Final Project

Solar Automatic Shredder

Final presentation slide :

Final presentation video :

Final project contain :
Observations in the socity and project identification.	Needs of project.
Overall study renewable energy.	End customers.
Objectives.	Idea/Ideation.
Project planning chart.	Final project sketch.
Components selection.	Electronic system.
Mechanical system.	Project installation.
Final project presentation.	Download section.

Observation :

To prepare a feed for cattle we need to cut the dray-matter.
Vigyan Ashram is situated in a rural area where we face power cut off issue.
Shredding /cutting of grass require around 10 units of energy per day which charges Rs. 100 per day as per MSEB (Maharashtra State Electrical Board).
So, if we switch our shredder on the solar energy which is available for 6 hours in a day, then these charges will get saved.

Problem Identification :

Brown matter or grass needs to be cut for preparing feed for cattle. Also it will be beneficial for making Silage . (Link of Murghas) Click for " Murghas " in Marathi . And it require continuous power supply while shredding but due to power cut-off issue system is get stop. In Vigyan Ashram we conduct various research related works, composter is one of them. Composter is a machine in which we prepare compost. Compost is decomposed organic material, such as leaves, grass clippings, and kitchen waste. It provides many essential nutrients for plant growth and therefore is often used as fertilizer. Compost also improves soil structure so that soil can easily hold the correct amount of moisture, nutrients and air. To prepare compost we need to cut these organic materials this shredder will play an important role.

Available solutions in the market :

A shredder is a machine that reduces the size of, and tears up, many different kinds of materials. From paper shredders to scrap metal shredders, they are used in many different industries and have much different design. Based on the purpose of use, shredders can be categorized as consumer shredders and industrial shredders.

1) Consumer Shredders :

Paper shredder normally falls into the category of consumer shredder as it is mostly used by consumers.

2) Industrial Shredders :

Industrial shredders are typically heavy-duty and high volume systems used to process such recycling material streams as e-waste, plastic, wood, and paper. There is no common use of an industrial shredder as they can shred paper as well as wood, plastic, metal including a whole car depending on the size and design of the industrial shredder. It can be also use for shredding waste materials such as municipal solid waste or nuclear waste, medical waste, hazardous waste including common garbage. In the market different shredders/ pulverizer with different capacities are available which are use to perform different operations such as, Link

Needs of project :

By using DC power supply for "Shredder", the continuous power supply will be available for a minimum of 6 hr in a day. So no need to depend upon the grid supply.
It can be used for making feed for animals.
It can be used also for making raw material for culture media for the composter.

Introduction :

The ruler part of India are mostly depends upon the Agriculture base earning. Cattle require for the agricultural work needs fodder (animal feed) regularly. Most of the time this feed is available in the form of dry matter. We feed the dry matter to cattle in the form of small cutting peace. To cut the material we require a cutting machine. In short we need a Shredder. The shredders available in the market operate on the AC power supply. Many time the ruler areas of India faces the problem of power cut - off . To deal with this issue I have to design this machine to operate with solar power. In Vigyan Ashram we have 2 cows & 12 goats. They require 100 kg of feed daily. So we require a shredder cut the dry matter to make feed for them. This machine requires a continuous power supply, if it runs with AC it will charge more. So, after discussing with Yogesh Kulkarni sir, Suhas sir, & Aditi it is decided to design a DC automatic shredder. DC appliance is more energy-efficient than AC appliance. Also, speed control is more effective with DC than AC. Also, in Ashram we have developed technology of composter for making composed material out of kitchen waste. It requires a culture for making compost material. Now, we are also thinking to make culture by directly spraying human urine on dry matter. So, for cutting that matter we require a shredder. Vigyan Ashram is in Pabal which is a village situated around 60km away from the city. There are many problems here, especially problem-related to energy cut-off. So, if we run the shredder on DC we need not depend upon grid power supply.

Overall study of renewable energy :

Human activity is overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other global warming emissions. These gases act like a blanket, trapping heat. The result is a web of significant and harmful impacts, from stronger, More frequent storms, to drought, sea-level rise, and extinction. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most prevalent greenhouse gas.

