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Development of an automated mechanical lift for material handling purposes

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 African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and
Development

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Development of an automated mechanical lift for

material handling purposes

Peter Kayode Farayibi , Taiwo Ebenezer Abioye & Olagoke Zephaniah Ayodeji

To cite this article: Peter Kayode Farayibi , Taiwo Ebenezer Abioye & Olagoke Zephaniah
Ayodeji (2020): Development of an automated mechanical lift for material handling
purposes, African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, DOI:
10.1080/20421338.2020.1765478

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African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 2020
https://doi.org/10.1080/20421338.2020.1765478
© 2020 African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development

Development of an automated mechanical lift for material handling purposes

1,3*
Peter Kayode Farayibi , Taiwo Ebenezer Abioye1 and Olagoke Zephaniah Ayodeji2
1
Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria
3
Lehrstuhl für Neue Fertigungstechnologien und Werkstoffe, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Solingen, Germany
*Corresponding author. Email: pkfarayibi@futa.edu.ng, peterkinjoe105@gmail.com

In this paper, the development of an automated mechanical lift for material handling purposes in a manufacturing
environment was carried out and reported. The lift was designed for a rated load capacity of 10 kg which required a 1-
hp electric motor. The power transmission was achieved using belt-pulley, worm gear and chain-sprocket mechanisms;
and the system automation was achieved using contactors and limit switches. The performance evaluation of the system
revealed that the relationship between the time required to raise and to return loads within a range of 5–15 kg through a
distance of 1070 mm followed a third-order polynomial with high correlation coefficients of 0.996 and 0.998
respectively. The trend polynomial curve that characterized the lifting behaviour was found to have three regions. The
first region had a slope of 0.25 sec/kg which decreased gradually to near zero, the second region had a near-zero slope
over a load range of 7–10.60 kg and a consistent travel time of about 5.67 ± 0.03 sec, and the third region had a slope
which increased from near zero to 0.64 sec/kg. The automated mechanical lift developed could successfully carry out
the vertical displacement of materials, hence fulfilling the design purpose.

Keywords: material handling, mechanical lift, industrial automation, relay, limit switches

Introduction have a cost-effective and efficient material handling

In a manufacturing environment, it may be impossible to
handle all the aspects of production manually, especially
when the volume of products to be manufactured to
meet customers’ demand is large. It is noteworthy that
many enterprises have gone out of business due to the
lack of an efficient material handling system and compa-
nies with improved material handling equipment stay
ahead of competitors, even if they all use similar pro-
duction facilities (Mulcahy 1999). Moreover, the convey-
ance of materials from one place to another within
manufacturing facilities could be time-consuming, costly
and difficult as the materials in transit could be damaged
or lost. Therefore, to be in control of the location of
materials within the production environment, it is vital
that material handling equipment is installed to enhance
the consistent flow of materials from the point of material
receipt through the production processes to the storage and
dispatch point (Altamuro and Marburg 2010). This would
invariably be much faster than if such processes were done
manually. Therefore, an effective material handling
system would give manufacturers a competitive advantage
in terms of reduced delivery time. Thus, an effective
material handling system can be defined as the process
of safe and timely loading, transporting and unloading of
materials which can be economically achieved through
the use of different types of mechanical gadgets and equip-
ment (Ray 2007). This would promote just-in-time
material supply and decrease in work-in-progress inven-
tory with little or no human interference (Sanchez and
Perez 2001).
Though material handling equipment may be con-
sidered as essential, non-value-added manufacturing
elements which add to the cost of the product, its introduc-
tion into the production environment enhances production
efficiency by reducing excess work content associated
with poor utilization of time (Kay 2012). However, to
system in a manufacturing environment, the equipment
must be considered as a cost to be minimized and must
be designed to meet the requirements of production (Chit-
tratanawat and Noble 1999). These requirements may
include efficient and safe movement of materials to the
desired place, timely movement of the materials when
needed, a supply of materials at the desired rate, storing
of materials utilizing minimum space and the lowest cost
solution to the material handling activities (Kulwiec
1987; Tompkins et al. 1996). Knowing that the rec-
ommended maximum weight for manual lifting to avoid
back injuries is 23.10 kg (51 pounds), there must be an
ergonomic consideration for human capabilities and limit-
ations when designing the material handling systems to
guarantee safe and effective operations (Hassan 2010;
Kay 2012; Robielos, Sambua, and Fernandez 2018).
Work-related musculoskeletal back pain disability associ-
ated with lifting has been noted to pose a big threat to
many industries and the use of mechanical lifting
devices is promising to reduce such injuries (Byrns et al.
2004; Lee et al. 2013). Another important consideration
to take into account when designing a material handling
system is that the system should be automated to
enhance operational efficiency and consistency, increase
sensitivity, and eliminate monotonous and unsafe
manual labour (Brodie 2005). Thus, a well-designed
material handling system helps to improve production effi-
ciency, cut down indirect labour cost, reduce material
damage during movement and storage, minimize accidents
during material handling, maximize space utilization and
improve customer services by conveniently supplying
materials.
There are five (5) main categories of material handling
equipment, which include transport equipment, position-
ing equipment, unit load formation equipment, storage
equipment and identification and control equipment

