Design and Development of an Effective Tobacco Blending Machine

Abstract

Quality of locally mixed tobacco depends not only on the quality of raw materials but also on the consistency of the blending process. Thai local tobacco industry mainly uses labor to do all the mixing, which is a laborious and time-consuming process. Tobacco uniformity and homogeneity also rely almost solely on skills and experiences of workers. To alleviate this dependency, this research designed and developed a machine to effectively substitute the workforce. Among the most important desired characteristics, the machine must have sufficient power and be reliable in the long run. To satisfy these requirements, a standard machine design procedures were followed. Prior to the standard procedures, however, a modern design technique, including conceptual and embodiment designs to determine which function is a main consideration was implemented to assure the satisfaction of all the objectives. During the design, work was periodically reviewed to see if drawbacks, if any, could be eliminated or suppressed.
Upon completion, the machine was tested against its objectives. The test results showed that the desired effectiveness was reached; number of workers could be reduced from eight to two, while blending time could be reduced from 1 hour and 45 minutes to 30 minutes. The procedures adopted in this research may be inferred to other similar design tasks.