Automatic T Shirt Folding Machine

Project Title

Automatic T Shirt Folding Machine

Project Area of Specialization Mechatronics EngineeringProject Summary

In previous years, most of the industries of Pakistan have shifted to automation whereas some of the industries are lagging behind. Textile is the second profitable business sector in Pakistan, in which T-shirt manufacturing is done at a greater level. Unfortunately, T-shirt folding itself takes more time than it’s stitching and so this area holds a greater opportunity for automation. During these years, Pakistan has been facing competition from regional countries like Bangladesh, India and Vietnam because of which the export rate in global textile industry is decreased in substantial amount. Cost of production has increased in Pakistan which has affected export competitiveness. Energy crises in Pakistan has also affected the production in textile industries of Pakistan. There has been a limited research to improve the quality and the rate of production in textile industries in Pakistan.

The main aim of this project is to target the folding of T-shirts in a faster, more accurate and precise way by automating the folding and packaging process. The system has its own sensing capability to sense the T-shirt and then fold it automatically.

A customized folding bed is designed to achieve this task. The folding bed is designed in such a way that it can fold all the different sizes of T-shirts. Flappers are used to hold the T-shirts and will be controlled by pneumatic cylinders. We have used 4 linear actuators (double acting pneumatic cylinders) that are connected to four flappers on the folding bed. In order to achieve accuracy and precision in time, the folding of T-shirts will be done in four steps which are powered and controlled using compressed air. The T-shirt will be identified on the folding bed with help of a proximity sensor. Then the flappers will be actuated to fold the T-shirts. The folded T-shirt will be passed through conveyor belt for packaging purpose. It will be packed in a plastic zip lock bag.

The controlling of these actuators are done through Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) to make it compatible with Pakistan textile industry equipment.

Project Objectives

Objectives	Description
To increase production rate	Increase the production rate by 10 times.
To reduce timeframe	Automatic folding will minimize the time to fold the T-shirts.
To reduce overhead cost	The project is affordable than both in terms of capital cost and service cost over the period of its lifetime.
To use less energy	Automating system will be operated through DC voltages so power breakdown will not affect the production rate.
To increase exports	To increase the share of Pakistan in global textile exports.
To introduce automation in textile industries of Pakistan.	Manual folding in industries will be replace by automated process.

Objectives

To increase production rate

To reduce timeframe

To reduce overhead cost

To use less energy

To increase exports

To introduce automation in textile industries of Pakistan.

       Project Implementation Method

As Pakistan is the hub of textile industries, this project can be implemented in the packaging line where T-shirts are folded by hand and manual labor. The project will not only be a setup where the machine is limited to folding T-shirts but further amendments can be done to make it perform folding of pants and shirts too. The machine can perform the folding of T-shirts in all sizes so different panels will not have to be created individual platforms.

The controlling of this project can be altered and upsized to cloud computing and be an IOT based system where the production count can be observed anytime from anywhere.  

All of the components used in this machine will be operated at 24 volts DC except for air compressor which is to be operated at 220 volts AC.

Benefits of the Project

• Automation in textile industry: The conventional method which is folding T-shirts manually is replaced by automatic folding process and to shift towards Industry 3.0.

• High productivity: The production rate of the T-shirt is increased by 5 to 10 times without increasing the number of labors through which hand folding takes huge amount of time.

• Precision: Manual folding of T-shirts have chances of human error whereas through this machine, proper creasing of T-shirts without error is achieved easily.

• Energy efficient system: The power of the machine is dependent on DC voltage sources so much of the production can be done by using less electricity.

• Memory assistance: The machine is capable of starting from where it left from if interrupted due to any circumstance.

• Saving labor cost: Excessive labor is used in the production line of folding T-shirts and packing it. This machine will not require much of the labor work; only placing of the T-shirt would be a labor task to do.

• Industrialization: This project also covers Sustainable Development goal No. 9 that is Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. As the conventional method is manual folding in Pakistan, this technology is able to bring efficiency and accuracy in this task by applying automation.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

1. Folding system:

• The folding system contains of a bed on which T-shirt be placed.
• An ultrasonic sensor is used beneath the folding bed by which the T-shirt will be sensed.
• There are four flappers used in the folding bed which are operated through double acting pneumatic cylinders.
• Pneumatic cylinders are operated on compressed air and so stored air is helpful in saving energy.
• An emergency stop button is also installed to stop the machine in case of emergency.
• A manual starting button is also installed in case of sensor failure.
• Compressor used has 4 cubic feet per minute of maximum flow rate, 45-80 liters of capacity to store air and a discharge pressure of 8 bar.
• These pneumatic cylinders are operated in a linear sequence in which the last flapper places the fold T-shirt on the conveyor.

1. Conveyor system:

• Conveyor system is used to pass the folded T-shirt.
• A 24 volts DC geared motor of 62 rpm is used for conveyor bed system.  
• At the end of the conveyor a mechanical joint is used where a plastic bag is covered to pack the folded T-shirt.

1. Production rate:

• The folding bed takes 5 seconds to fold a T-shirt where manual folding is done in 12 seconds as surveyed personally.
• This machine can fold and pack 200 pieces in 1 hour.
• Size of the folding bed is 4 x 3.5 x 3 ft.

1. Human Machine Interface:

• The count of the folded and packed T-shirt will be displayed on a display which will be connected to Programmable Logic Controller.
• The PLC used in the system is WECON which has 14-26 I/O system.
• The PLC and the actuators are connected through relays so circuitry is safe from and short circuits.

1.  DC Source: 24 V, 18A power supply is used to operate four pneumatic cylinders and to operate DC motor and the controller.

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry OthersOther IndustriesCore Technology RoboticsOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources

Elapsed time in (days or weeks or month or quarter) since start of the project	Milestone	Deliverable
Month 1	Design of Block Diagram, Processing diagram of folding system	Literature Review on Project, Detail Design and Solid Modelling. Market Survey and Procurement.
Month 2	Design of block diagram and processing diagram of conveying system.	Detailed design and solid modelling of the conveying system and packing method.
Month 3	Fabrication of basic skeleton of the machine.	Welding of rods and joints to form a rectangular structure.
Month 4	Fabrication of structure of the conveyor.	Metal structure of the conveyor, rollers mounted on the structure and belts placed on the rollers.
Month 5	Fabrication of folding flappers and modifications to it.	Mounting of flappers on the folding bed with the help of joints.
Month 6	Connection between flappers and pneumatic cylinders.	Design and connection of pneumatic cylinders and its valves to be able to work with flappers.
Month 7	Programming on controller.	Proper checking of relay outputs with respect to pneumatic valves.
Month 8	Sensor controlling	Observing the inputs of the sensor and its relation with controller.
Month 9	Sensor and Actuator programming	Applying the verified sensor programming and actuator relative programming with PLC.
Month 10	Combined installation of sensors and actuators.	Working of actuators with respect to sensor input and fulfilling the folding packaging task.
Month 11	Safety measures.	Checking all the possible hazards and placing safety connections, finishing of the machine.
Month 12	Project documentation	Project thesis report and presentation.