African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development is co-published by NISC Pty (Ltd) and Informa Limited (trading as Taylor & Francis Group)
2 Farayibi, Abioye and Ayodeji
(Kay 2012). They serve different functions to improve
productivity. Local development of material handling
equipment should be encouraged rather than depending
on imported equipment (Farayibi and Abioye 2017).
Tadasse and Meshesha (2017) developed a portable
crane using a hydraulic system to lift heavy loads with a
small force, which was able to lift a load of 3 tons to a ver-
tical height of 2.96 m by power generated from a 3 kW
electric motor. Adeoye, Aderoba, and Oladapo (2017)
evaluated a method of designing hydraulic lifting equip-
ment and noted that the lift experienced a steady move-
ment after a 0.6 s maximum time limit without any
irregular pressure using flow control and a pressure
relief valves. Kolekar and Gawade (2014) designed and
developed a lift for an automatic car parking system to
solve the challenges of parking space in metropolitan
cities and the development system achieved its intended
purpose. In a similar study, da Costa et al. (2017) devel-
oped a parking duplicator mechanical lifting device for
cars using a pulley system, which made it possible to lift
a weight of 2000 kg using a 3-hp motor with the stress
analysis and design optimization reported (Costa and
Victorino 2019).
In previous studies, different means have been
employed to achieve the lifting of components from one
height to another. However, the traction method of
lifting has been considered cost-effective for various ver-
tical displacement applications when compared to hydrau-
lic lifts (Kolekar and Gawade 2014). In this paper, the
conceptual design and development of a low cost, 100
N, mechanical lift with vertical load displacement of
1000 mm, as a laboratory-scale model, for vertical trans-
portation of materials in a manufacturing environment is
reported. The traction lift was designed for repetitive
tasks requiring upward and downward displacement of
light-weighted materials such as arranging of shelves in
a manufacturing environment and engineering workshops.
The operation of the lift was automated using a single-
phase electric motor, relay/contactor and limit switches.
Figure 1. Isometric view of the automated mechanical lift with the parts list.
Having such a lift would help to reduce the monotonous
manual lifting operation where vertical transportation of
materials is required from one height to another.
Methodology
In this study, the locally developed mechanical lift is
limited to carrying loads less than or equal to 10 kg and
for a vertical travel distance of 1000 mm. The design
and fabrication of the automated mechanical lift were
based on various considerations, such as simplicity, size
and weight of materials to be lifted, operational efficiency
of the system, vertical travel distance limit, availability of
materials to be used for its construction and cost of the
materials (Farayibi, Ojo, and Caleb 2019).
Figure 1 shows the isometric view of the automated
mechanical lift with the parts list. The main components
of the lift system include the cabin which serves as the
container for the material to be lifted, a single-phase elec-
tric motor which serves as the prime mover, a belt and
pulley system to transfer the motion from the electric
motor to a gearing system, a gearing system consisting
of a worm gear and a spur gear for power and motion
transmission, five sprockets and a chain system for
motion transfer, a counterweight to maintain the traction
between the chain and sprocket system, a relay/contactor
to control when to energize or de-energize the electric
motor, limit switches to cut off the power supply to the
electric motor through the relay system, and guided rails
for the cabin and the counterweight assembly.
Component design analysis
The development of the mechanical lift was preceded by
the design analyses of the various components and subsys-
tems that it comprised. The lift was designed to meet the
desired target of lifting a maximum load of 10 kg. Thus,
the analyses comprised the design and relationship
between the various parts of the mechanical lift which
include the cabin, counterweight, chain and sprocket,
worm gear, shaft design, belt and pulley system and,
 African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development 3

finally, the selection of a suitable electric motor to lift the and (Fv)cw, can be expressed as:
maximum load.


