Design and Test of the Smart Composter

Controlled by Sensors

Mustafa Elalami*, Yassine Mohamed Taouzari Salah Dine Qanadli

Baskoun, Fatila Zahra Laboratory LISA, high School of Cardio-Thoracic and Vascular Unit,
Beraich, Moha Arouch technology Berrechid Department of Radiology
Laboratory IMII, Faculty of Hassan 1 University University Hospital of Lausanne
Science and technical Settat, Morocco Lausanne, Switzerland
Hassan 1 University
Settat, Morocco
[email protected]

Abstract— Treatment of organic wastes in Morocco incomplete hydration to produce a stabilized final product
remains a sector that consumes large budgets and which with reduced toxicity and pathogenic organisms [3].
increases with demographic growth without finding a targeted
and relevant solution until today. In this work we present the Considering the benefits of composting, it can be
study, the design and the realization of a new composter employed to transform organic waste into useful products by
destined to convert the residues food and all type of organic using the degradation attributes of the macros and
wastes in situ (to eliminate transport charges) to obtain a microorganisms present in the contaminant matrix. It is a
mature compost with high quality in 4 weeks. This system is technology widely used to transform organic waste into
based on the intern design and automated and optimized organic fertilizer (compost), recycling nutrient minerals
control of all operating parameters. This solution will reduce (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K)) that can be
up to 80% of waste produced per day in the city and will be an employed for agricultural purposes [5].
effective tool for the provincial managers; the prototype has
been validated in the field. However, the composting process can only be performed
if it is well managed [6] and requires precise monitoring and
Keywords— design; realization; composting machine ; control to obtain useful information in real time [7].
remote control; smart composter; sensors Therefore, a successful composting operation requires good
mixing ratios [8] as well as the optimization of different
I. INTRODUCTION process parameters such as the aeration rate and an
appropriate ratio (carbon / nitrogen content and content) [9].
For several years the landfill has been the most The process of accelerating composting requires the use of a
prevalent method of disposing of household and similar rotating system with active aeration to accelerate the
waste in Morocco as all developing countries because of its degradation of waste and reduce the active composting phase
simplicity, but also because of its lower cost than other “Ref. [10, 11]” as well as to control and manage all
methods. There is a huge amount of waste produced every composting parameters in real time using a remote control.
day and which contains more than 75% of the organic
fraction. If this fraction does not have be treated in time it Objective of this work design and the manufacturing of
begins to decompose naturally in the absence of oxygen in an electromechanical machine dedicated to treatment of
the dumps the organic matter starts to generate biogas organic waste and managed by a remote control that allows
composed mainly of carbon dioxide and methane that are the all composting parameters to be controlled in real time.
main cause of global warming. Add to this the flow of
leachate that contaminates the water table. II. MATERIAL AND METHOD
One of the perfect waste treatment techniques is
composting, that’s the first way employed by our ancestors, A. Description of the machine composting :
because of its related benefits also it’s the natural way [1] to The urban composting prototype below “Fig. 1” is
recycling organic residues such as hygienization, profitability designed as a closed container capacity 0.930 m3. The rotary
and the transformation of waste into value-added products drum composting system (2) destiny for processing food
“Ref. [2]”. residues, agricultural residues and any organic effluent by an
aerobic fermentation process completely mixed by the
Composting is a reliable treatment of organic waste rotation of the drum and the steel sheets (18) welded with
that could be useful in reducing the negative effects that can inside the drum that is equipped by an active aspiration (4, 5,
result from the spreading of organic waste on land [3] as it 21) “Fig. 1(E)”. The rotating drum is constructed from
provides disinfected and stabilized products that could be stainless steel sheet and supported by a frame (1) (black steel
employed as a potential source of organic fertilizer or in soil rectangular tube 60x40 mm), two doors (10) “Fig. 1 (E)”
amendments [1]. The composting process is influenced by located the on part longitudinal the drum (500, 450 mm) are
physicochemical factors like the temperature, pH, particle used for the loading’s / unloading’s of solid organic waste, a
size, moisture content, aeration [4]. Composting is a rubber gasket lining is fixed on the inner side of each door
biochemical and heterogeneous process implying the keep it watertight and prevent leakage. Aeration of drum is
mineralization of organic matter into CO2, NH3, H2O and achieved by using a suction centrifugal fan with variable
flow (4) and perforated holes (21) located at the lateral part

