry in India, scaling up of production driving small producers to disadvantage on account of high investment cost in poultry equipment's.

The main objective of this study is to redesign a grain feeder and egg collection system in poultry farm for improved productivity at low investment cost for medium and small scale industry. For designing of grain feeder and egg collection system in poultry farm, it is very important to understand the customer’s aspirations. This is done by analyzing the data of literature review, GEMBA study, customer survey and market study etc. Using the outputs of data analyzing, quality function deployment (QFD) matrix and then product design specification (PDS) were made. According to the PDS, five different concepts were generated for grain feeder and egg collecting trolley to overcome the usability and ergonomic issues and safety aspects of the problems.

Final concept was selected by weighted ranking method. A working model of final concepts had been done to validate the concepts of grain feeder and egg trolley. The result of final model is checked by the customer to validate the usability issues, safety measures and its function. It is concluded that new redesigned product has more advantages when we compared with existing products available in market in terms of cost, usability and reliability.

Key Words: Grain Feeder, Screw Conveyor, Egg Trolley, Multipurpose, Ergonomics & Usability. Nomenclature kg kilogram mm millimeter Abbreviations MSDs Musculoskeletal Disorders PDS Product Design Specification QFD Quality Function Deployment WRBD Work Related Body Discomfort 1. INTRODUCTION The Indian Poultry Industry is 5,000 years old, since last 4 decades it began to witness remarkable growth from backyard to poultry industry. Indian poultry industry has been growing at annual varying rates of 8-15% and this growth in the past few decades made India fifth largest producer of eggs and ninth largest producer of poultry broiler. At present the industry is estimated at over Rs 30,000 crores and is expected to grow over Rs 60,000 crores (Poultry Industry, MOFPI).

2. LITERATURE REVIEW AND SURVEY Literature survey and review was done to understand the poultry equipment’s, technological improvements in the area of grain feeding and egg collection system in poultry farms.

2.1 Poultry Feeding The poultry industry is highly dependent on the feed industry; feed alone constitutes 70% of the cost of chicken meat and egg production. A poultry feed is a meal designed solely to feed poultry birds and as such should contain protein, minerals, vitamins, fats and other nutrients required for normal healthy growth. A typical poultry feed consists of meat, fish & bone

(50%), roasted soybeans (44%), alfalfa meal (dehydrated), ground yellow corn, oats, wheat, aragonite (calcium), Oyster shell and poultry nutri-balancer are blended and grind to a small size but not to a powder.

2.2 Poultry Equipment’s Poultry equipment’s helps to raise birds that are kept for human needs. Chickens are the most widely recognized type of poultry. Some of these birds are killed for their meat, while others are primarily used for laying eggs.

2.2.1 Grain Feeder and Distributor:

Fig. 1 Grain Feeder and Distributer

A grain feeder and distributor (hopper system) is a basic device for storing chicken feed. This is poultry food that comes in small pellets, usually the size of grain, and can feed many types of birds. Some grain feeders are built to only disperse a select quantity of food at a time, in order to control the birds’ diet. Others are made to withstand the strong winds and rain of the outdoors, while bowl-style chicken feeders are sometimes used for feeding young chicks as shown in figure 2.

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Fig. 2 Bowl-style chicken feeders

2.2.2 Poultry Coops

Poultry coops are another type of poultry equipment. These are typically confined spaces where birds are kept, and can differ in shape and design depending on the type of poultry they house. Nest boxes are usually installed in coops for egg-laying birds, such as chickens, and the floor is often covered with wooden chips or straw to make for easy cleaning. Coops can also encompass entire backyards, sometimes surrounded by a fence, where the birds are given more freedom to roam.