1) Burning natural gas for electricity releases between 0.6 and 2 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour.

2) Coal emits between 1.4 and 3.6 pounds of CO2E/kWh.

Whereas renewable energies like ;

1) Wind is responsible for only 0.02 to 0.04 pounds of CO2E/kWh on a life cycle basis.

2) Solar and geothermal energies produce 0.1 to 0.2 pounds respectively and hydroelectric is between 0.1 and 0.5 pounds.

From above all discussion it is concluded that increasing the supply of renewable energy would allow us to replace carbon-intensive energy sources and significantly will help to reduce global warming emissions.

End customer :

At the primary stage, this product will be used in Ashram. Because our ashram is a research-based organization. Here we study the things related to ' Agriculture and animal husbandry '. So, this machine will help there and also I can get the feedback for modifications. But, this machine is an useful product for Farmeres. Especially in the ruler area. Where they face many issues. This solution will come from the ruler area for the ruler people.

Objectives :

To decide the capacity of shredder.
Selection of components :- DC motors with required capacity of power, Solar panels, Charge controller, Relay and to design the electronic circuits.
Mechanical system design, development and fabrication :-

a) Designing of system involves: - Rough sketch and CAD designing.

b) Changes in the design if required

c) Selection of blades to push the grass forward and to cut the grass, component placement and assembly with proper mountings.

Idea/Ideation :

To design a shredder which will start when the intense sunlight is available. Which will operates on DC power supply. More specifically which will run on solar energy. This machine will be use to shred the material for preparing cattle feed as well as it will be use to prepare raw material for composter. Further it will also be use to cut organic material, such as leaves, grass clippings, and kitchen waste to prepare compost. It will be divided into two sections

1) Hopper: - Where the blades with different shape is arrange in such a way that it will convey the brown material from hopper to the cutting blades of shredder .

2) Cutting section :- Where the material is actually get cut in to the small size.

Gantt Chart :

I have designed a Gantt chart for planning my project task for 6 months. I have describe my project plan with details in the Project Development assignment.

Final Project Sketch :

Construction :

The system is started with solar panel. They are further connected to the motors through Luminance LDR module, charge controller and relay. Here I am going to use two motors one is for rotating the cutting blades of system and second is to rotate the blades in hopper which convey the material towards cutting section.

Working :

When the sunlight falls on the solar panels first LDR sensor will sense the light. If sufficient intensity of sunlight is available then it will sent signal to my mobile and will ask me whether I want to start my motor or not. Then first I will load grass into the hopper and will press the ON button and this will send signal to the charge controller and relay circuit to trigger the motors and in this way my system will get on. When there is no grass inside the hopper I will get signal on my mobile that now I need to stop the motor and I will press the OFF button.

System Blog Diagram :

Basic Blog Diagram :

In the image below we can see the work flow of the system. When the sunlight falls on the solar panels first LDR sensor will séance the light .If sufficient intensity of sunlight is available then it will sent signal to my mobile and will ask me whether I want to start my motor or not. Then first I will load grass into the hopper and will press the ON button. This will send signal to the charge controller and relay circuit to trigger the motors and in this way my system will get on. When there is no grass inside the hopper then I will press the OFF button on my mobile to stop the motor.

For clearification about the system. I have divide the system into two part.

1) Hopper blades running through wiper motor : -

The system contain following components, connected with each other as follow.

Solar panels ⇒ Charge controller ⇒ Battery backup(12 Volt, 7 Amp) ⇒ Relay module(30 Volt, 10 Amp ) ⇒ Wiper motor for hopper(12 Volt 10 Amp)

In the above connections realy is trigger by the signal comming from atmega328p microcontroller. Also BH1750 light sensor which will sense the light intencity readings is powered by atmega328p as shown below.

BH1750 light detecting senser ⇐ ATmega328p microcontroller ⇒ Relay module(30 Volt, 10 Amp)

Components require :

For the details of material and website links for purchasing the materials click on Applications and Implications.

