Mech_Eng

Trinidad Aggregate Products(TAP), is a enterprise situated in Longdenville, Chaguanas Trinidad. It was established in 1976, and is today one of the leading producers of clay products in the region. The company manufactures and markets several products such as holloclay building blocks, decorative/ventilation blocks, bricks and many others. The raw material the plant uses is mined from the back of the plant, processed and then fed through a die to make the blocks. TAP received certification in 1998 by the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standard by maintaining quality production in accordance to ISO9002, which was upgraded to ISO9001 in 2003. The logistics of the company is very simple and effective. The main raw material they collect and use is clay, which is collected from a maximum of twenty feet below the surface of the earth, as stipulated by the E.M.A. Tests are performed before extraction to know the exact location of different types of material below surface which saves the company time and money. When the raw material is brought to the warehouse where they are stored on the plant, they are organized in terms of relevance to the company by their different shades which represent different quality of raw material. For instance, a red shade indicates high iron content, a brown shade is referred to as grey, and black clay indicates eighty-five to ninety-five percent clay content, which is very rare. These are then mixed with sand to improve the quality further, and the mixture is then used to produce the bricks of the factory. PICTURE SHOWING COLLECTION OF RAW MATERIALS AT T.A.P. Trinidad Aggregate Products uses one hundred percent electrical energy to supply their daily demands, however they store diesel trucks outside the building to power the generator in the evident of an emergency or power failure. The heat used to produce and store the blocks, however, is generated using natural gas, accessed through a direct line from the National Gas Company (N.G.C.). On average, the electrical bill for the company can be up to $150,000 per month. This Longdenville company uses several high-tech and low-tech equipment. One of the main machines that is seen throughout the plant, is rubber conveyor belts, which are lubricated using diesel. These are used to transport the bricks around the plant, which increases the production. The belts are vital to the primary operations of the plant, as it transports the raw substances through the wet pan firstly, which is used for primary crushing. This instrument is used to mix the material. The conveyor belt is also used to transport the mixture from the wet pan to the secondary crusher, and then further on to the tertiary. Augers are large pieces of equipment which contain a vacuum. This vacuum causes the clay to stick together and make for better quality bricks. Box feeders lead the compound through extruders, which are transported by the conveyor belt, to two cutters, a framatic cutter, which is mechanical operational and a numatic cutter, which requires very little maintenance. These cutters creates bricks of identical dimensions using 18 gauge steel wire. At this point, quality assurance is ensured by taking measurements at random. If the quality of the product is below standard, it is removed from the belt, and the material is recycled. Also, throughout this stage in the manufacturing process, metal detectors are strategically positioned, to ensure no metal is in the mixture being used to create the brick. An alarm sound if a piece of metal is detected, the conveyor belt will stop, and a workman would manually remove it. PICTURE SHOWING THE FRAMATIC CUTTER AT T.A.P. At TAP, some products are also taken into the Inspection procedure lab at random at this point. Every two weeks a comparison test is done on the products being manufactured. Random sampling is done for height, weight and push at specific times. Several other tests are also performed in this lab, including; water absorption test, since the bricks must have a certain retention level, HCl test for limestone contamination(which is the only chemical test) and moist testing, which ensures the bricks are not too moist, or they will shatter. Once the bricks pass inspection, they are fired using the heat generated by the natural gas. This process takes 24 hours in a tunnel kiln. There are three main zones to this area, the preheat zone, firing zone and cooling zone. The kiln runs for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no maintenance, which is extremely efficient and maximizes production. If the tunnel is shut off, the inside will begin to cool, the roof would contract and collapse. To prevent this heat from spreading to the rest of the plant, stones are placed strategically around the walls of the tunnel as insulation. A machine known as a car is used to move the bricks through a firing zone, through which they are taken to primary storage at one hundred degrees Celsius. The cars then remove the finished products from the kiln to an exposed area, where fans are used to cool them.