Study, Design and Production of a Semi-Automatic Pneumatic Capper in Benin

Abstract

This work constitutes a contribution to the development of the processing of agri-food products. In Benin, processors of agri-food products are facing enormous difficulties. One of the difficulties is the lack of equipment. It is to somewhat alleviate one of their difficulties that this work was carried out for fruit juice producers. Indeed, the lack of equipment affects their production capacity, because the vast majority of their production is carried out using equipment for manual use. With the intention of providing a solution to this problem of producers, through our study, we have proposed a simple tool that they can easily use and at an affordable price for the vast majority of producers. Thus, we carried out a study, design and production of a semi-automatic pneumatic bottle capper. After a study which is based on mathematical models, we made a design using the Top Solide software and proceeded to the production after manufacturing certain parts and purchasing others. We wrote a program that allowed us to automate the capper. The price of the capper is 550,000f CFA including tax. Regarding the results of our work, the capper allows a bottle to be closed between 3 seconds and 6 seconds, i.e. 10 to 20 bottles per minute, therefore 600 to 1200 bottles per hour. This study will therefore ensure rapid production and in sufficient quantity to satisfy customers and all this in record time.