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Introduction
The JCATI Carbon Fiber Recycling project is in its 4th year of progress at Central Washington University. The goal of this project is to provide an efficient recycling process for Boeing 737 aircraft trimmings to reduce the impacts of human waste. Obtaining information from former project members revealed issues with the crushing gear frame. The frame is not rigid enough allowing the crushing gears to displace through the delamination process. This portion of the project focuses on improvements needed to increase the rigidity of the crushing gear frame. The image to the right was the carbon fiber recycling system in place.
Abstract
Students of the Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) program at Central Washington University have contributed to an ongoing Carbon Fiber Recycler project funded by the Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation (JCATI). The goal of this project was to modify the existing recycling system to produce a higher success rate of recycled carbon composite material. This report focuses on increasing the rigidity of the crushing gears so that the deflection occurring among the components during operation was below 0.005 inches to ensure proper operating conditions. The operating speed of the crushing gears was 2.5 rpm with a crushing load of 10,500 pounds. A base plate design ensured the rigidity of all components operating on a singular plane. Flat plate analysis was conducted to determine the thickness of the plate required of ASTM A36 Steel to produce a deflection less than the required value. Plate models run in Autodesk Nastran provided stress and deflection results used to confirm green sheet calculations and assembly modifications. Testing consisted of using dial indicators to determine deflections at various locations of the base plate and confirmed the deflection of the plate to be 0.003 inches within the required maximum deflection of 0.005 inches. All testing, manufacturing, and analyses took place in the Hogue Technology Building at Central Washington University with the help of MET Faculty.
Figure 1: Initial Crushing Assembly
Preliminary Sketch: Base Plate Design
After some initial analysis of the recycling system, it was determined that the gearboxes and housings need to be connected by a base plate to reduce independent movements. The following sketch contains a base plate and supporting arms that would secure it to the existing frame.