Fig. 3 Poultry Coops

2.3 Ergonomic Aspects: For the last twenty-five years, the poultry industry has been at the forefront of efforts to reduce musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the workplace. MSDs can become serious, debilitating injuries to the men and women that work every day at poultry facilities across the country. The industry’s engagement on the prevention and early treatment of MSDs can serve as a model for other industries that are also facing the challenges of dealing with the difficult issues associated with these injuries (US Poultry & Egg Association). MSD to refer to a variety of injuries and illnesses that occur from repeated use or overexertion, including:

Carpal tunnel syndrome Tendinitis Rotator cuff injuries (a shoulder problem) Epicondylitis (an elbow problem) Trigger finger and Muscle strains and low back injuries

3. DATA COLLECTION & ANALYSIS

3.1 Process Study

3.1.1 Grain Feeding The grain feeding to the hens are explained below as shown in figure 3.

Fig. 3. Grain feeding to hens

3.1.2 Egg Collection The egg collections are explained in next page as shown in figure 4.

Fig. 4 Egg collection

3.2 Product Study

3.2.1 Grain Feeder Screw conveyors are popular devices for conveying farm products. They are very effective conveying

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devices for free flowing or relatively free flowing bulk solids, giving good throughput control and providing environmentally clean solutions to process handling problems because of their simple structure, high efficiency, low cost and maintenance requirement. Screw conveyors vary in size from 75 to 400 mm in diameter and from less than 1 m to more than 30 m in length.

Fig. 6 Screw conveyor exploded view (screw

conveyor, OCW)

Material Stainless Steel Screw Conveyors Corrosion Resistant Conveyor Screws Wear Resistant Conveyor Screws

3.2.2 Egg Collection Manual egg gathering is labour-intensive. Most of the eggs are generally laid within five hours of the first light in the morning. Collect eggs often — twice in the morning and once in the afternoon — to help decrease the number of dirty and broken eggs and start cooling eggs. Collection should be more frequent in very hot or cold weather. Eggs are collected in fiberboard flats and in plastic egg trays that hold 30 eggs per flat. An egg trolleys, carts, filler flats and a nearby storage site will help reduce labour.

Fig. 5 Egg collecting trolley

3.3 Market Study The different varieties of grain feeders and trolleys are available in market. The price of the grain feeder per poultry shed it will cost nearly 120,000 rupees, the cost will increase depends on the length of the conveyor. If we manufacture locally the poultry equipment costs 80,000 rupees. The big industries are not using egg collection trolleys, only medium and small scale industry people are using trolleys for egg collection. The price of the trolleys starts from 2500 rupees to 10,000 rupees.

3.4 Benchmark Study

3.4.1 Grain Feeding

Bucket Elevators are existing solutions for the grain feeding, study conducted in Rama poultry farm which has bucket elevators and screw conveyor combined mechanism to feed the hens as shown in the figure 7 below.

Fig. 7 Benchmarking grain feeder with bucket

elevators and screw conveyors

3.4.2 Egg Collection Trolley There are no special benchmarking trolleys available at market for egg collection in poultry industry. In big scale industries egg collections are done by automated collecting machines, but in small scale industries egg collection is done manually.

Fig. 8 Egg Cart

3.5 User Frustrations Difficulty in loading and unloading of feed from

feed sheds to poultry farms Difficulty in carrying feed from floor to hopper Require workers who are strong enough Not interested in doing poultry farm work Causes severe finger strain and knee pains Feed weight is more, difficult to lift it into the

hopper Less awareness of poultry equipment's Bending and picking eggs for long time Similar work causing severe shoulder and body

pain

3.6 Summarizing GEMBA study The areas which are to be focused are concluded from user survey are listed below. Manual effort should be less Work should complete in less time Requirement of labor should be less Easy to operate. Reliable Ease of serviceability Simple in mechanism Should be available at low cost

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4. PROBLEM DEFINITION & PDS

4.1 Problem Definition Problem statement of this study is to “redesign a grain feeder and egg collection system in poultry farm for improved productivity”, at low investment cost for medium and small scale industry.

