Sugarcane enters between TRF 2 and TRF 3, where the gap is maximum. As it goes further, the gap decreases, allowing juice to be extracted at each step. This is achieved by decreasing the gap between the feeder rollers. 

After all juice is extracted from the sugarcane, it is thrown out as a waste product known as bagasse. In most cases, this bagasse is used as fuel in boilers. It must be as dry as possible to achieve maximum net calorific value (NCV) from bagasse. The quality of sugarcane varies throughout the season. In the beginning, it has more water content. However, as the season progresses, sugarcane tends to become drier. Thus, the gap between rollers needs to be adjusted frequently.

This adjustment is achieved by moving the bottom roller. The problem is that the bottom roller weighs 14 tons, making manual adjustment very difficult, time-consuming, and inaccurate. In earlier days, cranes were used to lift or lower the bottom roller. This method does not allow precise control over the movement.

We were tasked with re-engineering the current system to achieve precision and efficiency.