RAMMED EARTH TIRE PACKING PROCESS DESIGN

Project Team: Ryan Gryba

Braden Pierce Derek Schroen

Rammed Earth Tire Structures

Project Objectives

Problem

Hydraulic Cylinder Assembly

Product Features • Fully mechanized method of packing soil into sidewall region of an automobile tire

• Accommodates a full range of commonly used tire sizes

•Hydraulic cylinder provides up to 9424 lbs of packing force to the sidewall region

• Short setup time – only 1 operator required for entire operation

Raised Sidewall Fixture and Pneumatic Backfill Tamper

Product Features •Raised Sidewall fixture decreases tire filling time and secures tire to the tire wall

•Fully mechanized method of packing soil into the centre region of automobile tire

•Raised Sidewall Fixture can accommodate all sizes of commonly used automobile tires

• Pneumatic Backfill Tamper provides 500 blows per minute, delivering effective soil consolidation

•Rammed tire homes offer low cost and high operating efficiency. Tires filled with compacted soil act as building blocks in the wall structure. •High thermal heat capacity of walls built with rammed tires results in an energy efficient building. •Rammed earth tire homes are built out of as many recycled materials as possible and strive to achieve “off the grid” operation.

•Difficulty lies in filling and packing tires. No lightweight mechanized or automatic means of packing a tire exists. This process must be completed manually using a shovel and sledge hammer. •The most arduous portion of the work is pounding the soil with a sledge hammer until the tire reaches a fully packed state. The packing process is very labour intensive and takes fifteen minutes or more per tire.

•Mechanized packing is needed to reduce the manual input required. Ideally the amount of time to pack a tire should also be reduced. •The tire is best packed on the tire wall where it will remain in order to properly set the tire into the layer below. •The mechanism used must be lightweight and ergonomically efficient for use by a single operator.

Pack and Fill Procedure

•Soil is distributed into the sidewall region. •Hydraulic Cylinder Assembly is placed in tire center region and used to laterally pack the soil into sidewall region. •Soil is laterally compressed in sidewall region until completely packed. •Once packing under sidewall is complete, soil is then distributed into center tire region. •The Air Tamper is then used to vertically pack soil within center tire region. •Soil is to be added and tamped until the tire is fully packed.

Setup Procedure •A Sidewall Fixture is placed over the tread of the tire •A hook is placed onto the underside of the tire bead. •The handle is lowered, engaging an over center clamp which pulls the sidewall upwards. •The clamp is locked with a pin, which allows the handle to maintain the tire position on the wall during packing. •This process is repeated to deploy a second clamp to the opposite side of the tire.

Project Client:

Dr. Eric Bibeau Department of Mechanical and

Manufacturing Engineering University of Manitoba