This document summarizes a student project to design an automated sliding gate mechanism that operates without external power. The gate is opened automatically when a vehicle depresses a collapsible ramp connected to the gate's opening mechanism via a gear train. Literature on existing powered gates was reviewed to identify limitations in reliance on electricity and sensors. The proposed design uses mechanical power transmission without sensors or electricity. It was tested but had limitations in gear ratio and automatic closing that could be addressed in future iterations. The project demonstrated a concept for operating gates without continuous power inputs.
This document summarizes a student project to design an automated sliding gate mechanism that operates without external power. The gate is opened automatically when a vehicle depresses a collapsible ramp connected to the gate's opening mechanism via a gear train. Literature on existing powered gates was reviewed to identify limitations in reliance on electricity and sensors. The proposed design uses mechanical power transmission without sensors or electricity. It was tested but had limitations in gear ratio and automatic closing that could be addressed in future iterations. The project demonstrated a concept for operating gates without continuous power inputs.
This document summarizes a student project to design an automated sliding gate mechanism that operates without external power. The gate is opened automatically when a vehicle depresses a collapsible ramp connected to the gate's opening mechanism via a gear train. Literature on existing powered gates was reviewed to identify limitations in reliance on electricity and sensors. The proposed design uses mechanical power transmission without sensors or electricity. It was tested but had limitations in gear ratio and automatic closing that could be addressed in future iterations. The project demonstrated a concept for operating gates without continuous power inputs.
Submitted by: Govind H (B110101ME) Hari Prasanth (B110001ME) S6, ME-A Production technology lab
Abstract: A Ramp operated mechanical sliding gate system, embodiments which utilize collapsible Ramps to supply energy to open a gate so that the gate is opened automatically when the collapsible ramp is depressed by an approaching vehicle .
Relevance of the project:
Gates are commonly used now a days at residential area. A gate is a point of entry to a space enclosed by walls, or an opening in a fence. Gates may prevent or control entry or exit. Today many gate doors are opened by an automated gate operator. Those gates come with many special features. The demand for automatic gates has been increasing these days. The automatic gate described here automates the entrances to parking lots of residential homes, organizations, and public car parks. With little modifications, it can be also implemented in barrier gates used in toll booths and check posts where no external power is required to operate the gate. Those gates come with different type of mechanism such as sliding, swing, folding, and barrier gate. We had been concentrating on the sliding type gate. Those mechanisms have their own working principle and feature but, automatic sliding gate seems to be hardly available in the local market. The proposed mechanism is much more reliable as it is not using sensors. It is much more energy efficient as it doesnt require any external power supply.
Literature Review: Initially some concepts were developed and the gate, basically the automatic gates which were developed were of using huger amount of power. The gear motors were used and they were of high power consuming. Some of them using a power of high source and it seemed impossible to operate them without the availability of power. And as we know that the power is not a continuous source and it can be unavailable at any time so it was difficult to run off the automatic gates without the power. Some of the newer models of the gates make use of the sensors and these sensors are even not in profitable and acceptable range of the pockets of each and every user The function of these sensors is to sense the presence of any object and transmit the signal to the receiver present in the sliding gates and due to which the gate is opened and closed accordingly. The sensors performing such type of works are proximity sensors. There are many companies which are manufacturing such types of automatic sliding gates that are completely dependent on the continuous power supply. Some of them are Primetech Automation, Technocrats Security System Private Limited, Godrej Security Equipments. But the only drawback of these companies production is that the automatic sliding gates they manufacture are making use of electricity and cant be run without the availability of power. Besides this these gates are also not affordable by every user. Hence after heading towards these information there arise a need of constructing such a gate which does not make use of any electric power and which is fully automatic. So considering all the above drawbacks, we decided to generate a new concept of manufacturing the automatic sliding gates that does not make any use of electric power and are utterly automatic, known as Automatic Mechanical Sliding gate.
Features: It works without electricity. No use of sensors. It is more economical. It require less attention. It also works at scarcity place where electricity is not present. More durability.
