Students develop Semi-auto road reflector stud installation

Students develop Semi-auto road reflector stud installation

www.mangaloretoday.com

Mangaluru, June 3, 2018:  Shree Devi Institute of Technology, Mangaluru, has developed a machine which performs two actions—a catalytic invention that cuts cost while installing reflectors and laying side marks on roads.

The students behind the innovation are Arun P K, Govind, Arun J S, and Adarsh who worked on the project under the guidance of Prof G O Harsha of the Mechanical Department. The machine has been named ’Design and Fabrication of Semi-Automatic Road Reflector Stud Installation and Road Marking Machine’.

The road reflector stud is an important component that mainly prevents major driving accidents at nights. Manual road reflector stud installation adds up to a major challenge of labour, which is usually a shortage in the public work departments. Moreover, a manual process is time-consuming and not viable for large-scale installations on roads.

The main objective of this semi-automated machine is for quick and accurate installation on roads. Currently, there is no system that operates on these lines of automatic installation of reflector stud along with road marking; normally manual installation consumes additional time and is not efficient in terms of quality standards.

Public Works Departments all over face an acute shortage of labour for stud installation and road marking. This system, once developed into a market-ready model, will hold the key to shape the future of safe road construction and help in elimination of errors.

The conventional method employs four different processes, drilling of holes on roads, pouring of epoxy resin, placing and stamping of studs, each done manually.

The innovated semi-automatic work consists of four stations to do these four processes. Pneumatic power is fruitfully utilised in this project and the system is controlled by a microcontroller. Road marking is fixed on the frame of the machine separately. The road studs are initially stacked into the hopper. Once the machine is placed at the desired location and switched on, the four processes included in the road stud installation are carried out sequentially.

In the first station, a hole is drilled on the road for the depth of the stud’s leg. This can be achieved by a driller setup. The motor used here is of high torque, enough to withstand the back pressure exerted while drilling on the road. Once the drilling is completed, the base motor rotates 90 degrees and the pouring of epoxy resin into the hole is carried out in this station. On another 90 degrees rotation, the 3rd station starts to do its job. From the hopper, one stud is made to fit into the hole with the help of a pneumatic cylinder. Once this is accurately done with the provision of proper guideways, in the next station a pneumatic cylinder stamps the stud that tightly fits them on to the roads. Road marking is then done manually by a clutch-type liver setup.

This machine plans to revolutionise the way one works on roads as it can bring in great relief to traffic congestions and contractors as well as reduce the overall cost.