Published on Nov 30, 2023
The paper is about design of a Plastic Bottle Crusher which would help to crush the used Plastic bottles and would thereby help in waste management and disposal. This project aims to design a portable Plastic Bottle crusher that could be installed anywhere and would aid crush of used bottles. This project involves the process of designing the crusher considering forces required for crushing and ergonomic factor that an operator needs. The design of this machine is such that it would require optimum load to crush bottles and will thus not strain the user or operator. After the completion of design process, it could be manufactured and transformed into a Recycle aid able machine. The crusher thus would help in recycling plastic waste. It would also help in reducing the volume of waste generated and will thus help in effective waste management. The crushing of used water bottles will also ensure that the bottles are no used beyond the shelf life of its plastic. Therefore this project will prove to be a useful asset in many ways.
Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastic and reprocessing the material into useful products. Since plastic is non-biodegradable, recycling is a part of global efforts to reduce plastic in the waste stream, especially the approximately eight million metric tons of waste plastic that enter the Earth's ocean every year. This helps to reduce the high rates of plastic pollution. Plastic recycling includes taking any type of plastic sorting it into different polymers and then chipping it and then melting it down into pellets after this stage it can then be used to make items of any kind such as plastic chairs and tables. Soft Plastics are also recycled such as polyethylene film and bags.
The project is about design of a Plastic Bottle Crusher which would help to crush the used Plastic bottles and would thereby help in waste management and disposal. A crusher is a machine designed to reduce large solid material objects into a smaller volume, or smaller pieces. Crushers may be used to reduce the size, or change the form, of materials so they can be more easily and efficiently used in the purpose intended to. Crushing is the process of transferring a force amplified by mechanical advantage through a material made of molecules that bond together more strongly, and resist deformation more, than those in the material being crushed do. Crushing devices hold material between two parallel or tangent solid surfaces, and apply sufficient force to bring the surfaces together to generate enough energy within the material being crushed so that its molecules separate or change alignment in relation to each other. The equipment mainly includes the cutting machine and the crushing machine, whose basic principle is to destroy the material's integrity depend on the shear strength and the impact strength.
1. Conceptualize the idea of crushing the waste plastic material and packing
2. To reduce the carriage problem
3. To fabricate and test the prototype.
The scope of the project is to reduce the space consumed in trucks so that more plastic wastes can be transported without overloading the vehicle. This helps in reducing accidents. It can also be applied in housekeeping techniques. The crushing of used water bottles will also ensure that the bottles are no used beyond the shelf life of its plastic. The crusher will help in managing and recycling plastic waste. It would also help in reducing the volume of waste generated and will thus help in effective waste management.
We have come up with a concept of designing a crusher in such a way that even a layman can operate it. The manufacturing cost as well as the maintenance cost is very less as compared to that of hydraulic machines. This crusher can crush the waste effectively and also the operating time is very less as compared to the existing ones. This crusher would best suit the small recycling plants and small industries. The maintenance and manufacturing cost is less since it does not use hydraulic or pneumatic fluids.
The design of the project was prepared using a CAD model. Each part of the model was prepared in Solid Edge and then assembled as shown in Fig-3.
After the design was created the fabrication of the model was done as per the design. The motor is mounted at the bottom which is a driving member which drives the pulley by means of a V belt. The pulley drives the shaft mounted with cutters which performs the crushing action.
After the fabrication of model was completed the prototype was tested by feeding the plastic bottles. The bottles got crushed and the design was successful.
We faced many challenges while fabricating the model. 0.25HP motor was used initially in order to reduce the costs but the power was not sufficient enough to crush the plastic bottles. Due to insufficient power the machine would also get jammed and would stop working. In order to make the model crush the plastic bottles we used a motor of higher power i.e., 0.5HP. Later the machine started to crush the plastic bottles easily. The plastic bottles are fed from the top where the crusher crushes the plastic bottles. After getting crushed they come out through a sliding tray.
Can transport large number of plastic wastes in less space so that overloading is avoided.
It can be used for housekeeping techniques.
Handling of plastic wastes can be done effectively.
Waste is now a global problem, and one that must be addressed in order to solve the world’s resource and energy challenges. Plastics are made from limited resources such as petroleum and huge advances are being made in the development of technologies to recycle plastic waste among other resources. To recycle the plastic one has to collect it and transport it to recycling center. It is necessary to transport a huge volume of plastic at once by shredding them into pieces. Our machine helps in increasing the volume of transportation by reducing the volume of plastic bottles by shredding them into pieces. This helps in reducing the emissions at the time of transportation and also used to recycle plastic wastes.
Shredding the plastic by human interference is very dangerous as it can damage or hurt the humans while shredding the plastics into pieces. It is necessary to develop a plastic bottle shredding machine. This will help in shredding the plastic bottles into pieces with the help of cutters and motor. This prevents dangerous situation which could happen with human interference.
Ethical practices are very essential while executing the projects. One has to take the responsibility to develop a product. The product has to be developed by considering various criteria like forces, power required, materials etc. Detail knowledge about technical aspects is necessary while developing the model.
It is very important to consider the final cost of any newly developed products. In cost consideration one has to consider the cost of both the material and manufacturing. The product should be developed using low cost, high strength materials and should also be light in weight. By considering these criteria the machine can absorb vibrations due to high strength, portable due to light weight and affordable for all class of people because of low cost.
[1] “Study of Jaw Plates of Jaw Crusher” International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER), Vol.3, Issue.1, Jan- Feb. 2013
[2] “Can crusher machine using scotch yoke mechanism” IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSR-JMCE)
[3] “Experimental Research on Crushing Force and its Distribution Feature in Jaw Crusher” 2007 Second IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications.
[4] “Designing of a Portable Bottle Crushing Machine” IJSRD - International Journal for Scientific Research & Development Vol. 4, Issue 07, 2016
