See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/364118184

Design and Prototype Development of Portable Trash Collector Boat for Small
Stream Application

Article in International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering · August 2019
DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.I8291.0881019

CITATIONS READS

9 2,818

3 authors, including:

Sharifah Hanis Yasmin Sayid Abdullah Azizah Endut

Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin | UniSZA Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin | UniSZA
20 PUBLICATIONS 552 CITATIONS 77 PUBLICATIONS 2,406 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Sharifah Hanis Yasmin Sayid Abdullah on 11 May 2023.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE)
ISSN: 2278-3075, Volume-8 Issue-10, August 2019

Design and Prototype Development of Portable

Trash Collector Boat for Small Stream
Application
S.H.Y.S. Abdullah, M.A.A Mohd Azizudin, A. Endut
 malaria and typhoid [6]. Hence, to overcome this situation a
Abstract: Commercially available trash collector boats are often trash collecting system for surface water was developed for
designed in large size to cater to the high trash loading for surface the rejuvenation of water bodies.
water cleaning purpose. On the other hand, for small streams and Trash collector boat has been widely used for cleaning
drainage, the manual cleaning method is often used. This
purposes of the water bodies. There are quite a number of
situation is undesirable since it can lead to health problem and
diseases to the operator due to the number of impurities present in commercially available collector boat including rubbish
the water. This paper highlights a proposed design of a trash collecting system [7], Buddy [8], Water Witch [9], Cataglop
collecting boat for cleaning purposes in small area applications [10] and Trash Hunter [11]. Most of them are designed and
such as lakes, small streams and drainage. The trash collector equipped with several functions such as scrapper and
boat is designed to be a small and automated boat capable of hydrocarbon separator to efficiently remove waste materials
collecting floating solids off the water surface and store them and floating solids in the waterways. However, the current
temporarily. The trash will be manually collected at the end of the design of trash collector boats is mostly focused on large area
operation. The design methodology has been accomplished using
application such as river and sea [12]. The commercially
engineering design method to propose a suitable design of
portable trash collector boat based on commercially available available design of a trash collector boat requires a high
design. With the aid of Autodesk Inventor 2009, a 3D manpower to operate the system [13]. On top of that, the large
representation of the trash collector boat was generated to size of the trash collector boat makes it impossible to be used
visualize all the details regarding the trash collector boat. System in cleaning small areas such as small streams and drainage
fabrication will be conducted using appropriate material to ensure [14]. Manual cleaning by hand is not an appropriate measure
the efficiency of trash collector boat. Testing and analysis were due to high impurities content in water bodies that may be
conducted to evaluate the system performance, monitoring unit hazardous and harmful to the operator [15].
performance and loading capacity of the portable trash collector
Therefore, as a solution to this problem, a smaller size of
boat. The results found that the collector boat is capable of
handling a maximum trash load of 6 kg in a single operation. trash collector boat has been designed to collect waste and
floating solid from a narrow and small area such as small
Index Terms: Prototype design; Surface water; Trash collector streams and drainage system. The trash collector boat was
boat; Waste management designed with an automatic conveyor system to collect the
floating solids and can be remotely controlled from a distance.
I. INTRODUCTION The prototype is also portable, user-friendly and
environmentally friendly.
Water surfaces including lakes and river are among the
The objective of this study is to design and develop a
important feature for the world. They do not only serve as
prototype of a portable trash collector boat for small and
water resources for humankind but also provide valuable
narrow space application. The design of the trash collector
ecosystems for varieties of flora and fauna. However, with the
boat was conducted using engineering design method and
increasing number in urban population and growth of
system analysis to determine the most suitable design. In
industries, lakes and rivers are suffering from pollution
addition, the 3D model of the proposed trash collector boat
problem [1]. Floating solids including beverages can, plastic
was constructed to obtain a general view of the design. The
bottles, food packaging, container, straws and Styrofoam cups
performance of the prototype was tested and evaluated to
are among the major solid waste that can be found in the
determine the effectiveness of the developed design in
surface water [2,3]. These waste materials that are being
collecting floating solids from surface water.
effortlessly dumped into the water bodies and create a harmful
environment to human as well as animals and plants [4,5]. The
II. DESIGN METHODOLOGY
unwanted presence of these wastes in the surface water will
also contribute to the environmental problems such as drain The methodology for designing trash collector boat is
logging and flash flood as well as potential diseases such as based on the engineering design and system analysis.
Particular attention is given to the available design of trash
collector boat since they are the basic reference to the
Revised Manuscript Received on August 05, 2019. development of the concurrent design.
S.H.Y.S. Abdullah, Faculty of Innovative Design and Technology,
Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Gong Badak Campus, 21300 Kuala Nerus, A. Function Analysis Method
Terengganu, Malaysia.
M.A.A Mohd Azizudin, Faculty of Innovative Design and Technology, The aim of function analysis method is to establish the
Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Gong Badak Campus, 21300 Kuala Nerus, functions required by the
Terengganu, Malaysia. trash collector boat to
A. Endut, Faculty of Innovative Design and Technology, Universiti
perform the desired task
Sultan Zainal Abidin, Gong Badak Campus, 21300 Kuala Nerus,
Terengganu, Malaysia. which is to collect floating

