design and fabrication of fueless dewatering machine …

Journal of Inventive Engineering and Technology (JIET) Vol 1 Issue 2 January 2021

Journal of Inventive Engineering and Technology (JIET) ISSN: 2705-3865

Volume-1, Issue-1, January 2021 www.jiengtech.com Research Paper Open Access

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DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF FUELESS DEWATERING MACHINE FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE MINERS

1(Afeni, Thomas B.,Department of Mining Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria) Corresponding Author: [email protected] , [email protected] 2(Adebanjo, Temitope L., Department of Mining Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria) 3(Idowu, Kayode A., Department of Mining Engineering, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria) 4(Akindutire, Taiwo, Department of Mining Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria)

ABSTRACT: Small and medium scale miners have been faced with the challenge of dewatering blastholes effectively and efficiently at a low cost. This work therefore designed and fabricated a fueless dewatering machine for removing water from drilled holes, prior blasting. The machine was designed using AutoCad software. All components were fabricated, using local materials, then carefully assembled in reality, meeting all engineering requirements. The locally sourced materials used include various metals, rubber tires, plastics, valves, PVC pipes, bearings and others. The fabrication was done using the lathe machine, welding machine and other workshop equipment. The operations involved employed during the fabrication process includes: cutting, sizing, shaping, turning, riveting, annealing, heat treatment, boring, and welding among other operations. The testing and evaluation of the machine performance showed that it has an average discharge of 0.27L/s (16.2L/min), an average volumetric efficiency of 86% and an average mechanical efficiency of 76%. The machine is a dual working machine; which means it can dewater two blastholes at the same time, making it capable of pumping 32.4 liters of water in a minute. It was also evaluated that mining firms can save up to about N324,000 annually if the machine is used in place of fuel pumps. During the testing and evaluation, it was discovered that the machine will also find application in other areas like mineral processing and in-pit pumping of mine water. In addition to a manual operation, the machine can be solar powered. The machine emits zero carbon. KEYWORDS: Dewatering, Blasthole, fabrication, Drilling and Blasting, Machine --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 30-09-2020 Date of acceptance: 19-10-2020 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I. INTRODUCTION

Quarrying is the most popular mining activity in Nigeria, and in most part of the world. Quarry activities involve operations targeting rock fragmentation, and subsequent processing of the fragmented rocks. According to Ashmole and Motloung (2008), common quarrying rocks includes: granite, limestone, marble, dolomiote, e.t.c. A large number of quarries in Nigeria, specialize in aggregate production, mainly to serve the construction industry. As the construction industry depends heavily upon quarry products, it is necessary to optimize aggregate production. One of the primary process during aggregate production is rock breakage. Rock breakage involves drilling and blasting. Drilling means creating a hole in a rockmass, and blasting involves fragmentation of the rock mass through the use of explosives.

Optimum drilling and blasting is important to the overall quarrying operations. It is important for safety, as well as profitability. According to Revey, G.F (1996), one of the major treat to optimum drilling and blasting is troublesome water, usually encountered in drilled holes. In Nigeria quarries, it is common to leave

Journal of Inventive Engineering and Technology (JIET) January 2021


drilled holes for days prior blasting. Water often find its way into those holes, posing significant challenge to blast engineers. The water can come from rain, underground seapage, and some other sources.

Troublesome water reduces explosive efficiency, resulting to poor blasting efficiency, and ultimately poor rock fragmentation. When a rock is poorly fragmented, extra cost is expended to carry out a secondary breakage. The most common explosive used by small scale miners is granular ANFO (Ammonium Fuel Oil). Granular ANFO is relatively cheap but has a low resistance to water. Granular ANFO readily dissolves in water, making detonation almost impossible. Therefore, effective blasthole dewatering is very critical to small and medium scale mining. To address the problem of dewatering, many organizations often fill the granular ANFO into a polythene nylon, then choke it down the drilled holes. Unfortunately, the nylon could burst on its way down the hole, or during stemming!.Alternatively, some organizations make use of fuel water pumps, others directly use water resistance explosives. Although these two methods have proven effective, the cost implications sometimes make it unviable for small scale miners.

This project therefore, focused on developing a fueless dewatering machine, specifically for application in quarries, to dewater blastholes. The machine was developed using locally sourced materials. The properties of water in a drilled hole were considered during the designing of the machine. Interestingly, the machine is both energy efficient and environmentally friendly. With the machine, miners are able to reduce dewatering cost by 0ver 90%.

II. BACKGROUND AND RELATED RESEARCH WORK

For centuries, pumps have been a common means of lifting water from a source to a destination point. Pumps operate by certain mechanisms, and consume energy to mechanically move the fluid. The energy sources for operating a pump can be manual, fossil energy, electricity, wind, among others.

