Authors : Segun R. Bello, E.C. Okafor, P.S.N. Onyekwere and T.A. Adegbulugbe
Abstract: The design and construction of a twin-block making machine was carried out as an improvement on the manual production of single block locally with a lot of ergonomic problems resulting from frontal loading and back straining. Material mix is fed into the machine, compressed and cranked up to remove the blocks from the mould. The machine is powered manually by a chain operated lever arm. The machine is capable of producing two standard size blocks, 457.2x127x228.6 and 457.2x152x4x228.6 mm3 per operation. The calculated work (input) required to lift the two-block load of 529.5 N through a height of 0.279 m by the machine has been determined to be 147.73 J with an effort arm of 99.15 N. The output of the machine in terms of production capacity indicated that the machine has a throughput of 800 blocks h-1 compare to hand mould with 432 blocks h-1, one moulder/operator and a helper. The efficiency of the machine was found to be 92.4%.
Segun R. Bello, E.C. Okafor, P.S.N. Onyekwere and T.A. Adegbulugbe, 2009. Design, Construction and Evaluation of a Twin-BlockMaking Machine for Farm Structures. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 4: 303-309.