Published By:
Retrieval Number I8291078919/2019©BEIESP Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.I8291.0881019 350 & Sciences Publication
 Design and Prototype Development of Portable Trash Collector Boat for Small Stream Application

solids from surface water. Fig. 1 shows how a trash collector The initial deduction for performance specification was
boat should perform in the desired manner. It begins with selected by considering various factors that may affect the
collecting process where floating solids were collected off the overall performance of the collector boat. Practically, the
water surface. Next, the collected floating solids will be factors involved are related to the operational environment for
stored temporarily in the storage container and lastly, the trash the system which would be the small area such as lakes, small
will be manually collected at the end of the process. streams and drainage. Hence, a smaller size of the collector
boat as indicated by the length and width of the boat is
considered in the prototype development. It is important to
consider the nature of the operational environment to ensure
that the system effectively operating at the working site. The
trash collector boat is also expected to be lighter (approximate
weight of 8 – 10 kg) for portability. The boat system is
controlled by an RF transmitter and receiver which allowed
the user to control the boat remotely. In addition, the
incorporation of the monitoring system in trash collector boat
including Wi-Fi camera, android application and the battery
indicator is to ensure better monitoring of the operation of
Fig. 1 Analysis of principal function for the collection of trash collector boat. Thus, the result tested of trash collector
floating solids performance would be the final specification performance.
B. Performance Specification Method C. Quality Function Deployment Method
The aim of setting the performance specification is to make The aim of the quality function deployment method is to set
an accurate specification of the performance required by the targets to be achieved for the engineering characteristics of a
trash collector boat. It is important to have the specific product which is to satisfy the customer requirements. Trash
requirements of performance for the trash collector boat to collector boat is an alpha prototype so the function is about
fulfil the demand and need. The specification will only 75%, thus allowing the product to be used by the consumer.
consider the most significant criteria that contribute to the Nevertheless, this trash collector is not a mass production type
performance of the system. The initial characteristic of of invention, hence it is not very popular or well-known and
performance requirements is summarized in Table 1. only recognized by a certain organization or people.
Therefore, the target user for the trash collector boat can be
Table. 1 Initial deduction for performance specification of from a small cleaning company or individual user.
trash Collector boat
Specification Characteristic D. Morphological Chart Method
Hull form Catamaran The morphological chart method functions to present a
Hull material Fiberglass complete range of alternative design solutions for a product,
Length of boat 800 – 1200 mm and hence to widen the search for potential new solutions.
Width of boat 600 – 700 mm This method requires a list of features that are essential to the
Height of boat 500 – 600 mm trash collector boat systems. Each feature will be compared to
Maximum load 3 – 6 kg select the intended objective and a chart is drawn to include
capacity all the possible sub-solutions for the system. The essential
Weight 8 – 10 kg generic features of a trash collector boat are as follows i)
Max speed 10 km per hour means of collecting floating solids, ii) means of storing
Operation speed 10 – 20 km per hour floating solids, iii) means of discharging floating solids, iv)
Boat System Radio control means of moving the boat, v) means of support to increase
Travel distance 30 Meters stability vi) means of system to assist the overall function and
Monitoring FPV Wi-Fi Camera, lastly vii) location for operator. Table 2 lists the available
android app and battery means for each feature of a trash collector boat based on the
indicator available design of trash collector boat. The best
Monitoring range 30 m characteristic for trash collector boat was evaluated from the
Conveyor Controlling Relay morphological chart and summarized in Table 3.
Conveyor controlling 30 m
range