978-1-7281-5152-6/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE

of the right side of the drum “Fig. 1 (E)” to homogeneous Where :A) Cross-section front view A-A ; (B) Top view
introduction of air into the drum. Air outlet pipe (5) is of the machine; (C) Detail view g for connection between the
located at the left side of the drum. left side of the drum and the frame;(D) Detail view f for
connection between the right side of the drum and the frame;
The drum is guided in rotation by two bearings (6,7) (E) Explode view drawing of machine composting.
“Fig. 1, (D), (C)”, and rotates at a speed of (4tr / min) by an
electric motor and a reducer with gear train with helicoidally B. Description of the remote controle :
teeth (3) “fig.1, (A)” and a belt pulley system (8, 9) “fig.1, The system will collect data from the rotary composter
(A), (D)”.Temperature, humidity, NH3 content, PH level and such as (temperature, humidity, NH3 ammonia and PH) and
oxygen level are checked by means of sensors installed download it to the bridge. After receiving the data, the
regularly on the round tube (13) “fig.1, (A)” that is fixed on server-based cloud platform will store the data in the
the tube (5) and supported by a plain bearing “fig.1, (A)”. database “Fig. 2” .Then the client (including the machine
Data are recording using a PLC with remote management control terminal, mobile phone application and the browser
module installed in a control cabinet (15) “Fig.1, (B)”. of the remote computer) can acquire data from the database
in a timely manner, which can appear as a number or a curve.
The user of the application can send instructions to the
composting machine in case he finds that the parameters
detected by the application are not suitable.
The gateway will integrate the data and use the 4G
network to transfer the data to the Internet server cloud
platform of the assigned IP address.
For example, if the humidity exceeds 60%, machine
rotated automatically and starts aeration (instructions of auto-
control are shown as in TABLE I). In addition, the users can
use the software to control devices directly on the control
terminal of the composting machine.

Figure. 2. Block diagram of remote control

Figure. 1. Assembly drawing of the rotating drum composting machine

 TABLE I. CONTROLLER AUTO CONTROL INSTRUCTIONS

Composting
causes of the problem Auto-control setup
parameter Condition of resistance:
NH3>20ppm Mixture too rich in Activate rotation The circumferential stress must be less than or equal to the
nitrogenous matter Activate aeration
Excessive temperature Stop heating resistance
elastic limit, the relation is given by the inequation:
(over 70 °) D.Pi Re
Humidity <40% Lack of water Active manual command    (2)
(inject the water)
2e s
Lack of nitrogenous active rotation The minimum thickness is calculated by the relation “(1)”,
Humidity >60%
Activate aeration “(2)” by the following equation:
Temperature <20° Lack of nitrogenous Activate heating D.Pi .s
resistance e (3)
Activate rotation 2 Re
Activate aeration Where:
Temperature >65° Heating resistance Activate rotation
activate Activate aeration
 : Circumferential stress in (Mpa)
Stop heating resistance D : Diameter of the rotating drum in (mm)
Pi : Of the mass of the load on the occupied surface in
(N / mm2)
C. Dimensioning of the rotary composting machine: s : The safety factor equals 1.5 for steel structures
1) Characteristic of the rotating drum: Re: elastic limit in (Mpa)
The rotary drum is a hollow cylinder with two flat
bottoms of dimensions (length L, diameter D, thickness e). It 4) dimensioning of the rotary drum drive system:
rotates at a rotational speed (1 tr/min to 4 tr/min), supported The drum makes a rotational movement based on its axis
by two bearings, and it is made of stainless steel whose yield of rotation subjected to a load of organic waste at a density
strength (Re = 172.34 MPa). of ρ in (kg/m3). The drum is filled with (2/3) of its volume to
2) Characteristics of organic waste: facilitate the degradation of organic waste.
Organic waste is food waste, green waste, agricultural a) Determination of the torque required to drive the
waste, and waste from the food industry or the catering drum:
industry. It is characterized by an average humidity rate of Torque is calculated as a function of the mass of organic
50% and density  d see TABLE II. waste and total mass of the drum and the distance from the
3) Determination of the thickness of the drum e: axis of rotation.by the following equation:
To avoid warping and drum failure the choice of a  
Ct   . d .g ( L  2e)( D  e)2  4M t )  .( L  2e) (4)
minimum thickness of the drum is necessary. 12 
This drum thickness is calculated according to the load, the Where:
geometry and the material by the equation:
Ct : Torque to drive the drum in (N.m).
  D.P i (1)
 d : Density of organic waste in (kg/m3).
2e
L: Length of the drum in (mm).
M t : Total mass of the rotary drum in (Kg)
TABLE II. THE DENSITY OF ORGANIC WASTE