FV : mca .g − 2T3 cos u = mca .aca (2)
Cabin design ca
The cabin is box-like, and made of mild steel with a thick-
ness of 2 mm. The weight of the cabin with the rated load 

FV : mcw .g − 2T1 − 2T2 cos g = mcw .acw (3)
is determined by: cw

Wca = (mc + Lr .)g = mca .g (1) where aca and acw are the acceleration of the cabin and the
counterweight, respectively in m/s2, and T1, T2, and T3 are
where: mc is the mass of the cabin only which is 1.96 kg, the tensions (N) in the chain at different sections as shown
Lr is the rated load capacity designed for 10 kg, Wca is the in Figure 2.
weight of cabin with the rated load, mca is the mass of the The balanced equation for the tensions T1, T2, and T3
cabin with the rated load (11.96 kg) and g is the accelera- can be expressed as:
tion due to gravity taken as 9.81 m/s2.
T2 cos g = T3 cos u (4)
Counterweight design
The function of the counterweight is to sustain power
transmission between the chains and the driving sprocket. T2 sin g = T3 sin u (5)
The design of the counterweight was also incorporated 120 2
in the work of Kolekar and Gawade (2014) for   ΔABC in Figure 2; sin u = 300 = 5,
From triangle
steady power transmission. It is thus important to de 2
[u = sin−1 = 23.6o
sign the counterweight of mass, mcw, for the load-carrying 5
 √
capacity of the automated mechanical lift by analyzing the
forces acting on the components of the system as shown in 21
cos u = 1 − sin2 u = (6)
Figure 2 To analyze the system, it is assumed that the 5
sprockets are frictionless and their weights negligible,
the chain is of negligible weight and inextensible so that Substituting γ = 45o and equation (6) into equation (5), and
the tension in it remains the same throughout the duration 2
making the T2 the subject: T2 sin 45o = T3
of the operation. Weight and tension in the chain are the 5
only relevant forces. √
According to Newton’s second law of motion, 2 2
T2 = T3 (7)
balanced equation of forces expected to act on the cabin 5
and on the counterweight in the vertical direction, (Fv)ca

Figure 2: Schematic diagram of the mechanical system of the lift.

