Project Overview
Summary
Over the last 20 years, the problem of grain bin entrapment and engulfment has arisen. Farmers entering a grain bin with no knowledge of what lies below the surface, and no safety harness, leave room for uncertainty and risk. Roughly 50 percent of reported grain engulfment cases that occur in the United States are fatal, with the total annual cases on the rise. Small family farms that have few safety measures in place need a solution that is both affordable and reliable.
This product should allow for easy installation of the safety device by one to two people, allow the farmer to have 6 degrees of freedom while not causing the mechanism to lock prematurely, and should be compatible with grain bins from all manufacturers. The proposed solution is a safety device that will mount on the fill hole of the grain bin and consist of an automatic lock. The automatic lock must engage in the event of a grain bridging collapse, Any individual in the bin will be connected to the safety device by a full body harness.
For this solution to be successful, the locking mechanisms must engage 99% of the time before an individual’s knees are below the surface of the grain, and the device should never allow an individual’s waist below the surface of the grain. This ensures that an individual can free themselves from the grain.
Farmers enter grain bins to repair broken equipment and monitor stored grain. In 2019, 38 entrapments were reported, with 56 percent of cases resulting in death, a number that has been on the rise in recent years. Figure 1, from the University of Purdue, shows the amount of reported grain bin engulfment's from 2007 to 2015. On average, there were approximately 16 fatal cases per year over this time period.
Figure 1 - Grain Engulfment Cases
Figure 2 - Grain Engulfment from a Running Auger
Figure 3 - Grain Engulfment due to a Bridging Failure
Figure 2 illustrates how grain engulfment occurs from a running auger. The grain in a bin is emptied from the bottom which causes the top surface of the grain to act like quicksand. For an individual in the bin, there is only five seconds to react before they will no longer be able to free themselves and they can become completely engulfed in 11 seconds.
Figure 3 illustrates how grain engulfment occurs from a bridging failure. When grain is stored without being properly dried, it can mold and clump together. If the bin has been partially emptied, an invisible cavern can form under the moldy layer of grain. If stepped on, this "bridge" can collapse, resulting in the individual falling, and the grain burying them alive.
For further explanation, reference the design report page for the full extent of our findings.