Lux meter :

Before selecting the components of the system I have to decide the limit of sunlight-intencity. To run the motor at constant speed we need the maximum intencity of sunlight. So for deciding the limit of intencity of sunlight I have measure the ambient sunlight by using the Lux meter. The surrounding sunlight is detected by the photo sensitive member. And the readings are get visible on the LCD display. The intensity of sunlight is maximum from 9:0 am to 5:30 pm as per Indian timing. This is the normal observation. So, I have place the lux meter in the sunlight. After taking the multiple readings the light-intencity is remains constant near upto 485 lux. So I have take the round-figure of 500 lux. So the limit of sunlight-intencity I have decided to start the motor is 500 lux.

Following are the basic components which we use in the system. These components are selected on the basis of capacity and the needs of the system.

Solar panels :

A solar panel works by allowing photons, or particles of light, to knock electrons free from atoms, generating a flow of electricity.

Digital Light Intensity Sensor BH1750 module :

This is a BH1750 light intensity sensor breakout board with a 16 bit AD converter built-in which can directly output a digital signal, there is no need for complicated calculations. This is a more acurate and easier to use version of the simple LDR which only outputs a voltage that needs to be calculated in order to obtaion meaningful data. With the BH1750 light sensor is directly output in LUX (Lx). When objects which are lighte in homogeneous get the 1 lx luminous flux in one square meter , their light intensity is 1lx. Sometimes to take good advantage of the illuminant, you can add reflector to the illuminant. So that there will be more luminous flux in some directions and it can increase the ilumination of the target surface.

Description : -

Chip: BH1750FVI
Power Supply: 3.3V - 5V
Light Range: 0 - 65535 lx(Lux)
Sensor Built-in: 16 bit AD converter
Size(L x W): Approx. 3.2cm x 1.5cm
Direct digital output, bypassing the complex calculation, bypassing the calibration.
Close to the spectral characteristics of visual.
Widely used to 1-lux high precision measurement.
Standard NXP IIC communication.
BH1750FVI Datasheet.

Charge controller :

A charge controller or charge regulator is basically a voltage and/or current regulator. It regulates the voltage and current from the solar panels to the system.

Relay : -

A relay is an electrically operated switch. It consists of a set of input terminals for a single or multiple control signals, and a set of operating contact terminals. The switch may have any number of contacts, break contacts, or combinations thereof. In this system the relay will operate the hopper motor which is " 12 Volt, 10 amp wiper motor ".

Note : - The picture of the relay module shown below is downloaded from internet for describing relay. It is not the actual relay module I am using for my project.

The relay I am using for my project is the single channel electromechanical relay having the rating of 10Amp and 30Volt DC. Which means that this is the amount of voltage and current that the NC, NO or Common terminal of the relay could withstand and the load I am going to use for my project is 12Volt, 10Amp which can withstand by this relay.

Atmega328p micro-controller : -

ATMEGA328P is high performance, low power controller from Microchip. ATMEGA328P is an 8-bit microcontroller based on AVR RISC architecture. It is the most popular of all AVR controllers as it is used in ARDUINO boards. ATMEGA328P is a 28 pin chip as shown in pin diagram below.

Many pins of the chip here have more than one function. Where,

VCC: Connected to positive voltage. Pin number 4 and 6 are VCC.
GND: Connected to ground. Pin number 3 and 5 are GND.
PB3 (MOSI/OC2A): MOSI (Master Output Slave Input). When controller acts as slave, the data is received by this pin. [Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) for programming]
PB4 (MISO): MISO (Master Input Slave Output). When controller acts as slave, the data is sent to master by this controller through this pin. [Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) for programming]
PB5 (SCK): SCK (SPI Bus Serial Clock). This is the clock shared between this controller and other system for accurate data transfer. [Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) for programming]
PC5 (ADC5/SCL): ADC5 (ADC Input Channel 5) SCL (Two-wire Serial Bus Clock Line)
PC4 (ADC4/SDA): ADC4 (ADC Input Channel 4) SDA (Two-wire Serial Bus Data Input/output Line)
PC6 (RESET): Pin by default is used as RESET pin. PC6 can only be used as I/O pin when RSTDISBL Fuse is programmed.
PD0 (RXD): RXD (Data Input Pin for USART) USART Serial Communication Interface [Can be used for programming]
PD1 (TXD): TXD (Data Output Pin for USART) USART Serial Communication Interface [Can be used for programming]

Motor of hopper blades : -

For blades in hopper which will convey the material towards cutting section I will use a Wiper motor with 12volt, 10amp i.e. 120watt power supply. Wiper motors are device that functions on a power supply in order to move the blades in a smooth motion. Like other motors, the wiper motor rotates continuously in one direction.