Yathisha et al., (2017) explained that, the advent of fossil energy and electricity has made many to view human powered tools as obsolete technology. This makes it easy to forget the commendable progress in their designs, which has significantly improved productivity.

In attempt to develop ways to pump water from an altitude to a higher level, several researchers have done extensive works. For instance, Mogaji (2016) used a chain drive mechanism to develop a pedal powered water pumping system. In order to improve volumetric efficiency of pumps, Jaganrai et al., (2008) fabricated a double acting reciprocating pump for high pressure application, Jaganrai et al (2008) used employed the scotch yoke mechanism for the design. Also, Nasir et al., (2004) designed and fabricated a hand pump, which is manually operated. He then analytically analyzed its performance.

Literature has shown that majority of the innovative water pumping systems has been developed specifically for clean water or fairly clean water. Water from a drilled hole is never a clean water, it contains drill cutting, overburden rock particles and other form of particles. Therefore, it requires a specialized type of dewatering pump. This research meticulously considered the slurry characteristics of mine water, to develop the pump and the entirely dewatering machine

III. MATERIALS AND METHODS

The materials used for the fabrication of this pump were locally sourced in Nigeria. These materials includes: steel iron, mild steel, PVC pipe, rubber tire, plastic, rubber valves, wood, and some other local materials.

The parts of the machine are; the frame, the handle, the pushrod, the reciprocating pump, the check valves, and the piston, the tires, and the allowance for solar power incorporation.

A. The Frame

The frame forms the skeletal casing, housing the whole components. The frame provides support for the machine; it provides clamping surface for the positive displacement pump, the frame allows the mobility of the machine and carry the entire assembly of the machine. The rectangular frame was made from angle iron which was welded together. The factors considered in selecting the appropriate material and dimension of the frame includes:

Weight; it should be light in weight to enable easy mobility within the mine.



Strength; the strength should be greater than the total stress induced by the reciprocating pump and other assemblage to be clamped onto it.

Dimension; the minimum length of frame for our design was calculated by the equation below:

퐿 > 2퐿 + 2퐿

푤ℎ푒푟푒 퐿 푖푠 퐹푟푎푚푒 푙푒푛푔푡ℎ

퐿 푖푠 푃푢푚푝 푙푒푛푔푡ℎ.

L is Length of connecting rod

푊 > 퐷 + 퐿

푤ℎ푒푟푒 푊 푖푠 푡ℎ푒 푓푟푎푚푒 푤푖푑푡ℎ

B. The Lever Handle

A cast iron of length 0.1775m was used for this machine. The lever handle is used to supply the torque needed for the cam rotation. The lever was designed in such a way that it has above 80% mechanical efficiency. It should be noted that in selecting material for the lever, such material should have a good torsional strength.

C. The Pushrod

The pushrod, made from a mild steel, has a stroke length of 0.235m. Pushrod is a rod which is used to transmit the reciprocating motion from yoke of the mechanism to the piston of the pump. The desirable properties of the pushrod include: good fatigue strength, non-corrosive, smooth finishing surface, and high impact strength. The pushrod was machined into the desired dimension using a lathe machine.

D. The Reciprocating Pump

The Main Parts of the fabricated Reciprocating Pump are:

1. Cylinder; made of steel alloy, the cylinder housed the piston. The movement of piston is obtained by a connecting rod which connects piston and rotating crank.

2. Suction Hose; It connects the source of water in the blasthole to the sucking cylinder; a rubber hose of sososos mm diameter was used in this project.

3. Delivery Hose; Water sucked by pump is discharged away, through the delivery hose. A rubber hose was used due to its resilience and flexible nature, more so, rubber hose can be wounded together after use.

4. Check Valves; Non-return valve or check valve is a valve that normally allows fluid (liquid or gas) to flow through it in only one direction. Check valves are two-port valves, meaning they have two openings in the body, one for fluid to enter and the other for fluid to leave. There are various types of check valves used in a wide variety of applications. Check valves are often part of common household items. Although they are available in a wide range of sizes and costs, check valves generally are very small, simple, or inexpensive. Check valves work automatically and most are not controlled by a person or any external control; accordingly, most do not have any valve handle or stem. The bodies (external shells) of most check valves are made of plastic or metal. The valves used for this work are:

a. Suction Valve; It adjusts the flow from the suction pipe into delivery hose. Brass valve was used for this project.

b. Delivery Valve; It admits the flow from the cylinder into delivery hose.

