Improvement and evaluation of melamine pressing processes for particleboard in terms of mechanical and energy efficiency

This thesis aims to improve the mechanical and energy efficiency of a particleboard melamine coating (MKYL) production line (ORMA A.Ş. KT-4). The study focuses on three critical subsystems that cause high operational costs, unplanned downtime, and quality losses: the vacuum transport system, the press feeding cart's power transmission mechanism, and the quality control station lighting. As a methodology, current situation analysis, engineering calculations, and alternative system designs were applied to each system. The existing vacuum pump, which wasted energy through continuous operation, was replaced with five vacuum ejectors providing "on-demand" vacuum and requiring no maintenance. On the press cart, the frequently failing (785 min/year downtime) (20B-2) chain drive system, which caused synchronization problems, was modernized with a high-torque (LL HTD 14M) synchronous belt system selected via engineering calculations (Ft = 21 262 N). The inadequate (low Lux) and heterogeneous (274-885 lx) quality control lighting (Metal Halide 840W) was optimized with a homogeneous LED system (14x50W=700W) that meets quality standards (4000K CCT, ≥90 CRI). Concrete and measurable gains were achieved as a result of the improvements. The vacuum system achieved annual energy and maintenance savings of €813.06 (43.9%), with a return on investment (ROI) of 11.8 months. For the press cart, an annual material cost of €2 500 and 785 minutes of unplanned downtime were completely eliminated, the ROI for the €11 390 investment was calculated at 4.56 years (based on material cost alone). The lighting revision reduced the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), decreased energy costs (from €640.2 to €533.5), and standardized the quality control process, thereby preventing costs of non-quality.