Table. 2 Morphological chart for comparison of rubbish collecting system

Feature Means
Collecting system Multipurpose Quick release system Turbine pull system Conveyor system
drop-in-pod system
Storing System Litter Collection Skipper barge Storage conveyor Storage tank
basket

Published By:
Retrieval Number I8291078919/2019©BEIESP Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.I8291.0881019 351 & Sciences Publication
 International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE)
ISSN: 2278-3075, Volume-8 Issue-10, August 2019

Discharging system Via crane Via conveyor Via pump Via hand

Propulsion system Fix propeller Adjustable elevation Screw propeller Propeller Paddle
screw propeller
Powering system 25-40 HP high thrust, 12V 7.2Ah Brushless motor
4 stroke outboard Rechargeable sealed
diesel engine lead acid battery
Controlling system Boat steering wheels Radio control Remote control

Hull form Catamaran V-shape hull Barge Trimaran

Operator Seated at forward Seated at amidships Seated at aft Standing or sitting

any where
Monitoring Camera Android App Battery indicator
Lifting Hydraulic Robotic Crane Manual by hand

Table. 3 Best characteristics for trash collector boat based on morphological chart evaluation
Feature Means Justification
Collecting system Conveyor system The system will be able to collect floating solids.
Storing system Litter Collection basket The system will be able to store floating solid and filtering
water on floating solids.
Discharging system Via hand Manual handling makes the work easier to discharge
floating solids from floating solids storage.
Propulsion system Propeller Paddle The propeller will be able to use for heavy duty and
applied for slow operation.
Powering system 12V 7.2Ah Rechargeable Efficient, reliable, long lasting and will be able to
Sealed Lead Acid Battery + recharge.
Brushless motor
Controlling system Radio Control + Remote The system will be able to operate boat from safer grounds
control and at reduced levels of noise or vibration.
Hull form Catamaran Good stability characteristic.

Operator Standing or sitting any where Better vantage points.

Monitoring Camera + Android App + The system will be able to guide the user while handling
system Battery indicator the trash Collector boat from distance.
Lifting Manual by hand It is because the trash Collector boat lightweight and
portable.

III. DESIGN DEVELOPMENT have been made to equip the boat with an additional system
for the collection of floating solids off the surface water
A. 3D Model including conveyor system and temporary storage. In this
The design for trash collector boat for small area design, a rotating conveyor belt is positioned in between of
application was completed using Autodesk Inventor 2019 the catamaran hulls along the centre line. The rotating
software, and a 3D model had been generated for the purpose conveyor is mounted at the front of the boat and tilted at a
of visualizing the requirements and specification that had certain angle for an efficient trash collection system. A few of
been determined throughout the analysis. Four drawings are wire mesh are attached to the conveyor system to act as the
previewed with different angles of view; isometric view, front main trap to collect and capture the floating solids and carried
view, top view and side view as illustrated in Fig. 2. them to the storage container or dustbin that is located at the
The basic design of the trash collector boat is based on the back of the trash collector boat. The dustbin is made of wire
catamaran boat with two hulls positioned at both sides of the mesh web to remove any trapped water within the trash. When
trash collector boat. The unique feature of Catamaran hull was the dustbin is fully loaded, the boat is taken to a discharge
selected to reduce the water resistance and improve the position where the trash is manually removed into a truck or
stability of the trash collector boat. Several modifications other facilities.