E. Piston

A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. In a pump, the function is reversed and force is transferred from the



crankshaft to the piston for the purpose of compressing or ejecting the fluid in the cylinder. The pistons used for this work were casted from aluminum alloys, for better strength and fatigue life.

COMPONENTS ASSEMBLING

After the fabrication of each component of the machine, were carefully assembled together, following engineering design guidelines. The exploded engineering design is shown in figure 1 below. Some of the operations carried out during the components assembling include: arc welding, riveting , screwing, bending, extrusion, botching , hole boring, e.t.c.

(a) (b)

Fig. 1 (a, b). Exploded engineering model of the machine

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

After the fabrication of the blasthole dewatering machine, it was tested to evaluate its performance in real life application. The machine was used to dewater blastholes of different diameters and at different water levels (heads). The average discharge rate, volumetric efficiency and the mechanical efficiency were evaluated from the testing. The results were presented in the charts and graphs, as shown in Fig. 2.

The Fig. 3 shows the discharge rate obtained for 38mm hole at different depths (ranges 1m hole to 6m hole). From the test, the average flow rate for 38mm hole was 0.237L/s.



Fig. 2. The fabricated machine

Fig. 3. The average discharge rates for 38mm diameter hole.

The Fig. 4 below represent the flow rates obtained for 88mm hole at different hole depths (range of 1m hole to 6m hole), the average flow rate is 0.2699L/s.

Fig. 4. The average discharge rates for 88mm diameter blasthole.

The various discharge rates obtained from the testing for 101.5mm hole at different hole depths (range of 1m

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Dis

char

ge r

ate

(L/s

)

Drilled holes

00.10.20.30.4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Disc

harg

era

te(L

/s)

Drill holes



hole to 6m hole) is presented below. The average discharge rate is 0.2878L/s.

Fig. 5. The average discharge rates for 101.5 diameter hole at different depths (range of 1m to 6m)

The discharge rate obtained for 127mm diameter blastholes(range 1m hole to 6m hole)

Fig. 6.Average discharge rates for 127mm hole for different hole depths.

The mean flow rates for all the various diameters (38mm, 88mm, 101.5mm and 127mm) is 0.265L/s. The discharge rate for each hole size shows a good correlation of above 0.9, with other values. An average discharge value of 0.265L/s means that the machine can pump an average of 952.98 Litres of water in an hour. This is an excellent evaluation result, and perfectly fits application in mines.

Fig. 7. Comparison of the discharge rate plots for different hole sizes.

The Fig. 7 shows that the discharge values for different holes have a good correlation.,

00.05

0.10.15

0.20.25

0.30.35

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Flow

rate

(L/s

)

Holes

00.10.20.30.4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Dis

char

ge (L

/s)

Drill holes

00.10.20.30.4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Flow

rate

(L/s

)

Drillhole

1.5 inches hole 3.5 inches hole 4 inches hole 5 inches hole



Fig. 8 below shows that the actual discharge rate is close to the calculated discharge rates for 38mm hole at various water heads. This means the machine is volumetrically efficient. The slight difference observed between the graphs of the actual and theoretical discharge is due to energy losses.

Fig. 8. Comparison of the theoretical an actual flow rates for 38mm hole diameter at varying water heads.

The Fig. 9 below follows similar trend as Fig. 8 and it implies high efficiency of the pump.

Fig. 9. Comparison of theoretical discharge with actual discharge for 88mm hole.

The Fig.10 shows that the machine is also volumetrically efficient for 101.5mm diameter blasthole.

Fig. 10. Comparison of the theoretical and actual discharge for 101.5mm diameter blasthole.

0

0.5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Disc

harg

e ra

te(L

/s)

Drill holesTheoretical Discharge Actual Discharge

0

0.5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Disc

harg

e (L

/s)

Drillhole

Theoretical Discharge Actual Discharge

00.10.20.30.4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Disc

harg

e (L

/s)

HolesTheoretical Discharge Actual Discharge



Fig.11. Comparison of calculated and actual discharge for 127mm diameter blasthole at various depths.

The power output of the machine is close to the power input (see Fig.12 below) and it means the machine has good mechanical efficiency.

Fig. 12. Comparison of input power and output power for 38mm diameter blasthole.

The result illustrated in Fig.13 shows that the machine is mechanically efficient for dewatering 88mm diameter blastholes. The input power values are close to output power values.


00.1

0.2

0.30.4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Disc

harg

e ra

te (L

/s)

Drill holesTheoretical Discharge Actual Discharge

0

5

10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Pow

er (w

att)

Drill HolesInput Power Power Output

0102030

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Pow

er (

wat

t)

Drill holesPower Input Power Output



Fig. 14. Comparison of input and output power for 101.5mm diameter blastholes.