Lead acid battery : -

To avoid the fluctuations in the system I have used small battery backup of 12 Volt, 10 amp. Which is a lead acid battery. The reason I have include this in the system that we can not run the syetem directly on solar panel. We need to add some backup so that our system should run safely and continouslly.

2) Cutting blades running with electric motor : -

In this project of FAB academy I am running the system of cutting blade section with the power conversion system i.e. Switch Mode Power Supply.

230Volt AC power supply ⇒ SMPS(Switched-Mode Power Supply) ⇒ Electric Motor

SMPS : -

The Electric motor is running through SMPS which have the following specifications.

Constant output voltage.
Input voltage : - 110V/230V is selected by switch.
Converts AC voltage to 24 V DC, LED indicator.
Output current 20 Amp, Power 480 Watt. Efficiency more than 80%.
Smart device surge protection for Shortage Protection, Overload Protection, Over Voltage Protection.

Electric motor : -

I am using the " electric DC motor " which was there in the campous of Vigyan Ashram. It is the motor which we use in E-bicycle.

For more details visit the site.

This motor have following specifications : -

Output Power: 250 Watt.
Rated Voltage: 24V
Rated Speed: 360 RPM
Full load Current: ≤13.4A
No load Current: ≤2.2A

As I have mentioned I will run the hopper blade section with solar power. But to run the system directly on solar energy is not possible. Because avalability of sunlight is not constant it is variable. If we connecte this supply directly to the DC motor then the variation in the speed occers. So I have provieded the system with the small backup of 12 Volt 7 amp lead acid battry. This battery is connected between the Solar panels the wiper motor. This is a rechargable battery.

Electronic system :

Wrong PCB designing :

The objective of my final project is to start the motor of conveyor mechanism in the hopper, when the available light intencity is greater than 500 lux. For gettting these readings I am using BH1750 light sensor. Which will shows the readings on my mobile screen. But for programming the board with BH1750 needs the library. The detail of which is available in the Input devices week. Also the program for BH1750 had some characters like float which has the memory size of 4 bytes. If we can change this character with int which having the memory size of 2 bytes. Still when we combine the input and output programs. The size of program get increases, which is not get uploaded on the board of Attiny 44. This was my misstake that I have not compair the total memory size need by my combined program and the memory size of Attiny 44. Therefore I have shifted to Atmega328p micro-controller for final project board. This is the board of Attiny 44 that I have design at the beginning.

Final board designing in "Eagle" :

This is the new design of final project board in eagle. Please check the PCB designing in Electronics design.

Name of various components and their quantity on the final project board :

Atmega328p microcontroller - 1
20MHz rezonetor - 1
FTDI pin headers - 3
ISP pin header - 1
Push button - 1
LED (green) - 1
1 kOhm (with no. 1001) resistor - 1
10 kOhm(with no. 1002) resistor - 1
4.99 kOhm(with no. 4991) resistor - 1
1 micro-ohm capacitors - 3

This is my final project board with Atmega328p micro-contoller.

I have mill this board on the SRM-20. To know in detail about PCB milling please click on Electronics production

Laser cutting :

To place the electronic stuff at one place I have design the casing with " acrylic " on the Laser-cutter. Please check the detail of Laser cutting in Computer-control cutting

Final stuffing of electronics :

I have placed all electronic components blutooth module, the relay, and the board in the acrylic casing. We can see in the image of the different board, because this was the previous board that I have design. But the new design board is have the same size with additional components.

3D printing :

First I have design design the casing in Solidworks. Then I have printed it on the 3D printer. In the image we can see I have placed the BH1750 light sensor in the casing made of ABS material. To know detail about 3D printing click on 3D scanning and printing

Final project code :

In my final project I have to ON/OFF the motor of hopper on the basis of sunlight readings sense by BH1750 light sensor. The detail of the pin number and connection are describe in the Input devices week and Output devices week.

