Abstract:
This research project mainly focuses on the development of a floor tile space
grouting machine. The traditional method has lots of drawbacks and
challenges. The manual grouting process is labor-intensive and timeconsuming,
and it poses significant ergonomic risks to workers. Currently
using grouting machines also has some limitations and disadvantages. It
includes wastage of raw material because that machine applies the grout to
the total tile surface area, and ineffective time consumption to cleaning the
floor. Moreover, that machine needs a power resource to operate that
machine. So, it limits the area that can operate at one time. The main purpose
of this research project is to overcome those drawbacks and challenges. The
machine's design features a screw extruder mechanism. The force required to
extrude the grout mixture is determined by experimenting using a syringe
and a digital spring balance. After finding the force required to apply grout,
other design calculations were done. To assess the ergonomic risks of manual
grouting, REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) analysis is carried out and
it has shown that manual grouting is a higher risk level than using the
machine. When applying the grout for 1m in the manual method it takes 3 to
4 minutes. But using this machine it takes only 1.32 min. Therefore, it is
concluded that the developed grouting mechanism is less ergonomic risky
and is an efficient method of grouting the floor tiles. In terms of limitations,
this machine can‟t apply the grout to the corner tile spaces which are very
near to the walls. As well as this machine little bit heavy. In the future, this
machine can be developed to automate using a line follower robot. It will
help to reduce manpower usage and there can be a flexible nozzle to apply
the grout to the corner spaces.