The Fig. 16 below shows that the machine saves time effectively compared to using traditional way of dewatering secondary blastholes in small scale mining firms. The common traditional way used by small scale miners involves using wooden stick, to laboriously push out water from the holes.

Fig. 16. Comparison of traditional way of dewatering and using of the fabricated machine.

Table 1: Operating cost of using a fuel water pump for blasthole dewatering in a case study quarry

0102030

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Pow

er (w

att)

Drill holes

Power Input Power Output

0

10

20

30

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Pow

er (

wat

t)

NumberPower input Power Output

0

100

200

300

400

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Dewatering with stemming stick use of our machine for dewatering

Drillholes

time(

s)



(Gbose Quarries Limited), for the year 2017.

MONTH NUMBER OF BLAST

AVERAGE OPERATING COST OF PUMP (N)

JANUARY 3 28,000

FEBRUARY 4 28,500

MARCH 3 28,000

APRIL 3 29,000

MAY 4 29,500

JUNE 2 32,000

JULY 3 30,500

AUGUST 3 31,000

SEPTEMBER 4 34,000

OCTOBER 2 18,000

NOVEMBER 3 26,000

DECEMBER 2 20,000

TOTAL 334,500

It can be observed from Table 1 that the company spent an average of N334,500 in a year on the operation of fuel pumps. This amount can be greatly reduced if the manual dewatering machine is used. The manual machine is safe to use, requires low operating and maintenance cost and it is effective.

REFERENCES AdebanjoT.L (2018). “Design and Fabrication of a Mobile and Manually Operated Machine for Dewatering Blastholes” Final Year Project Research Work; Federal University of Technology Akure. 77 pages.

Afeni, T.B. (2015).”Cost Evaluation Of Producing Different Aggregate Sizes In Selected Quarries In Ondo State Nigeria ”International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology Studies” vol. 4(2), pp. 6-19

Ashmole, I. and Motloung, M. (2008). “Dimension stone: The latest trends in exploration and production technology’’. The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (published conference work – surface mining), pp. 36 – 70.

Aakash, M.B., and Waghmare H., (2016). “Study, Design and Improvement of Pumping System Efficiency Of Hydraulic Pneumatic Reciprocating Pump”, IJMET, vol. 7(5) pp.34-38

Bogdan Z., and Daniel B., (2007) “Influence of Ammonium Nitrate Prills' Properties on Detonation Velocity of ANFO”, Propellants Explosives Pyrotechnics,Vol. 32(5): pp. 411 - 414



Engin, C.I., (2009).“A practical method of bench blasting design for desired fragmentation based on digital image processing technique and Kuz–Ram model”,Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting (2009), pp. 257-263

Farnfield, R., and Wetherelt, A. (2004) “After-Blast Fumes from ANFO Mixtures, Quarry Management, Vol. 31 (2), pp.11-19.

Jaganraj D., and Karthick, Y., (2016).”A Review On Study And Analysis Of Double Acting Pump Using Scotch Yoke Mechanism”, International Journal Of Advanced Scientific And Technical Research vol. 5 (6), pp. 70-81

Mackenzie, (1967). “Optimum blasting” Proceedings of the 28th Annual Minnesota Mining Symposium (1967), pp. 181-188

Mogaji P.B, (2016). “Development Of An Improved Pedal Powered Water Pump”, International Journal Of Scientific & Engineering Research, vol. 7 (2). pp. 45-51

Nasir, S.O., Ubokwe, R., and Isah, A., (2004) “Development of a Manually Operated Hand Pump for Rural Water Supply” AU J.T. vol. 7(4), pp.187-192

Revey, G. F. (1996), ‘’Practical Methods to Control Explosives Losses and Reduce Ammonia and Nitrate Levels in Mine Water’’ Mining Engineering Journal. vol. 48 (7), pp. 61-65.

Sapko, M., Rowland, I., Mainiero, J., and Zlochower, I., (2002), ‘’Chemical and Physical Factors That Influence NOx Production During Blasting: Exploratory Study’’ in Proceedings of 28th Annual Conference on Explosives and Blasting Technique, pp. 317-330.

Sermaraj, M. (2004). “Design And Fabrication Of Pedal Operator Reciprocating Water Pump”, Journal Of Mechanical And Civil Engineering, International Conference On Recent Trends In Engineering And Management, IndraGanesan College of Engineering.

Yathisha N., Nadeem M., DevarajM.r., and Karthik K.M, 2017 :“Design and Fabrication of Pedal Powered Household Reciprocating Pump” International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology. Vol 6(9)

design and fabrication of fueless dewatering machine …

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