I have designed this code for ON/OFF the motor and the board will also have the bluetooth connection to display the light-intencity readings on the mobile screen in the app. Please click here Embedded programming to know about PCB programmin in Arduino IDE

In the code we can see the address of (0x23) which is the address of BH1750 It is important to add this address in the code. To know this code I have first connect BH1750 to the pin of board. Then I have coonect the board with ISP-programmer and then I have uploaded the I2C scanner code. This is a scanner code which can scan the address of any I2C device to know its address.


	
                
//Created by : Tejswini Chaudhari
//DC motor with "BH1750"
//Fri 28 08 2020

#include <Wire.h>
#include <BH1750.h>
BH1750 lightMeter(0x23);
int Lux;
char Incoming_value = 0;
void setup()
{


pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println("Running...");
lightMeter.begin();
Serial.println("Running...");
}

void loop() 
{
float lux = lightMeter.readLightLevel();
Serial.print("Light: ");
Serial.print(lux);
Serial.println(" lx");
Serial.write(Lux); //for processing
delay(1000);

  if(Serial.available() > 0)
  {
    Incoming_value = Serial.read();
   Serial.print (Incoming_value);
   Serial.print ("\n");
   Serial.print ("LUX VALUE:");
   Serial.print (lux);
   //Serial.print ("%"); 
    if (Incoming_value == '0')
      digitalWrite(13,HIGH);
    else if(Incoming_value == '1')
   digitalWrite (13, LOW);

   }
  
}

Mobile application :

This is the app which I have design for controlling the system of my final project. To know more about the designing of the app for android please check assignment Interface and application programming .

To download the app in our mobile we have to download " Apk " file. To download apk file click on build option and select " Apk ( save .apk to my computer ) " option. We can see the process of downloading apk file at the bottom.

Mechanical System :

Mechanical system is consisting of 2 sections.

1) Cutting section :

This section having 2 long blades connected each other to their centre perpendicular to each other. Further they are connected to universal motor through shaft.

2) Conveying blade section :

In this section the system is consist of following components.

a) Hopper :

The main function of the hopper is to store the dry material to be placed into the pulverizer for pulverizing. The pulverizer had a large hopper for storing the material and delivers it through conveying mechanism into the pulverizer. The hopper was provided for easy placement of dry material for shredding. Another purpose is to reduce the time required to put material into the pulverizer. The selection of the shape of the hopper was done with the basic consideration that hopper should carry the desired quantity of dry material and their bulk density. The hopper was situated at top of the conveying mechanism.

CNC plasma cutter : Wild card week

b) Blades :

The shredder blade plays a major role in the dry matter shredder machine. There are many types of shredder blades and the one which is used is a three-edged blade and tow edges blades. Space is also provided between each of the Blades for the shredded pieces to come down. The blades which were made up of MS sheet of 0.8 mm size, the dimension of the blade was selected from the hopper inclined portion, to convey the material through mechanism the blades are made mild steel and of length of different dimensions, four types of blade all blade fixed to the shaft with the help of the fixing nut.

I have design these blades in Solidworks. To know about designing please check Computer-aided design.

C) Shaft :

In this chapter, the general design considerations related to to the plastic shredding machine are discussed. This chapter highlights on general design considerations and procedure of main components and accessory components of the developer conveying mechanism of pulverizer. The conveying of material is done by different conveying systems. screw conveyor belts etc which was used to convey the material.

Main Shaft :

A shaft is a rotating machine element which is used to transmit power from one place to another. The power is delivered to the shaft by some tangential force and the resultant torque (or twisting moment) set up within the shaft permits the power to be transferred to various machines linked up to the shaft. The shafts are classified as follows,

Transmission shaft :

These shafts transmit power between the source and the machines absorbing power. The countershafts, line shafts, overhead shafts, and all factory shafts are transmission shafts. Since these shafts carry machine parts such as pulleys, gears chain and sprocket, etc, A 12 mm outer edge diameter high strength shaft was selected for the mechanism, they were cut into the three same lengths and single one took extra large for large sprocket mounting.

d) Bush and bearings :

