Design of Waste Tyre Flexible Couplings for Generating Plant

Abstract

There is a growing need at creating wealth from wastes. Waste tyres have been littering our environment. There is need to create ways of utilizing them effectively after their critical mechanical properties have been investigated. Flexible couplings made of waste tyres were designed using power ratings and service factors of generating plant. Coupling sizes, dimensions, among other physical properties were selected at varying Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) speeds; 1000, 2000 and 3000 rpm, from which the choices of waste tyre couplings were made. The results of over 16 hours of running of the generating plant using coupling size F 60 selected based on service factor (1.5), engine speed (1000 rpm), bore diameters ( 42-48 mm) and power rating (11.10 kW) performed satisfactorily. Therefore, the waste tyre flexible couplings are capable of transmitting power/torque from the generating plant without failure within the test hours.