Forces on Monitoring Cables during Grain Bin Filling and Emptying

Monitoring the temperature of stored grain with permanent cables suspended from the bin roof is common practice in commercial grain storage and is sometimes used in on-farm grain storage bins. Knowledge of the forces imparted on the cables by flowing grain is required for proper design of cables, connection hardware, and bin roofs, but there is little data in the literature for full size bins. To determine forces on different cable sizes and configurations, five different cable designs were tested during filling and emptying of wheat and corn. Two concrete storage bins, 4.6-m diameter and 25-m maximum depth, were used with cables suspended from the center of the bin or suspended 0.6 m from the sidewall. The bottom ends of the cables were weighted, but were not fully restrained. Forces on the cables were monitored during filling and emptying of the bins. Forces during emptying usually exhibited slip-stick behavior. The greatest forces were during emptying, where forces were often double those during filling, with vertical forces up to 4.7 kN for the largest cable. Both peak and average forces for bin emptying were significantly larger than corresponding forces for bin filling. Results showed no effect of grain type (corn or wheat) while cable size had significant effects on peak and average force in most cases. Keywords: Corn, Design load, Force, Grain bin, Temperature monitoring cable, Wheat.

Malaysian public survey on the current carry-on luggage handling onboard commercial transport aircraft

The current handling of carry-on luggage inside the aircraft cabin has led to several issues such as inefficient boarding and disembarking processes. Due to the number and size of current carry-on luggage, the boarding process has been slowed down due to aisle blocking and luggage overcrowding in the overhead storage bins. To improve this situation, an automated cabin luggage system has been proposed. A public survey has been conducted to explore the general passengers' perception of current carry-on luggage handling inside the cabin and to identify potential rooms for improvement that can be catered by the automated cabin luggage system. The responses obtained from the survey indicate that the current carry-on luggage handling does have several weaknesses that can be improved by the proposed automated system.

PLC Based Sub-Assembly Station with Automated Guided Vehicle

The aim of the project is to build an assembly station with the preventive section under the process of poke yoke system. Poke yoke is the general methodology following in industry to avoid mismatching product in assembly stations. The main aim of this project is to avoid assembling process when the sequential procedure is not followed. The project also deals with AGV – Automatic Guided Vehicle. It automatically shifts the assembling components from store room to work station when the count of components decreases in storage bin. When the material count in the storage bins reaches the preset count it will pass signal to store room, the components will be filled manually in AGV storage bins and then the AGV is moved to the destination point (work station).

Effective Use of a Variable Speed Blower Fan on a Mechanical Wild Blueberry Harvester

The management of wild blueberry fields is continuously improving and plant density/leaf foliage have increased. The result of improved management practices has led to an increased amount of debris being collected while harvesting. Many commercial harvester units contain a single blower fan to remove debris before the fruit enters the storage bins. Processing facilities are suggesting that producers reduce the excess debris that is being collected in the bins. Keywords: Anemometer, Debris, Optimization, Processing, Real-time, Terminal velocity.

Effect of Moisture Content on Coefficients of Friction between Triticale and Galvanized Steel

Grain physical properties such as coefficients of friction are required to design harvesting, cleaning, and handing equipment, and storage structures. The objective of this study was to measure coefficients of friction between triticale grain and galvanized steel at grain pressures and velocities typical of those seen when filling and emptying storage bins and hoppers. Coefficients of friction were measured using an apparatus consisting of a box with openings so that a galvanized steel blade could be pulled through a sample of grain. The forces required to pulling the blades through the grain were measured for three different moisture contents [8%, 12%, and 16% wet basis(wb)] and three different normal pressures (6.9, 10.3, and 13.8 kPa). The velocity of the blade being pulled through grain was kept constant at 50 mm/min for all pressures and moisture contents. Keywords: Grain bin, Grain pressure, Grain storage.Coefficients of friction were found to be statistically significantly dependent (p <0.0001) on moisture contents of triticale grain and were not statistically significantly influenced (p=0.149) by normal pressures. Coefficients of friction increased with increasing moisture content as has been observed in similar studies for grains including corn, wheat and soybeans. These results provide guidance for selecting physical properties for design of storage structures for triticale. Keywords: Grain bin, Grain pressure, Grain storage.

Surface contamination of hazardous drug pharmacy storage bins and pharmacy distributor shipping containers

Purpose This study was conducted to determine whether there is contamination on exterior drug packaging using shipping totes from the distributor and carousel storage bins as surrogate markers of external packaging contamination. Methods A two-part study was conducted to measure the presence of 5-fluorouracil, ifosfamide, cyclophosphamide, docetaxel and paclitaxel using surrogate markers for external drug packaging. In Part I, 10 drug distributor shipping totes designated for transport of hazardous drugs provided a snapshot view of contamination from regular use and transit in and out of the pharmacy. An additional two totes designated for transport of non-hazardous drugs served as controls. In Part II, old carousel storage bins (i.e. those in use pre-study) were wiped for snapshot view of hazardous drug contamination on storage bins. New carousel storage bins were then put into use for storage of the five tested drugs and used for routine storage and inventory maintenance activities. Carousel bins were wiped at time intervals 0, 8, 16 and 52 weeks to measure surface contamination. Results Two of the 10 hazardous shipping totes were contaminated. Three of the five-old carousel bins were contaminated with cyclophosphamide. One of the old carousel bins was also contaminated with ifosfamide. There were no detectable levels of hazardous drugs on any of the new storage bins at time 0, 8 or 16 weeks. However, at the Week 52, there was a detectable level of 5-FU present in the 5-FU carousel bin. Conclusions Contamination of the surrogate markers suggests that external packaging for hazardous drugs is contaminated, either during the manufacturing process or during routine chain of custody activities. These results demonstrate that occupational exposure may occur due to contamination from shipping totes and storage bins, and that handling practices including use of personal protective equipment is warranted.