Current tobacco baling technology utilizes hydraulic power to press tobacco into bales. The high system pressures at which hydraulic systems operate pose a risk to workers. Hydraulic systems are costly and hydraulic oil leaks contaminate baled tobacco. A pneumatically driven, vertically oriented, multi-stroke baler was designed as an affordable alternative to current hydraulic balers. Pneumatics was chosen due to the lower system operating pressure and absent risk of tobacco bale contamination. The transmission of power was achieved through a reversible pneumatic gearmotor turning left and right hand acme threaded rods coupled together to form a powerscrew. The plunger was driven by a scissor-jack design and was used to take advantage of the non-linear force response of tobacco. The scissor-jack was driven by acme nuts traveling along the acme rod of the powerscrew. The baler was tested with burley tobacco grown during the 2007 season at the Central Crops Research Station in Clayton, NC. The compressive force and plunger displacement was measured for each bale produced. These readings were used to determine the compressive force as a function of plunger travel and the compressive force as a function of bale density. The baler required 3-4 presses to produce burley bales roughly 42 inches cubed and weighing approximately 500-600 pounds.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-05112008-145659 |
| Date | 11 June 2008 |
| Creators | Boaz, Robert Dale |
| Contributors | Dr. W. David Smith, Dr. Larry F. Stikeleather, Dr. Michael D. Boyette |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-05112008-145659/ |
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