Final Design of Auger Flighting Stretching Device for Elmer's Manufacturing

The following report outlines the complete design process of an Auger Flighting Stretching Device for Elmer’s Manufacturing, on behalf of Team 17, as part of the Capstone engineering design course. Elmer’s Manufacturing is an agricultural manufacturing company located in Altona, Manitoba. Elmer’s manufactures “Haulmaster” grain carts for increasing efficiency in transporting grain from combine to semi-truck. Haulmaster grain carts contain a series of augers to transport particulate grain out of the grain cart. Elmer’s currently faces a challenge with its auger manufacturing process. Augers are a weldment, manufactured from two components: A center tube and a pitched flighting. The pitched flighting is ordered with an oversized inner diameter, allowing the flighting to be easily slid over the center tube prior to welding. The flighting is then stretched over the center tube to eliminate the gap between the flighting and the center tube. This stretching process on Elmer’s current stretching table takes too long to complete a cycle and is labor-intensive. The team is tasked with designing a new auger flighting stretching device to improve the auger flighting stretching process. The auger flighting stretching device is expected to reduce the cycle time of the stretching operation, eliminate the manual labor from the stretching process, cost less than $50,000, and work with all configurations of Elmer’s augers. The team determined the most important needs of the project were that the design must be safe to use, the device must be able to be used by a single operator, and does not require manual labor to use the device. The team generated numerous conceptual designs for the auger flighting stretching device. As most of the concepts involved using variations of the same mechanical methods, the team created a systematic approach to generate ideas. The device was split into six functional subsystems: moving the gantry, guiding the gantry, rotational control, orientation, power source, and flighting interface. Concepts were systematically generated for the functional subsystems, and a thorough concept selection using weighted decision matrices was conducted. Eventually, the final design was chosen to consist of the main frame, attached to which are a spindle and tailstock, which hold the center tube of the auger. A single roller contacts the flighting, translating via a gantry rolling on linear rails, pulled by a roller chain which is powered by a hydraulic motor through roller chain reductions. A hydraulic disk brake attached to the spindle resists the rotation of the auger weldment, allowing the flighting to stretch in a horizontal orientation. A rigorous analysis of the final design was conducted, including analytical calculations and Finite Element Analysis of the structural and dynamic components of the device. All components, whether designed for manufacturing or specified purchased parts, were calculated to have a factor of safety exceeding two. The device also complies with ISO 14120 standard of safeguarded machinery. A job hazard analysis identifying risks and mitigation techniques was also formed by the team. A maintenance plan for dynamic components was included in the analysis. The final design created by the team has an estimated rolled-up cost of $17,101.11 and consists of readily available welded and assembled laser-cut sheet metal, machined, saw-cut, and purchased components. The device will theoretically meet the required cycle time decrease and will require no manual labor. A CAD model of the parts and overall assembly as well as a Bill of Materials for purchased components of the final design were supplied to Elmer’s. A recommendation is given to construct the final design per the specification of the team and develop the design to be integrated into Elmer’s production line after consistent performance of the device is achieved.

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