SPECIFICATIONS DEFINITION

The process to define the system specifications was made altogether with the agricultural
engineering students of the University of Illinois and the representative of Superbrix. In this
section, the specifications of the equip and the process will be listed, all this within possible and
feasible goals that are in accordance to the expectations of the client. Thanks to the various
meetings and emails the essential aspects of the design, components, functions and constraints
were defined. A process flow diagram that depicts the complete process and its stages is shown in
the following image.

Design Specifications: Rice bucket elevator testing bench.

Proposed
Concept R/D Requirements Target value
by
Transmit power from the engine to
C+E R 30:1 Transmission
the drive pulley shaft.
Allow rice elevation from floor to
C R Minimum 8 buckets.
Function head.
E R Provide a constant rice feed. 14.83 m^3/h
Between 20% above
E R Allow speed variation of the pulley.
and below of 60 rpm.
E R Belt speed. 63 m/min
Dimensions C+E R Bucket size 127 x 89 mm
 E R Head pulley diameter 41 cm
E R Spacing between buckets 178mm
C+E D Elevator height 2m

As required by the
C D Operational time
Performance client
C D Life cycle 5 years
Actioned by an AC motor placed in the
Energy Source C+E R P>0.1223hp
upper pulley.
Cost C D ---- -----
C+E R Wear and corrosion resistant.
Materials No hazard to the grain chemical
C+E D -----
integrity.
Temperature E R Resistant to operating ambient. 10°C to 40°C

Specifications definition’s calculations memory

The first parameter to calculate the capacity of the elevator is the rotational speed of the pulley.
29.9
𝑛=
√𝑅
Where R is the radius of the pulley plus half the projection of the bucket. R=0.2455cm
𝑛 = 60.34 𝑟𝑝𝑚
To calculate the volumetric flow of product is necessary to find the linear speed
𝜋∗𝑅∗𝑛
𝑉=
30
𝑚
𝑉 = 1.295
𝑠
The recommended value of spacing between buckets is 2 times the projection of the buckets (178
mm). The number of buckets per second can be calculated
𝑚
1.295 𝑠 𝐵𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡𝑠
= 7.275
0.178 𝑚 𝑠
The capacity of the selected bucket is 566cm^3, then
𝐵𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑚3
𝑉̇ = 566𝑐𝑚3 ∗ 7.275 = 4.12 ∗ 10−3
𝑠 𝑠
The theoretical horsepower requirements will be calculated using the following equation
𝑄𝐻𝐹
ℎ𝑝 =
4562
Where Q is the capacity in kilograms per minute, H is the lift height in meters and F is a factor
that takes in account how the elevator is loaded, in this case F=1.5
𝑚3
The needed rice feed is 4.12 ∗ 10−3 and the hulled rice bulk density is 750 kg/m^3. This is
𝑠
equivalent to 3.1 kg/s of rice or 186 kg/min.
𝑘𝑔
186 𝑚𝑖𝑛 ∗ 2 𝑚 ∗ 1.5
ℎ𝑝 =
4562
ℎ𝑝 = 0.1223 ℎ𝑝

Pairwise Comparison
A Pairwise Comparison Chart is useful to prioritize design objectives. For each goal a number
from 1 to 10 is assigned, the number 1 indicating lack of importance and the number 10
indicating the opposite. Based on the results of this chart the higher priority goals will be
determined.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Relative Weight
Corrosion Resistance

Abrasion Resistance
Variable Dimensions
Simple Maintenance

Simple Installation

Pairwise
Few Components

Avoid Vibrations

Sum
High Resistance

Comparison
Low Cost

Hermetic

1 Low Cost 7 6 8 5 8 5 6 4 7 56 12.44%

Simple
2 3 3 6 4 6 4 3 6 5 40 8.89%
Maintenance
Simple
3 4 7 7 5 7 5 6 7 6 54 12.00%
Installation
 Corrosion
4 2 4 3 3 5 3 2 4 4 30 6.67%
Resistance
Variable
5 5 6 5 7 7 6 6 6 6 54 12.00%
Dimensions
Abrasion
6 Resistance
2 4 3 5 3 3 2 4 4 30 6.67%
Few
7 5 6 5 7 4 7 7 7 7 55 12.22%
Components
8 Hermetic 4 7 4 8 4 8 3 7 7 52 11.56%
9 Avoid Vibrations 6 4 3 6 4 6 3 3 4 39 8.67%
10 High Resistance 3 5 4 6 4 6 3 3 6 40 8.89%
TOTAL 450 100.00%

House of Quality
From the following quality function deployment, it can be appreciated that the transmission system
and the head shape are the design characteristics that affect the customer needs the most.