4.2 Design Methodology

Fig. 9 Design Methodology 4.3 Quality Function Deployment Matrix (QFD Matrix) QFD matrix is a very important tool to finalize the product design specification. The features to be included in the concepts are derived from this matrix. It is made by giving priorities to the customer requirements and corresponding technical requirements.

4.3.1 Grain Feeder

Fig. 10 QFD grain feeder

4.3.2 Egg Trolley

Fig. 11 QFD egg trolley

4.4 Product Design Specification (PDS) PDS acts as an initial boundary for developing a product, it also alters throughout the design process. It shows intend of the product which is not developed. The aim of PDS is to ensure the developed product should meet user needs.

4.4.1 Grain Feeder

4.4.2 Egg Trolley

Table 1. PDS

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5. CONCEPT GENERATION Based on QFD and PDS concepts are generated focusing on ergonomics and usability. Different techniques like mind mapping, tris, six hats thinking method and DFMA principles are used.

5.1 Visual Theme Board

Theme board was prepared to understand the various products used by the user, which helped to generate the form of concepts. Other than the form, the design aspects in the product which help to generate concepts that can bring out hidden aspirations and user emotions were also considered during concept generation.

Fig. 12 Visual Theme board

5.2 Concepts Grain Feeder

5.2.1 Concept 1 Concept 01 was designed based on screw conveyor mechanism considering the portability of grain feeder. The grain feeder works on 3hp electric motor, the motor drives the screw with pulley and belt mechanism. The feed is loaded into the chute and screw lifts the feed and dumps into the hopper system. To move the portable grain feeder two rubber grip handles are provided with four rubber wheels. This makes the user comfortable move the portable grain feeder from one place to another place.

Fig. 13 Concept 1

5.2.2 Concept 2 Concept 02 was designed based on belt conveyor mechanism considering the portability of grain feeder.

Fig. 14 Concept 2

5.2.3 Concept 3 The concept 3 is designed based on two screw conveyors runs on pulley and belt mechanism considering human effort is negligible compared with first and second concepts, there manual effort is required to feed the feed into the hopper system. But in concept 3 human efforts are not required to feed the hopper system. The feed is collected in tractor from the feed mixing plant and it is unloaded into the feed storage room where the feed is dumped into the feed collecting chute. The vertical screw conveyor transfers the feed into the horizontal screw conveyor and then the horizontal screw conveyor will feed the feed into the hopper system one by one. The second hopper will get start collecting after filling the first it goes on till the last hopper will get filled. After filling the all hoppers, the electric motors are switched off to stop the flow. Then through the hopper system the hens are feed through the chutes provided in poultry coops.

Fig. 15 Concept 3

5.2.4 Concept 4 Concept 4 is designed based on concept 3; here the design and mechanism are same, but the screw is driven by love joy jaw coupling mechanism. The electric motor is geared high torque motor connected directly to the screw with the help of coupling which runs on low RPM.

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Fig. 16 Concept 4

Why Love Joy Coupling Fail-safe — will still perform if elastomer

fails No metal to metal contact Resistant to oil, dirt, sand, moisture and

grease No maintenance required

5.2.5 Concept 5 The concept 05 is designed based on spiral flow screw conveyors technology available in market. Why spring screw conveyors than others, the reason behind spiral flow is as follows;

Low cost Low Maintenance Flexible Easily installed Quick Disassembly

Fig. 17 Concept 5

5.3 Concepts Egg Collection

5.3.1 Concept 1 The concept 1 design idea came from the product red colour milk crate trays which used to carry the milk packets in trucks. This design can withstand around 125 kgs load and approximately 1400 eggs.

Fig. 18 Concept 1

5.3.2 Concept 2 The concept 2 is designed based on the rectangular shape profile and easy to carry the egg trays in small areas of poultry farm. Here the eggs are filled in three rows of stacked trays. The second row will fill after filling the first row. This will make the user comfortable in collecting the eggs in an organized manner. The trolley has four guards to safeguard the egg trays from falling out of the trolley. This design can carry around 150 kgs of load and approximately 1500 eggs.

