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 traditionalincineration process was utilized for managing medical waste, but the lack of landfill sites, and accompanying environmental concernsendanger public health. Consequently, an innovative sterilization shredding system was developed to resolve this problem. In this research, wefocused on the design and numerical analysis of a shredding system for hazardous and infectious medical waste, to establish its operationalperformance. The shredding machine's components were modeled in a CAD application, and finite element analysis (FEA) was conductedusing ABAQUS software. Static, fatigue, and dynamic loading conditions were used to analyze the structural stability of the cutting blade. Theblade geometry proved to be effective based on the cutting force applied to shred medical waste. The dynamic stability of the structure wasverified using modal analysis. Furthermore, an S-N curve was generated using a high cycle fatigue study, to predict the expected life of thecutting blade. Resultantly, an appropriate shredder system was devised to link with a sterilization unit, which could be beneficial in reducingthe volume of medical waste and disposal time, thereof, thus eliminating environmental issues, and potential health hazards.