FULLY AUTOMATED CONVEYOR SYSTEM

FOR CHOCOLATE FACTORIES

A PROJECT REPORT
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirement for the award of the
Degree of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
in
ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
By
BRINDHA K N (13BEE1029)
DANIEL BENNIAH (13BEE1032)
JAISUDHA M D B (13BEE1054)
SOUMIYA SRINIVASAN (13BEE1147)
TISHYA GARG (13BEE1156)
Under the Guidance of
Dr. A Arockia Selvakumar

CONTENTS
I.
II.

Introduction
Design of the project
a. System layout
b. Explanation of the components
c. Circuit diagram
d. Experimental investigation
III. Results and Discussion
IV. References

INTRODUCTION
In this tech-savvy world we are leaning more and more towards automation especially in
industries be it some small scale textile industry or a ginormous car manufacturing plant.
Automation has become an expected norm at every stage of production.
Earlier the purpose of automation was to increase productivity (since automated systems can
work 24 hours a day), and to reduce the cost associated with human operators (i.e. wages &
benefits). However, today, the focus of automation has shifted to increasing quality and
flexibility in a manufacturing process. In the automobile industry, the installation of pistons into
the engine used to be performed manually with an error rate of 1-1.5%. Presently, this task is
performed using automated machinery with an error rate of 0.00001%.
Advantages of Industrial Automation
Lower operating cost: Industrial automation eliminates healthcare costs and paid leave and
holidays associated with a human operator. Further, industrial automation does not require other
employee benefits such as bonuses, pension coverage etc. Above all, although it is associated
with a high initial cost it saves the monthly wages of the workers which leads to substantial cost
savings for the company. The maintenance cost associated with machinery used for industrial
automation is less because it does not often fail. If it fails, only computer and maintenance
engineers are required to repair it.

High productivity
Although many companies hire hundreds of production workers for a up to three shifts to
run the plant for the maximum number of hours, the plant still needs to be closed for
maintenance and holidays. Industrial automation fulfills the aim of the company by allowing
the company to run a manufacturing plant for 24 hours in a day 7 days in a week and 365
days a year. This leads to a significant improvement in the productivity of the company.

High Quality
Automation alleviates the error associated with a human being. Further, unlike human
beings, robots do not involve any fatigue, which results in products with uniform quality
manufactured at different times.

High flexibility
Adding a new task in the assembly line requires training with a human operator, however,
robots can be programmed to do any task. This makes the manufacturing process more
flexible.

High Information Accuracy

Adding automated data collection, can allow you to collect key production information,
improve data accuracy, and reduce your data collection costs. This provides you with the
facts to make the right decisions when it comes to reducing waste and improving your
processes.

High safety
Industrial automation can make the production line safe for the employees by deploying
robots to handle hazardous conditions.

Disadvantages of Industrial Automation

High Initial cost

The initial investment associated with the making the switch from a human production line
to an automatic production line is very high. Also, substantial costs are involved in training
employees to handle this new sophisticated equipment.

Industrial automation has recently found more and more acceptance from various industries
because of its huge benefits, such as, increased productivity, quality and safety at low costs.
A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves materials
from one location to another. Conveyor systems allow quick and efficient transportation for a
wide variety of materials, which make them very popular in the material handling and packaging
industries. Many kinds of conveying systems are available, and are used according to the various
needs of different industries. There are chain conveyors (floor and overhead) as well. Chain
conveyors consist of enclosed tracks, I-Beam, towline, power & free, and hand pushed trolleys.
Conveyor systems are commonly used in many industries, including the automotive, agricultural,
computer, electronic, food processing, aerospace, pharmaceutical, chemical, bottling and
canning, print finishing and packaging. Some individual areas that are helpful to consider are the
required conveyor operations, such as transportation, accumulation and sorting, the material
sizes, weights and shapes and where the loading and pickup points need to be.
A conveyor system is often the lifeline to a companys ability to effectively move its product in a
timely fashion. The steps that a company can take to ensure that it performs at peak capacity,
include regular inspections and system audits, close monitoring of motors and reducers, keeping
key parts in stock, and proper training of personnel.