Published By:
Retrieval Number I8291078919/2019©BEIESP Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.I8291.0881019 352 & Sciences Publication
 Design and Prototype Development of Portable Trash Collector Boat for Small Stream Application

Fig. 2 (a) Isometric view (b) Top view (c) Front view and (c) Side view of trash collector boat

corrode when in contact with water allowing their usage in the

B. Body Fabrication
surface water. The Catamaran hull was fabricated using
The body of the trash collector boat is divided into five fibreglass material. Fibreglass is a lightweight material that is
main parts including frame, dustbin electronic board, hull and mostly used in boat fabrication [16]. It is durable and high in
motor cover. Each part is built using different methods and strength which makes it a suitable material for the hull. An
types of materials. Every parts of the trash collector boat can electro-galvanized sheet was used in the fabrication of
be easily assembled and disassembled, except for the frame electronic box to store all the electronic components of the
and the electronic board. Table 4 summarizes the function of trash collector boat due to the high level of thickness which
each parts of trash collector boat. Several criteria were will prevent from water intrusion to the electric and electronic
considered in the selection of materials to fulfil the objectives components of the trash collector boat. The motor cover was
of the construction of a lighter collector boat. Proper selection made using PVC material since it is durable and lightweight.
of materials is very important to determine the right method of
construction. In addition, the durability and strength of the
boat are also influenced by the type of material used in the
fabrication of the trash collector boat. The main body of the
trash collector boat which is the frame, dustbin and conveyor
system were constructed using square hollow mild steel and
stainless steel net. Stainless steel was chosen since it is
durable and lightweight material. On top of that, it does not

Table 4. Main components of trash collector boat

Component Function Material Characteristic
Frame  As a support to the  Square hollow mild  Durable
prototype stainless steel  Lightweight
 High strength
Dustbin  As a temporary floating  Stainless steel net  Durable
solids storage  Simple design
 Lightweight
 Easy handling
Conveyor system  As a trash collector  Square hollow mild  Durable
stainless steel and  Lightweight
rubber gasket  High strength
 Eco-friendly
 Flexibility

Published By:
Retrieval Number I8291078919/2019©BEIESP Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.I8291.0881019 353 & Sciences Publication
 International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE)
ISSN: 2278-3075, Volume-8 Issue-10, August 2019

Hull  As a buoy to float the  Fiberglass  Durable

prototype in surface  Water resistance
water  Anti-corrosive
Electronic box  As a storage for  Electro-Galvanized  Used to keep electrical part
electronic components (E.G) sheet  Higher level of thickness
and power supplies control
 High strength
 Durable
Motor Cover  Install brushless motor  PVC  Durable
 Lightweight
 Water resistance

Table 5. Product specification and description of portable

C. System Fabrication
trash collector boat
Boat system Specification Characteristic
Boat system composes of three main components including Hull form Catamaran
boat, remote control and adjustable step-down power supply Hull material Fiberglass
module. It uses two motors to drive and operate the boat Length of boat 1143 mm
within 30 m distance control with 27 MHz frequency. An Width of boat 685 mm
adjustable step-down module was used to reduce the power Height of boat 600 mm
supply from 12 V to 7.2 V to suit the requirement of the boat Maximum load 6 kg
system. A rechargeable sealed lead battery is used to supply capacity
power to the system. Weight 11 kg
Max speed 5 km per hour
Conveyor system Operation speed 10 – 20 km per hour
The conveyor system is the main feature for the trash collector Boat System Radio control
boat to collect floating solids and debris from surface water. Travel distance 30 Meters
The conveyor system has been featured in most trash collector Monitoring FPV Wi-Fi Camera, android
boat design since it can effectively collect trash and floating app and battery indicator
solid off the water surface [7,17]. The conveyor was Monitoring range 30 Meters
fabricated using aluminium, gasket rubber and PVC pipe. Conveyor controlling Relay
Wire mesh was attached to the conveyor for trash collecting Conveyor controlling 300 Meters
purpose. The system is equipped with a DC motor speed that range
enables the user to control the speed of the conveyor
according to the collection area. In addition, a relay wireless
remote control was installed into the conveyor system to
allow the control of the forward and backward movement of
the conveyor. The relay wireless controller can be operated
within a distance of 300 m.