Maximum According to equation “(4)”, the mechanical rotational

Minimum densities in power to drive the drum is determined by the following
Types of material densities
(kg/m3)
in (kg/m3) equation:
Branches 120 180 1
Crushed branches Pm  Nt .Ct (5)
230 330 9550
Fresh lawn 350 500 Where:
Fresh mixed waste (branches and
250 300
Pm : Mechanical power of rotation in (KW)
grass) not ground
Fresh mixed waste (branches and Nt : Rotational speed in (tr/min)
350 450
grass) ground b) Determination of the electrical power for the choice of
Old grass in a bucket 550 700 the electric motor:
Dead leaves 300 400 Rotational speed of the drum is very slow (1 tr/min to 4
Fresh green grass tr/min) compared to the speed of the Electric Motor. This last
350 450
were chosen with a rotational speed (1500 tr/min) and to
Hay (dry grass) 120 180 reduce speed a gearbox are chosen by (ratio reduction r1 ,
Dry grass 180 250 efficiency  1 ) and a belt pulley system (ratio reduction r 2 ,
Dry restaurant waste 500 600 efficiency  2 ). Useful power of the electric motor Pu is
Wet restaurant waste (washing) 850 1000 obtained by function “(4)”, “(5)” and the total efficiency of
Horse manure (fresh) 150 220 the transmission system is determined by the following
Horse manure (old) equation:
400 500
 Pm Daily energy consumption is calculated according to the
Pu  (6) energy absorbed by the machine by equation “(6)”, where the
 1. 2
machine working 3 hours a day. The value of the absorbed
power equals 1kW considering two transmission system
c) Dimensioning of the V-belt pulley:
efficiency (  1  0.95 ,  2  0.95 ).
The V-belt pulleys are dimensioned according to standards
using the machine element dimensioning book [12]. The The monthly energy consumption by the machine:
axes of two pulleys are parallel, space limitations require that EC  30.3.Pu  90KWh
the center distance C is approximately (600mm) and the
III. RESULTST AND DISCUSION
pulleys are optimal. The driving diameter D m is set at a
The design and mechanical study was carried out by the
minimum value (65 mm) and the primitive diameter for the
laboratory team of Engineering, Industrial Management and
receiving pulley D r must be less than C Innovation “LIMII”. The realization is carried out in
(Dr  C  3 Dm  Dr . collaboration with the company Biodome and we are based
in this study on the telemanagement of the parameters of
Dm composting and we receive all the information from the
Reduce Ratio r 2 : r2  (7)
Dr composter to a smartphone and a computer via 4G and Wifi.
Design and realization of the machine shown in “fig. 3”.
To obtain dimensions of the pulley and the belt we must
determine the winding angle of the belt  and the length of We receive information about moisturize, temperature,
the belt Lc , the gross power P r , the net power transmitted airflow, drum rotation or stoppage, and we act by
telemanagement of on/off of the system, drum rotation,
by the belt P 'r , the effective power P ' and the number of rotation time and waiting time , water injectors in case of dry
belts n c : compost, air blowing and suction in case of excess moisture,
(Dm  Dr) action on heating activation . The following table illustrates
    sin 1 (rad ) (8) the parameters and the action to be taken for each situation
2C “Fig. 4”. Manual actions are limited in the feeding of the
 (D m D r)2 composter by carbon and nitrogenous waste. The
Lc  2C  (Dm  Dr)  (9) telemagement system of the machine allows managing all the
2 4C composting parameters in real time via an application
 c2  installed on a smartphone “fig. 5”.
P r  c1   c3(r.D m)2  c 4 log(r.D m)  r.D m
 Dm  (10)
 1 
c 2r 1  
 Ka 
P 'r  K1.K 2.P r (11)
Pu
P '  Ks. (12)
1
P'
nc  (13)
P 'r
Or c1 , c 2 , c3 and c 4 are constants that are a function of
the belt section and Ka is a constant depends on speed ratio
“(4)”, and r represents the rotational speed of small pulley
divided by 1000, K1 is a factor applied to the belt winding Figure. 3. Real composting machine
and 2 is a factor applied to the length, Ks is an overload
factor in use.
d) Reducer dimensioning :
Reducer with gear train with helicoidally teeth unit
reduces the rotational speed of the motor and increases the
force. The reduction ratio must be calculated according to the
reduction ratio of the belt pulleys and the overall ratio of the
drive system.
Nt
r1  (14)
r 2.N m
D. Determination of the energy consumption of the
machine:
The composting machine is characterized by the
dimensions of the rotary drum ( length 1500 mm, diameter
900 mm, thickness 3mm) and its mass (140 Kg).The mass of Figure. 4. Smart composting machine
organic waste is ( 217 Kg) and rotation speed (4tr / min).
 Figure. 5. Application interface in smartphone

The solutions described in the previous sections have

IV. CONCLUSION worked adequately, meeting the design specifications.
Prototype of the system, which is an advanced innovative
This document reports study, design and implementation solution for controlling and managing composting, has been
of a composting machine and a remote control designed to tested in a very positive way. Although there are
provide data to facilitate control of the composting process improvements to be made such as the addition of
and ensure the main composting parameters. The use of photovoltaic panels for power supply, we have reached a
telemanagement in composting reduces the composting time phase of marketing
in 4 weeks thus produce mature compost.
The remote management integration in the composting ACKNOWLEDGMENT
machine requires extremely robust equipment both
mechanical and electrical, who presented the following Research leading to the above results received funding from
design and implementation challenges from the mechanical the company BIODOME.
and electrical / electronic point of view. :(a) installation of
sensors in a rotary drum; (b) measurement of temperature,
humidity, NH3 rate, PH rate with sensors; (c) wireless
communications from the user application / to the machine.
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