The 6201 deep-grooved ball bearing were used for the mechanism. Deep-grooved ball bearing is used to transmit loads from rotating parts to housing with minimum friction loss. This will be obtained by a high hardness. minimize the deformation of the bearing elements. Single row deep groove ball bearing are the most widely used roller bearing type in the world due to their versatility and overall performance. The bush was made by the polypropylene material to fix the bearing into it. the polypropylene is a tough and rigid crystalline thermoplastic produced from propane or propylene monomer. It is a linear hydrocarbon resin. The chemical formula of polypropylene is C3H6.

e) Chain and sprocket :

Chain drives ,gear drives and belt drive system are all effective power transmission systems each offer advantages and disadvantages with respect to each other, A chain drive is relatively easy to installed assembly tolerance are not as restrictive as those for gear drive .chain performance better than the gear under shock loading conditions. Chain drive does not require tension on the sack side. Chain drive required less space for a given loading and speed condition than the pulley and belt. It is less costly to build and maintain. For the conveying mechanism, we used the 1.2 m chain, 5 small sprockets and one large sprocket to transmit the power from motor to the mechanism.

Project summary :

Tools used for project development :

CAD designing in "Solidworks" : Casing for electronic components and casing for "BH1750" sensor.
Laser cutter : Casing for placing electronic componets in acrylic.
3D printer : Casing for "BH1750" sensor.
CNC plasma cutter : Foldable hopper and conveyor blades.
SRM-20 milling machine : Project board.
Arduino IDE programming environment : For programming the project board.
MIT app inventor : For designing the android app for controlling the system.

What questions need to be answered ?

I have design this system to run with solar power. So that people should not depend upon the grid power supply for preparing the feed for animals. Along with thsi I have check that, does the system works properly on solar energy. It should cut the matter in the required size. Does it is beneficial for the rural people.

What worked ? What didn't ?

I have assembled the conveyer mechanism with motor drive (Wiper motor) and have tested it is working.
DC motor for cutting section is also working. Due to lock down I have not get the motor which I have selected for driving the cutting blades. But in the Ashram I have found a motor with similar specification and which gives the torque upto 5Nm. Shubham and Amol sir. Who help me for selecting this motor.
Next I have tested the BH1750 with project board. It shows the required readings of light intencity in Lux.
The main DC motor of the system is working with blades and without blades.
The board for driving the system is working now. The code which I have with Arduino board for testing BH1750 is working on the main project board.
In mechanical system the main issue that I have fased is adjusting the alignment of DC motor. It is defficult adjust the alignment of the motor carring cutting blades. But now I have fixed it and it is working properly.

How will it be evaluated ?

Cutting of dry matter with DC power is a heavy duty operation. It require more electricity which leads with cost of overall system. Solar system invalvs large installation cost. This cost should be get reduesed. By using less costly components which gives effective operation of the system. It should be properly work on the solar system. This project is especially for rular areas of India. So, this project should get evaluate on the output from the rular people.

What are the implications ?

The rular areas of India faces the problem related to energy cut-off and shredder is an important equipment to shred the dry matter for prepairing the daily feed(fodder) for animals. This machine runs with solar energy which is available to us free of cost in a day time. So, we can utilize this energy for running the shredder and we don't have to depend upon the grid power supply. To design a shredder which will start when there will be ample amount of sunlight is available. Which will runs with speed and will cut the brown matter for cattle feed inthe day time.

Bill of material :

Solar panel - Rs. 6,090
BH1750 light sensor - Rs. 129
Charge controller - Rs. 500
Relay module - Rs. 271
BLDC motor - Rs. 11,600
Electric motor - Rs. 4000
Wiper motor - Rs.3,450
Atmega328p - Rs.138.74

From the above components I have used Electric motor instead of BLDC motor which operates with same efficiency.

So, the total cost of components : - 6,090+138+129+500+271+4000+3,450 = Rs. 14,578

Project license :

For creating license for my project I have choose Creative commons. Anyone can study it and also can modify it. But copyright and license notices must be preserved. For detail information please check assignment Invention, intellectual property and income .

Installation of project :

Final project presntation :

I have presented my final project on 22 July 2020