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A HYDRAULIC WOOD-PALLET MACHINE

Abstract This paper presents a design and test of a wood-pallet machine. The project was supervised under the Technology Application Center (TAC) at Old Dominion University. A hydraulic-power machine was designed to press six metal plates simultaneously onto six end surfaces of a wood pallet, which is used to stack items during movement or storage. Operation of the machine significantly reduces the manual hammering time from four minutes to forty five seconds. Students were guided to design the mechanical components and hydraulic power system. Animation software using Automation Studio and Autodesk Inventor simulated the system during the design stage before the machine was fabricated. Main design equations are also given in this paper.

1. Introduction The course of Automation and Controls offered in the Mechanical Engineering Technology Program of the Department of Engineering Technology at Old Dominion University has the following objectives:1

(1) Pneumatic components and pneumatic circuit designs. (2) Feedback from electrical sensors and related ladder diagrams. (3) Introduction to Programmable Logical Controllers (PLC)2,3 and programs. (4) Integration of pneumatic, electrical, and/or hydraulic components with PLC programs.

To let students have hands-on applications in this course, a two-hour/week lab is also offered to train the students to integrate mechanical, pneumatic, and electrical components with ladder diagrams or PLC programs. The lab basically includes three main sessions: (1) four weeks of pneumatic applications, (2) four weeks of pneumatic components, electrical sensors, and ladder diagrams, and (3) five weeks of PLC programming.2,3 The lab, however, does not include hydraulic system design. Although the design logic between pneumatic and hydraulic systems is very similar, to have TAC (Technology Application Center) projects in the area of hydraulic system certainly helps students gain industrial experiences before they graduate from the department. In this paper, a faculty student project with design and fabrication of a hydraulic wood-pallet machine using hydraulic power is used to fulfill this purpose.

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Lin, C. (2006, June), A Hydraulic Wood Pallet Machine Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--31