Natural Rubber Sheet Cleaning Machinery

Ribbed Smoked Sheet Cleaning Machine

A major portion of smallholders sheet rubber is of very poor quality, due to incomplete drying, mould growth and a lot of surface contamination. These problems could be overcome at least partially if such sheets are properly cleaned even after drying. The manual method of cleaning is laborious and costly. Hence, a mechanical device for cleaning of low quality sheet rubber is developed.

The machine consists of a set of cast iron/mild steel rolls having a specific design and which run at an rpm of 90, a set of brush rolls with 300 rpm and a third set of rolls (brush) of 360 rpm, arranged in a row. The length of each roll is 70 cm. The brushes are made of nylon bristles of 2.5 cm in length and are fixed on a PVC/nylon roll which has a steel shaft at its core. The sheets are first fed to the cast iron rolls and as they come out they are pulled by the first set of brush rolls under a forced spray of water which is applied on the sheet from the bottom and top sides. This semi-cleaned sheet passes through the second set of brush rolls under the same conditions as in the previous case. For easy movement of the sheets, rolls are arranged in a slanting manner. There are two motors, each of 2HP. One motor drives all the bottom rolls whereas the other one drives all the upper rolls.

Rolls are arranged on mild steel framework which is provided with stainless steel/aluminium feeding and receiving trays. Aluminium plates are also provided between each set of rolls to prevent the sheets from falling down. The top rolls have an upper and lower movement facility to accommodate sheets of different thickness. This machine can clean dry sheets after soaking in water which will upgrade the quality of sheets on drying. The sheet is stretched due to the speed difference and brushed well when it passes through the rolls. Cleaning of both the surfaces of the sheets takes only two to three seconds, leading to an output of 20 to 30 sheets per minute depending on the setting of the rolls and size of sheets.