Monitoring System
Monitoring system consists of a camera with android
application SYMA FPV and battery indicator. This system
was incorporated to facilitate the operation of the prototype in
terms of movement control. An FPV Wifi Camera Cam was
used that supports real-time image transmission within 100 m
range. It allows the user to monitor the condition of the river
or the direction of the boat.
Fig. 3 Prototype of portable trash collector boat
D. Testing and Analysis
The trash collector boat prototype was tested to ensure that
any system and parts installed are effectively working. The B. Working Performance
monitoring system of the trash collector boat such as the System Performance
camera, lamp and battery indicator was also evaluated. The The boat system works well with the movements and speed
product testing was completed at the university lake. corresponding to the collecting process of floating solids.
However, the radio connection is not stable that will result in
IV. PROTOTYPE EVALUATION connection loss for a few times during the testing. For the
conveyor system, it was found that that the rotational power is
A. Product Specification and Description capable to hold a maximum
The detailed product specification and description of trash capacity of 2 kg per rotation.
collector boat prototype is presented in Table 5. The finished It is limited due to the
product of the prototype is shown in Fig. 3. strength of wire mesh

Published By:
Retrieval Number I8291078919/2019©BEIESP Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.I8291.0881019 354 & Sciences Publication
 Design and Prototype Development of Portable Trash Collector Boat for Small Stream Application