Design Aspects: The Main principle of this automatic sliding gate is to increase the rpm with the help of a gear train arrangement for opening the gate. In automatic sliding gate it will open when vehicle comes on the ramp or platform then the vehicle load will push of ramp. Ramp is connected with the input shaft of the gear train and at the output shaft, the rpm is multiplied. The circular motion of the output shaft is converted to linear motion of the gate using pulleys .A torsional spring may be added so that once the vehicle moves out of the ramp, it can be automatically brought to the initial state.
Material selection: Wood was mostly preferred and used because of the easiness with which customized parts could me manufactured. The base platform, the gate, the sliding mechanism and the frame of the gear train were all made of wood. This greatly helped as in precisely aligning the shafts of the gear train to ensure proper and smoother meshing. The shafts, gears and pulleys were made out of mild steel provided from the workshop itself. Fittings were done using steel L-clamps and screws. M-seal was also used to seal certain regions. Part Drawings Shaft to pulleys:
Shaft to bump:
Middle shaft:
C- channel:
Pulleys:
Gear train frame:
Gear (small): Module:1.5 Teeth:30
Gear(big): Module:1.5 Teeth:50
Assembled views:
Critical observations: 1. As expected, there were slight misalignments in the orientation of the shafts when they were assembled with the gear train. This resulted in rough meshing of the gear train. The error occurred not only due to the error during drilling. The biggest diameter drill bit available in the workshop was 31mm and the hole required for our bearing was 35 mm which made us to manually file the hole to 4 mm extra during which we lost the precise center and that ultimately led to the slight misalignments of the shafts. So, ultimately in order to correct it, we had to disassemble them and slightly file some of the holes towards one side to align their centers towards the exact center mainly by trial and error method. 2. The theoretically calculated gear ratio was 1:8. But due to limitations in the availability of greater diameter shafts to manufacture bigger gears and due to limitations in the miller to manufacture smaller gears, we were only able to get a combined gear ratio of 1:2.6 from the gear train instead of 1:8 which greatly reduced the linear displacement of the gate for the maximum possible rotation of the input shaft. A compensation to this was attempted by slightly changing the design by increasing the diameter of the two pulleys connected with the output shaft. Though we were able to make it, we couldnt assemble it to the final model as the band saw was under repair.
Rough Estimate of the cost: Process Unit price No: of hours Total cost Lathe Rs 8 9 Rs 72 Cutting Rs 8 7 Rs 56 Filing Rs 8 2 Rs 16 Milling Rs 12 6 Rs 72 Drilling Rs 10 3 Rs 30 Shaping Rs 10 3 Rs 30 Miscellaneous charges - - Rs 250 Grand Total - 30 Rs 526
Short comings and remedies: 1. The gear ratio as per calculations was supposed to be 1:8. But due to the limitation in the availability of larger diameter work piece, the gear ratio was restricted to be 1:2.6. This resulted in much less linear displacement of the gate than that was theoretically calculated. A compensation was planned by increasing the dia of the pulleys accordingly, but since the band saw is under repair, though we made the pulleys in lathe, we were unable to cut them. 2. As per the current fabricated model, it is not possible to automatically close the gate. But if add a bump to the other side of the gate and link it to the shaft, then we will be able to properly control the opening and closing of the gate automatically without the use of any sensors. 3. The initial investment on a full scale project like this will be higher as the bearing forces coming into play will be much higher. So, it needs to be supported properly and hence renders it costly. But this can be overcome by the running cost this will require zero or no running cost.
CONCLUSION: The project was undertaken to study about the automatic sliding gate mechanism and to understand the working principle behind a Sliding gate mechanism which is operated without use of external power supply and sensors. It is operated with the help of ramp or utilizing as a power source the ramp structure and is fully mechanically operated. Sliding gate finds the best utility in check posts and Toll booths. Giving great service at an angle that steel sliding gate can work ideally will help we save large amount of energy. The other feature of a sliding gate is that it opens faster compared to the other type of gates. So this mechanism easy to utilized & is much more realiable than any other sensor based automated versions.