UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- An apparatus built as a capstone project by a team of senior biological engineering students was created to save farmers' lives by demonstrating extreme danger.
The Penn State Grain Entrapment Simulator, which was demonstrated at the University Park campus today (May 18), is a trailer-mounted section of grain bin used to show the danger of grain-flow accidents in farm structures. The device also is intended to train emergency responders.
The students hope demonstrations will increase awareness of the dangers of flowing grain in grain bins, according to Ean Julius, of East Berlin, team leader for the project. Other team members, in the agricultural engineering option of the biological engineering major, were Daniel Lutz, Samantha Goldberg, Jordan Fair and Rachel Sacchetti.
"Too often farmers and agricultural workers are unaware of what could happen and get entrapped in flowing grain, and some die," Julius said. "We hope that farmers can see the dangers of being in a grain bin from demonstrations using our simulator, but we also hope to train emergency personnel proper rescue techniques to use when there is an entrapped victim."
There is a stark and pressing need for the simulator, said Davis Hill, senior extension associate in agricultural and biological engineering, who oversees Penn State Extension's Managing Agricultural Emergencies program. He noted that an average of just over 30 deaths occur each year across the United States due to grain entrapments.
"Part of the reason for this is that farmers don't understand how quickly they can become trapped in grain that is flowing and, once trapped, how difficult it is for them to get out," he explained. "Also, emergency responders often don't know how to perform effective rescue procedures. This tool will help in both of these areas."