attached to the conveyor belt. Nevertheless, the speed V. CONCLUSION

controller and the relay of the conveyor system is working
This study has successfully developed a prototype of a
efficiently.
trash collector boat. The collector boat is small in size
Monitoring Performance
compared to available trash collector boat in the market and
The monitoring system of the trash collector boat consists suitable for small and narrow space cleaning purpose. The
of a camera, LED light and battery indicator. The camera trash collector boat was equipped with a rotating conveyor
works properly during product testing however the display system and monitoring system that can be remotely controlled
quality is quite low due to the low-resolution camera (2 MP). from afar. Performance test that has been done showed that
Further improvement should be considered to improve the the collector boat efficiently collected up to 6 kg of floating
quality of the image for better monitoring of the trash solid in a single operation. This indicates the good
collector boat. On the other hand, the LED light attached to performance of trash collector boat in cleaning water surface.
the collector boat works properly. The brightness of the LED The use of this trash collector boat can reduce the water
light is sufficiently illuminating the front area of the boat pollution in small streams and drain clogging problem in an
during the trash collection process. Battery indicator works environmental-friendly and user-friendly manner.
properly by showing the digital numbers and displaying the
amount of battery left. The battery indicator is visible on ACKNOWLEDGMENT
android application from the camera because it located in
front of the camera. The authors would like to thank all the faculty staff and
member that provide help and assistance throughout the
C. Loading Capacity project completion.
The loading capacity of the trash collector boat prototype
was investigated by inspection of water displacement level REFERENCES
during operation. Fig. 4 shows the water displacement level of 1. Rafique SMSM, & Langde A Design and fabrication of river cleaning
trash collector boat during the product testing in the university machine. Int. Jour. Sci. Adv. Res. Tech. 2017;3(11):63–65
lake. Before any trash loading as shown in Fig. 4(a), the water 2. 8 Most Common Types of Garbage Found in the Ocean. Available on
displacement level is quite low indicating that the hulls are https://www.banthebottle.net/articles/8-most-common-types-of-garba
ge-found-in-the-ocean accessed on 10/03/2018
capable to accommodate the weight of trash collector in 3. Sreenivasan J, Govindan M, Chinnasami M, & Kadiresu I. Solid
water. Fig. 3(b) shows the water displacement level after full Waste Management in Malaysia – A Move Towards Sustainability. In
loading of trash in the dustbin. The trash collector boat can Waste Management - An Integrated Vision. InTech. Publ. Ltd. 2012;
achieve a maximum loading capacity of 6 kg in a single 4. Hua AK. Analytical and detection sources of pollution based
environmetric techniques in Malacca river, Malaysia. Appl. Ecolo.
operation. From observation, there is a slight increment in the
Environ. Res. 2017;15(1):485–499
water displacement level when compared to before loading. 5. The Ban on Microbeads – Why It Matters and Why It’s Still Not
The hulls are capable to hold the weight of both collector boat Enough Available on
and trash without being sunk. This show the good https://www.banthebottle.net/articles/the-ban-on-microbeads-why-it-
performance of trash collector boat in full load mode. matters-and-why-its-still-not-enough accessed on 12/03/2018
6. Tiwari RV, Maheshwari A, Srivastava MC, & Sharma A. Design and
Fabrication of Project on Water Bodies Cleaning Robot. Int. Jour.
Engine. Manage. Res. 2018;3:15–17
7. Kader ASA, Saleh, MKM, Jalal MR, Sulaiman OO. Design of
rubbish collecting system for inland waterways. Jour. Trans. Engine.
2015;2(2): 1–13
8. Water Witch Workboats - Multipurpose pollution control, marina, &
amp; waterway maintenance. Available on https://waterwitch.com/en/
accessed on 01/01/2019
9. Liverpool Waterwitch Marine & Engine. Co. Ltd. Available on
https://waterwitch.com/en/products/waterwitch/ accessed on
02/01/2019
10. Ecoceane livre un bateau de dépollution à la ville de Paris. Available on
https://www.meretmarine.com/fr/content/ecoceane-livre-un-bateau-de
-depollution-la-ville-de-paris accessed on 02/01/2019
11. Aquarius Systems - On the cutting edge of water management
technology. Available on http://www.aquarius-systems.com/ accessed
on 01/01/2019
12. Dambhare A, Golekar K, Giri A, & Take S. Efficient lake garbage
collector by using pedal, Int. Jour. Rec. Trends Engine. Res.
2016;2(4):327–340
13. Padwal AB, Tambe MS, Chavare PS, Manahwar RK, & Mhatre MS
Review paper on fabrication of manually controlled drainage cleaning
system. Int. Jour. Sci. Engine. Res. 2017;8(3):204–208
14. Manikandan S, Mohan Raj G, Nandhakumar M, Neelamanikandan P,
Sateesh R, & Balakrishnan N. Design and fabrication of automatic
drainage cleaning system. Int. Res. Jour. Adv. Engine. Tech.
2018;4(2):3084–3091
15. Sirsat PM, Khan IA, Jadhav PV, & Date PT. Design and fabrication of
river cleaning machine. Int. Jour. Mod. Trends Engine. Res.
207;4(2):76–80
Fig. 4 Water displacement level of trash collector boat (a)
Before loading (b) After full load

Published By:
Retrieval Number I8291078919/2019©BEIESP Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.I8291.0881019 355 & Sciences Publication
 International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE)
ISSN: 2278-3075, Volume-8 Issue-10, August 2019

16. Lee SH, Lee YG, & Kim SH On the development of a small catamaran
boat. Ocean Engine. 2007;34 (14-15):2061-2073
17. Munde K, & Wagh MN. Design and analysis of river water skimmer.
Int. Jour. Rec. Trends Engine. Res. 2018;4(7): 126–132
AUTHORS PROFILE
S.H.Y.S Abdullah is currently served as the
Post-Doctoral Research Officer in the Faculty of
Innovative Design and Technology, where she contributes
to the faculty publications and research activities.

M.A.A Mohd Azizudin is a graduate student in the Department of

Manufacturing Technology from Faculty of Innovative Design and
Technology. He is responsible in the prototype development for project
completion.

A. Endut is the Dean of Faculty of Innovative Design

and Technology. She is actively involved in numerous
research activities as well as innovation and invention
competition for her passion for research and
development.

Published By:
Retrieval Number I8291078919/2019©BEIESP Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.I8291.0881019 356 & Sciences Publication
View publication stats