4 Farayibi, Abioye and Ayodeji

Determining T1 as a function of T3: where p is the pitch of the chain and NT is the number of teeth
of the sprocket. The pitch circle diameter for the 18- and 22-
2 tooth sprockets were obtained to be 73.14 and 89.24 mm,
T1 = T2 cos g = T2 cos 45o = T3 (8)
5 respectively; thus, 75 and 90 mm were selected as sprocket
diameters. The intention was that the sprocket with 22 teeth
Thus, rewriting equation (3) and making the mass of coun- should run at 256 rpm; thus, the velocity of the sprocket,
terweight mcw, the subject: vsp, was obtained from:
   √ 
2 2 2 pDsp N
mcw .g − 2 T3 − 2 T3 cos 45o = mcw .acw vsp = (14)
5 5 60
4 4
mcw .g − T3 − T3 = mcw .acw where N is the number of revolutions per minute (rpm) of the
5 5 sprocket. The velocity of the sprocket with 22 teeth was
8 obtained to be 1.21 m/s. Thus, the speed of the 18-tooth
mcw .(g − acw ) = T3
5 sprocket was also obtained as 312.89 rpm using:
1.6T3
[mcw = N22T TSS
(g − acw ) = (15)
N18T TBS
(9)
Substituting equation (6) into equation (2):
where N22T is the speed of the 22-tooth sprocket, N18T is the
√ speed of the 18-tooth sprocket, TSS is the number of teeth on
21
mca .g − 2T3 = mca .aca the smaller sprocket and TBS is the number of teeth on the
5
√ bigger sprocket. Substituting the radius and rpm of the
2 21 (10) sprocket with 22 teeth into equation (12), the acceleration
mca .(g − aca ) = T3 of the cabin with the rated load was obtained as 32.35 m/s2
5
5mca .(g − aca ) which is the same as the acceleration of the counterweight.
T3 = √ With acceleration due to gravity taken as 9.81 m/s2,
2 21 substituting this with other acceleration values into
equation (11), the expression for the mass of the counter-
Substituting equation (10) into equation (9), the mass of
weight, mcw, is reduced to:
the counterweight can be expressed as:
  4mca
4mca g − aca mcw = √ (16)
mcw = √ (11) 21
21 g − acw
Since the mass of the cabin with the rated load, mca, is
Having determined an expression for the mass of the coun- 11.96 kg, then from equation (16), the mass of the coun-
terweight as a function of the mass of the cabin with the terweight was determined as 10.44 kg. This value
rated load, acceleration of the cabin, acceleration of the agreed with the value obtained from an established
counterweight and acceleration due to gravity, the value equation to determine the required mass of the counter-
of the counterweight mass can be determined by evaluat- weight to create balancing, which is the summation of
ing the values of the unknown accelerations. the rated load capacity and 40% of the mass of the
cabin only (Abdulmalik et al. 2014). This amounted to
10.79 kg which is similar to the value obtained using
Chain-sprocket design
equation (16).
In order for the acceleration of the cabin and the counter-
weight to be similar, the size of the sprockets attached to
them, as well as the driver sprocket, were the same in terms
of the number of teeth (22-tooth sprocket) and radius, r, thus: Worm gear design
Since the gear was to be axially mounted on a straight
  shaft with one of the bigger sprockets acting as the
2pN 2
aca = acw =v r=
2
r (12) driving sprocket (22-tooth sprocket), and it was intended
60 to run at an angular speed of 256 rpm, and taking the vel-
ocity ratio, VR, of the worm gear to be 5, the speed of the
where ω is the angular velocity in rad/s. The idle sprockets worm gear was evaluated to be 1280 rpm using:
were selected to have 18 teeth, and the chain selected is a
O8B ISO chain with pitch, p, of 12.70 mm and a roller diam- NW
eter of 8.51 mm, based on the speed of the smaller sprocket. VR = (17)
N22T
The pitch circle diameter of the sprockets, Dsp, was deter-
mined using: where VR is the velocity ratio of the worm gear, NW is the
  speed of the worm gear in rpm and N22T is the speed of the
180 22-tooth sprocket in rpm. Thus, the number of teeth on the
Dsp = p. cos ec (13)
NT worm gear was determined to be 30, taking the number of
 African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development 5

threads on the worm to be 6 using: respectively need to be determined:

r2 + r 1
TG sin a = (22)
VR = (18) 2
n
u = 180 − 2(a) (23)
where TG is the number of teeth on the worm gear and n is  
the number of threads on worm. TB1
2.3 log = mu. cos ecb (24)
TB2

TB1 = 9.71TB2 (25)

Shaft design
In order to determine the diameter of the driven pulley, Taking the weight per unit length of belt as 1.06 N/m
taking the motor pulley diameter to be 60 mm and speed (mass per unit length is 0.11 kg/m), the centrifugal tension
to be 1440 rpm, the speed ratio is given as: in the belt, Tc, was evaluated as 2.21 N using:

NMP dW Tc = mv2 (26)

= (19)
NW dMP
where NMP is the speed of the motor pulley, NW is the
speed of the worm gear, which is 1280 rpm (equation
17), dW is the diameter of the driven pulley on the shaft
with worm, and dMP is the diameter of the motor pulley.
The driven pulley diameter was evaluated to be
67.50 mm. From the Table of Standard V-belt, according
to IS:2494-1974 (Khurmi and Gupta 2004), and for the
purpose of interchangeability, a pulley with a diameter
63 mm was selected and used.
where m is the mass per unit length of belt and v is the per-
ipheral velocity of the belt on the motor pulley. The cross-
sectional area, a, of the selected belt is 82 mm2 and the
allowable stress in the belt, σ, is 2.1 MPa; thus, the
maximum tension in belt, Tmax, was determined as
172.20 N using:
Tmax = sa (27)
The tension in the tight side, TB1, is obtained as 169.99 N
using:

TB1 = Tmax –Tc (28)

Design of belt-pulley system
The intended centre-to-centre distance between pulleys
was 632 mm and, according to Khurmi and Gupta
(2004), the pitch length, Lp, of the belt required is obtained
as 1650.40 mm using:
Using equation (25), the tension, TB2, in the slack side of
the belt-pulley system, was evaluated as 17.51 N.
Therefore, according to Farayibi (2017), the power
transmitted, P, by the belt was evaluated to be 646.37 W
using:

r − r 2 P = (TB1 –TB2 )v (29)

