May 1, 2008

  • Team members Jason Polk and Allen Beatty extend the arm.
  • (L-to-R) BAE sponsor Dorin Bolder and team members Thomas Dauzat, Allen Beatty, Josh Kliebert, Doug McCurry, and Jason Polk
  • The control box was designed to prevent the operator from opening multiple valves at once and has an emergency system. The safety screen protects the operator from airborne debris.
  • The boom is extended in demonstration.

An odd-looking collection of pipes on a trailer at the Mechanical Engineering (ME) Senior Design presentations on April 30 caught my eye. I was told that it was a Multiple DOF Chinese Tallow Seed Harvester,  a portable boom, designed to move a harvesting head into the canopy of a Chinese tallow tree. Jason Polk, a member of the design team, explained that the LSU Biological & Agricultural Engineering Department (BAE) is researching alternatives to food crops to produce biodiesel fuel.  One promising option is the Chinese tallow tree. Its seeds contain a high percentage of extractable oil (15 times more oil than soybeans per acre, by some estimates). 

A challenge of using tallow seeds is collecting them, explained Polk.  Another challenge is that the seeds are firmly attached to the tree. (Tests performed by the team showed that it takes up to 15 pounds of force to remove seeds from the tallow tree, but “only” 8-10 pounds of force is needed when the seeds turn white and are ready for harvest). A team of BAE volunteers harvested seeds by hand, taking a week to fill a  4 x 2 x 3 foot box. Their quest for a better way to harvest tallow seeds caused BAE professors Dorin Bolder and Michael Mailander to sponsor this project for the ME Senior Design class. The mission: to design and build a portable boom which may be attached to a harvesting head (being designed by a separate group), to increase harvesting range to include 90% of the tree, and to decrease the harvesting time per tree. The challenge: to ensure safety of the operator and others near the boom during transportation and operation, the team must follow OSHA, ASME, and Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development codes—and they must stay within the budget of $2500.

The ME undergraduate curriculum culminates in a two-semester, capstone senior design course sequence. The team on this project: Allen Beatty, Thomas Dauzat, Josh Kliebert, Doug McCurry, and Jason Polk, were advised by ME professor Michael Murphy. Fall semester 2007 the team researched other lifts and booms that performed similar tasks and designed their boom and support system. They completed a final design in early December 2007. 

Construction began in spring semester. Dauzat overcame one hurdle when he found a burned-out trailer bed they could buy cheaply. Team members learned to weld, and reinforced the trailer with a steel frame and wood to make a stable surface to attach the boom, and also made guard rails and a control center. The trailer now weighs 3900 lbs.

Their design called for hydraulic stabilizers at all four corners to prevent the base from overturning when the boom is extended. The BAE Department provided actuators (for the stabilizers and boom extension), a pump, and valves for the control box.

The team would not have gotten far on their project without significant help from private industry. Trade Construction LLC, a privately owned contracting and construction company based in Zachary, Louisiana, was one of two firms that contributed significantly. The company provided the team with a workplace and tools to manufacture the boom. Trade Construction also donated construction materials and provided the team with some welding assistance.  When problems arose with the multilink joints the team designed, Trade Construction cut out the joints with a laser cutter, solving the binding problems. Another hurdle was surmounted with the help of Connector Specialist, Inc., hydraulic hose and assembly specialists out of St. Rose, Louisiana who supplied hoses and fittings at 1/3 cost for the teams’ use, and two Contractor Specialist employees, Scott Spillman and Jared Southerland, donated their time and worked one weekend to crimp hoses and attach fittings, saving the team approximately $1500. 

Noting the donated actuators and valves from BAE, the salvaged trailer, and most especially all the time and materials donated by Trade Construction and Connector Specialist,  Polk commented, “The total estimated cost to manufacture the boom and trailer from new parts would be approximately $15,000—but if manufactured commercially, you could expect the price to come way down.” 

The ME seniors estimate that their portable boom will allow the harvest of approximately one tree per hour, a significant savings in man hours. It will also raise the harvestable area of the tree from about 20 percent to approximately 90 percent, thanks to the extended range afforded by the boom. 

Article by Brenda Tate, College of Engineering, 225-578-4986, btate8@lsu.edu

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