Re-design and construction of a manually pedal operated cocoon deflossing machine.

Abstract

Deflossing of cocoons means removing rough silk enveloping silkworm cocoons so as to make them clean. This increase their quality and prices in the market. Cocoons are used to produce silk yams in textile industries. Sericulture is the activity of rearing silkworms and production of silk fibers from them. Removing floss by hands is time consuming and tiresome, automatically power operated cocoon deflossing machine can defloss high amounts of cocoons but are expensive to buy. A manually handle operated cocoon deflossing machine is cheap but some portion of reelable silk go as waste. Therefore, the objective ofthis study was to design and construct a manually pedal operated cocoon deflossing machine aimed at addressing all the above problems. The design of the various machine parts were carried out by analyzing forces acting on them. Force analysis led to selection of proper materials to withstand the forces to avoid failure. Mild steel of various sizes and grades were used especially for the frame and low carbon steel used for the shaft. The engineering drawings of the various components were drawn before the various components were constructed. The different parts of the prototype were fabricated and the assembled. A fully functional prototype resulted after all the above operations. Testing of the prototype was carried out and the figures revealed that the machine had an efficiency of 79.6% and a deflossing capacity of 15kglhour. The relevant literature to assist in the problem solving as well as the necessary design specifications, and equations plus the used references, and budget required for completion of the project is also inclusive in this report.