2 1
LP = p(r2 + r1 ) + 2x + (20)
x
Thus, a 1-hp single phase induction electric motor was
selected to power the mechanical lift.
where r1 and r2 are the radii of the pulleys, and x is the dis-
tance between the centres of the pulleys. However, accord-
ing to IS: 2494-1974, the nearest and selected pitch length Material selection
of the V-belt is 1641 mm. The materials used for the construction of the mechanical
lift were selected based on various considerations, includ-
ing material properties, availability, cost and the environ-
mental conditions under which the mechanical lift would
Electric motor power design be used. Table 1 presents the details of materials selected
The peripheral velocity, v, of the belt on the motor pulley for various components of the lift.
and on the driven pulley were evaluated as 4.52 and
4.22 m/s, respectively using: Automation using motor controller
Figure 3 shows the automation architecture of the mechan-
ical lift, which allows for a clockwise and counter-clock-
pdN
v= (21) wise rotation of the electric motor to achieve upward
60 and downward movement of the lift cabin. The automation
system consists of limit switches, contactor, electric motor
where v is the peripheral velocity, d is the diameter of the and a toggle switch for upward and downward movement
pulley, and N is the speed of the pulley in rpm. of the lift cabin. The single-phase split induction motor has
In order to determine the power transmitted by the belt, two stator windings: the main winding connected to the
the tensions TB1 and TB2 in the tight and slack sides, alternating current mains and the auxiliary or starter
6 Farayibi, Abioye and Ayodeji
Table 1: List of materials selected for lift construction.
S/N Component Material used
1 Cabin Mild steel
2 Counterweight Concrete
3 Shaft Mild steel
4 Body frame Mild steel
5 Pulley Mild steel
6 Belt Synthetic rubber
7 Sprocket Mild steel
8 Roller chain Mild steel
9 Gear Mild steel
Figure 3: Automation architecture of the mechanical lift.
winding which is connected in series with a capacitor.
When the windings are energized, the starting coil initiates
the rotation of the rotor in the clockwise direction as a fluc-
tuating magnetic field is generated by the main winding.
However, to achieve rotation in the reverse direction,
the main winding was connected in series with the capaci-
tor while the starter winding was supplied with the alter-
nating current and acted as the main winding. The
contactor made the reversal of the current supply to the
electric motor possible. The contactor acted as a relay
and was designed with normally close and normally
open contacts, which when energized created an electro-
magnetic field to attract the moving core of the contactor.
The lift cabin was allowed to move into two fixed pos-
itions (upper and lower bounds) with a distance of
1070 mm apart. To achieve movement restricted within
the bounds, limit switches were installed on the guide
rail. As soon as the push button on the limit switch is
pressed by the body of the lift cabin, the switch becomes
open and the power supply to the electric motor is
Selection consideration
Good strength and weldability, readily available, cheap
High density, easy to make, cheap
Good torsional strength, readily available, cheap
Good strength and weldability, readily available, cheap
Good strength, readily available, cheap
Good shear strength, readily available, cheap
Good strength, readily available, cheap
Good strength, readily available, cheap
Good strength, readily available, cheap
automatically cut off, even if the toggle switch is pushed
for the electric motor to continue the motion in that
direction.
Performance evaluation
The performance evaluation of the mechanical lift was
carried out by making the lift carry a number of variable
loads and the time taken for the lift cabin with a load to
reach a maximum height of 1070 mm and to return to
zero level was recorded. Four (4) time readings were
taken and their average was computed with standard error.
Results and discussion
Figure 4 shows the developed mechanical lift which was
being tested to ensure it can perform the function of
lifting and returning a load from different heights as pro-
posed. The travel times at different load capacities were
recorded and plotted as shown in Figure 5. In all cases,
the value of standard error was less than 0.02. Having
plotted the data, a third-order polynomial equation best
 African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development 7

Figure 4: The developed mechanical lift during performance evaluation.