The material handling and conveyor system makers are getting utmost exposure in the industries
like automotive, pharmaceutical, packaging and different production plants. The portable
conveyors are likewise growing fast in the construction sector and by the year 2014 the purchase
rate for conveyor systems in North America, Europe and Asia is likely to grow even further.
Mostly purchased conveyor equipment are Line shaft roller conveyor, chain conveyors and
conveyor belts at packaging factories and industrial plants where usually product finishing and
monitoring are carried. Commercial and civil sectors are increasingly implementing conveyors at
airports, shopping malls, etc. The increasing construction of malls and airports around world
shows positive scope and growth for manufacturers of conveyor belts.
Our proposed conveyor system is specifically used to inspect and segregate small or big
chocolate bars that continuously arrive a particular inspection point. The sensors fixed at
appropriate places which sends signal to the control system. The control system then processes
the signal from the sensor and sends appropriate signal to the conveyor controller (motor driver
etc) and the logic gates. Thereafter the chocolate bars are accordingly sent for packaging to their
respective boxes.
This project is about inspecting the length of an object kept in a conveyor
belt and hence segregating them. This has got a wide range of applications
especially in food manufacturing industries like munch, kit kat, 5 star etc we
need to inspect the length of the item before packing and dispatching them
to market. This is achieved by sending them through a conveyor belt that
checks their length and hence segregates those accordingly using sensors.
This is saves manual labor, time as well is least error.

DESIGN OF THE PROJECT

System Layout
VOLTAGE
REGULATOR

CONTROL
SYSTEM

CONVEYOR
CONTROLLER
SENSOR2

SENSOR1

CONVEYOR BELT
MOTOR1

BATTERY
(9V)

MOTOR2

EXPLANATION
USED

OF

THE

COMPONENTS

1. Battery: This is a 9V DC battery that is the main power supply for the entire system. It is
chosen so that we can have a common supply for all. Nine-volt alkaline batteries are
constructed of six individual 1.5V LR61 cells enclosed in a wrapper.
2. Infrared (IR) Sensor: An Infrared (IR) sensor is used to detect obstacles or rather as a
proximity sensor kept in front of it. The sensor provides a digital output (1 or 0). The
sensor outputs a logic zero (0V) at the digital output when an object is placed in front of
the sensor and logic one (+3.5V), when there is no object in front of the sensor. An
onboard LED is used to indicate the presence of an object. IR1 and IR2 are symbols for
the two sensors used in the system.
3. Control System: The main component is the logic OR IC7432. This device contains four
independent gates each of which performs the logic OR function. A HIGH output (1)
results if one or both the inputs to the gate are HIGH (1). If neither input is high, a LOW
output (0) results. In another sense, the function of OR effectively finds the maximum
between two binary digits, just as the complementary AND function finds the minimum.
4. Motors: DC motor 12V DC -2000/300 (geared mechanism) rpm. Motor1 & 2. These
two are used to run the conveyor belt mounted on a wooden block.

5. Conveyor belt: To carry the chocolate bars. 50 X 5cm, silicon rubber conveyor belt.
6. Voltage Regulator: IC7805 is used to provide constant 5V supply to the ICs and sensors.

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM AND WORKING

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
This entire setup works as follows:

The conveyor belt is run by the two dc motors that are powered by the 9V battery. The
chocolate bars are sent through the conveyor then.
The two sensors are placed in such a way that both output logical ONE when they
encounter big bars whereas in case of small bars one sensor outputs logical ZERO and
the other ONE.
The outputs of these two sensors are processed in the control system (OR gate) which
then outputs logical ONE whenever there is big object in the conveyor.
The LED glows RED when it encounters big object.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

We have designed and implemented prototype of an automated conveyor system that can be used
in chocolate factories for detecting smaller or bigger bars among a batch and hence segregating
them. This is just one among the several applications this system can be implemented.
The future scope of the project is as follows:

Microprocessor can be used to make this reprogrammable, adaptable and efficient.

The current prototype uses just proximity sensors. Some more sensors can be used to
make a much more full-fledged system.
Servomotors could be used.

REFERENCE
http://sparc.nfu.edu.tw/~chh/Simulation/GSW061.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conveyor_system
https://www.elprocus.com/infrared-ir-sensor-circuit-and-working/
http://www.surecontrols.com/what-is-industrial-automation/
http://www.datasheetarchive.com/

APPENDIX