Structural Stability Analysis of Medical Waste Sterilization Shredder

Abstract

Medical waste management is becoming increasingly important, specifically in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, as hospitals, clinics, quarantine centers, and medical research institutes are generating tons of medical waste every day. Previously, a traditional incineration process was utilized for managing medical waste, but the lack of landfill sites, and accompanying environmental concerns endanger public health. Consequently, an innovative sterilization shredding system was developed to resolve this problem. In this research, we focused on the design and numerical analysis of a shredding system for hazardous and infectious medical waste, to establish its operational performance. The shredding machine's components were modeled in a CAD application, and finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted using ABAQUS software. Static, fatigue, and dynamic loading conditions were used to analyze the structural stability of the cutting blade. The blade geometry proved to be effective based on the cutting force applied to shred medical waste. The dynamic stability of the structure was verified using modal analysis. Furthermore, an S-N curve was generated using a high cycle fatigue study, to predict the expected life of the cutting blade. Resultantly, an appropriate shredder system was devised to link with a sterilization unit, which could be beneficial in reducing the volume of medical waste and disposal time, thereof, thus eliminating environmental issues, and potential health hazards.

Topology Optimization and Fatigue Life Estimation of Sustainable Medical Waste Shredder Blade

“…Therefore, fatigue failure is also considered in this study because it is an important design consideration that ensures the durability of a mechanical structure. Recently, FE-SAFE is increasingly being used to estimate the Although various optimization approaches have been adopted by researchers to obtain optimal geometry of a structural component to reduce system weight and power consumption [10][11][12][13], the literature available on the design aspect of the shredder system is limited and only discusses the static and modal analysis [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Various structural topology optimization methods have been adopted by researchers to improve the material distribution of engineering structures [20][21][22][23].…”