Figure 5: Lifting behaviour of the automated mechanical elevator with respect to time.

described the behaviour of the mechanical lift as it elevates
different loads with a coefficient of determination R2 of
0.99 and a regression coefficient R of 0.99. Three
regions were observed on the trend line which described
the behaviour of the mechanical lift that was used to
convey different loads vertically to evaluate its perform-
ance. In the region labelled A, it was observed that the
slope of the curve decreases to zero from a maximum of
about 0.25 sec travel time per unit kg load lifted within a
range of 5–7 kg load. A near-inflexion region was labelled
as region B which ranged across a lifted load of 7–
10.60 kg. In this region B, the slope is near or equal
zero indicating that the travel time for the cabin with the
load ranging between 7 and 10.60 kg may be considered
invariant as the load lifted varies within the range. The
mean time to lift the load within this range was found to
be 5.67 ± 0.03sec. However, as the load lifted exceeded
10.60 kg, the slope of the trend line began to increase
rapidly from zero to a maximum of about 0.64 sec/kg.
The behaviour of the mechanical lift in region A may be
8 Farayibi, Abioye and Ayodeji
attributed to the weight of the load lifted, frictional forces
at the contacts between meshed gears, and the inertia
forces of the rotating bodies as well as the cabin weight
to overcome. Kolekar and Gawade (2014) considered a
similar stopping accuracy-test evaluation of a lift designed
for an automatic car parking system. The evaluation was
based on the lifting behaviour of the system under load
and no-load conditions, and an assessment was made on
the accuracy of the achieved displacement rather than
time used in this system. In their study, based on all con-
ditions tested for, the accuracy of displacement was eval-
uated to be ± 2 mm. However, in this study, as the load to
be lifted increased, the time for the cabin with the load to
reach the maximum height began to increase, but the
change in time to change in load lifted began to rapidly
approach zero, and a steady-state was achieved as the
load lifted exceeded 7 kg. In region B, the travel time
required to lift a load within a range of 7–10.60 kg
became consistent. This may be attributed to a balance
between the lifting force and the summation of all the reac-
tion forces. As the load exceeds 10.60 kg, the effect of
increasing load began to show as the time required for
the lifting force to overcome the total reaction forces
began to increase exponentially. It is noteworthy that the
dynamic frictional force increased as the load to be lifted
increased, thus making the resultant force required to lift
the load to increase. Also, the tensile force in the chain
increased as the angle of inclination of the chain to the ver-
tical increased, thus increasing the resultant pull. This was
expected to result in the reduction of speed as torque
increased to maintain the power output of the electric
motor.
The ‘returning down’ behaviour of the mechanical ele-
vator was found to be similar to that of the ‘lifting’ as a
third-order polynomial equation best described the trend
of the behaviour. This behaviour is in agreement with
the work of Kolekar and Gawade (2014) as lifting with
load and no-load have similar displacement accuracy. In
all cases, the time taken to return the load from the
maximum height of 1070 mm to zero levels was found
to drop below that which was required to raise the same
load. This is attributed to the effect of acceleration due
to gravity which adds up to the downward acceleration
produced by the driving force of the single-phase induc-
tion motor. The overall behaviour may as well be attribu-
ted to the torque-speed characteristics of the single split-
phase induction motor used to power the mechanical
system, in which the speed decreases as the load required
to be lifted is increasing (Theraja and Theraja 2008).
Conclusion
The development of the mechanical lift for material hand-
ling purposes was accomplished. The lift was designed to
raise a load of 10 kg using a 1-hp electric motor to act as
the prime mover and a counterweight of mass 10.80 kg to
maintain power transmission. The transmission of motion
and power was achieved using a chain-sprocket mechan-
ism and the system automation was achieved using contac-
tors and limit switches. However, further work is possible
by scaling up the design for real-life industrial application
and possibly using the programmable logic circuit,
actuators and sensors for the automatic and control of
the system. The performance evaluation indicated that
system behaviour in terms of the time required to raise
and return the load through a distance of 1070 mm fol-
lowed third order polynomials with high correlation
values of 0.996 for lifting load and 0.998 for load return-
ing. Three regions were identified on the curve that charac-
terized the lifting behaviour of the lift: region A had a
slope of about 0.25 sec/kg, region B had a near-zero
slope, and region C had a slope of about 0.64 sec/kg. In
region B, a load range of 7–10.60 kg was found to
require a consistent travel time of about 5.67 sec. The
load return travel time was found to be lower than that
required to raise the same load which is attributed to the
effect of gravity. The mechanical lift developed can be
successfully applied for continuous and repetitive lifting
and lowering of light-weighted parts and items to be
arranged on shelves in warehouses.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
ORCID
Peter Kayode Farayibi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-
7505-2492
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