Fig. 19 Concept 2

5.3.3 Concept 3

Fig. 20 Concept 3

The concept 3 design idea came from bin trolleys used to carry luggages. This trolley is designed on three wheels with an inclination of 15 degrees of its base. This inclination makes the egg trays move towards the

15° Slope

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bin. The texture of the trolleys is stainless steel with rugged surface with rectangular embossing on sheet, this will hold the egg trays to move and easy to carry the trays.

5.3.4 Concept 4

Fig. 21 Concept 4

The concept 4 design idea came from stack truck trolley used to carry cylinders and carton box in industries.

5.3.5 Concept 5

Fig. 22 Concept 05

The concept 5 is designed on stainless steel rods, the design is simple and easy to manufacture. Here the egg trays are 100% safe to carry; the features of this design are rust proof, safeguard eggs, rubber wheels with brakes, rubber handle for hand grip.

5.4 Concept Selection

Table 1. Concept selection

Table 2. Weighted ranking method

Based on customer feedback and weighted ranking method concept 4 is selected as final concept in grain feeder and concept 2 is selected as final concept in egg collection trolley.

6. DETAILED DESIGN AND PROTOTYPE

6.1 Concepts Detailing Grain feeder is 1:10 scaled working prototype and egg collection trolley is 1:1 scaled working model. Both the working models are made with mild steel material. CAD drawing, detail dimensioning and developed drawings were done for model making. Detailing and dimensioning was done to achieve the exact scale model so that it is similar to the digital model visually and dimensionally without losing its proportion and symmetry.

6.1.1 Grain Feeder: The detailed scaled working model is designed considering DFMA feature for easy to manufacture and assembly. The detail features are explained below; grain feeder works on high torque heavy duty DC geared motors runs at 200 RPM.

6.1.2 Egg Collection Trolley The detailed 1:1 scaled working model trolley is designed considering DFMA feature for easy to manufacture and assembly. The detail features are explained below; the egg collection trolley consists of four steel guards to safeguard the egg trays. The handle provided at both the sides of the trolley, the handle is telescopic designed as per the ergonomic standards; it can be adjustable based on user height. Rubber grip is provided in the handle for grip and comfort. The four wheels are rubber wheels with breaks provided in the design. This makes the end user comfortable in using the trolley.

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Fig. 23 Detailing

6.2 Prototype Model

Fig. 24 Prototype model

Fig. 25 Working model

7. VALIDATION

Fig. 26 Validation

8. CONCLUSIONS This study helped in understanding the design process. While doing user study, at the working scenario the actual problems and working methods are understood. Feedback from users is collected from which the needs are refined in to technical voice. Ergonomic study is done for knowing the safe postures for working. Idea generation techniques like mind mapping, triz are helped in generating concepts and solving the problem. It is concluded that new redesigned product has more advantages when we compared with existing products available in market in terms of cost, usability and reliability.

9. REFERENCES [1] Waldemar Karwowski, (2001) International

encyclopaedia of ergonomics and human factors, Volume 1, second edition.

[2] US Poultry & Egg Association, Ergonomics in the Poultry Industry, Retrieved on 22nd August 2011, from http://file.aviculturaindustrial.com.br/Material/Tecnico/estudoavi_ingles.pdf.

[3] Screw Conveyor, Retrieved on 15th October 2011 from http://www.fmctechnologies.com/en/MaterialHandlingSolutions.aspx.

[4] Screw Conveyor, Retrieved on 15th October 2011 from http://ocw.uc3m.es/ingenieria-mecanica/transport-engineering/transparencias/Screw_conveyor.pdf.

[5] Designing Trolleys, Retrieved on 4th November 2011 from http://www.castorsandindustrial.com.au/cgeneral/designing_trolleys/designing_trolleys_index.htm.