Optimization of Thickness of Hollow Punch–Die for Proposed Solar-Assisted Leaf Plate and Cup Making Machine Abhay Nilawar , Pravin Potdukhe , and Deepak V. Bhope Abstract Leaf plates are traditionally made by hand in Indian villages. These are commonly used for serving food at family, religious and social functions. The labo- rious craft can now be converted into machine operation to make these containers in elegant shape and sizes and to make the plates much stronger than the normal one by the conventional method of making plates. The punch–die assembly of the traditional machine consists of an electric heater where the effective heating temper- ature is maintained from 110 to 120 °C. Alternatively, this temperature can also be achieved easily by using solar concentrator to heat the thermic oil which in turn can be used to heat the punch–die assembly. The hot oil will be circulated through hollow space of punch and die so that the green leaf will be heated from both the sides and occupied the required shape of cup or plate in minimum time while moulding in die. The thickness of such punch–die assembly is optimized analytically and also by FE software ANSYS TM . Keywords Leaf plate · Solar energy · Thermic oil · Optimization 1 Introduction The punch–die assembly of the traditional machine consists of an electric heater where the effective heating temperature is maintained from 110 to 120 °C. Alterna- tively, this temperature can also be achieved easily using the solar energy. Central India falls in a tropical region wherein a sufficient amount of solar heat energy is available for maximum number of sunshine hours and also for a maximum number A. Nilawar · P. Potdukhe (B ) · D. V. Bhope Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rajiv Gandhi College of Engineering, Research and Technology, Chandrapur, Maharashtra 442402, India e-mail: pravinpotdukhe1@rediffmail.com A. Nilawar e-mail: abhaynilawar19@gmail.com D. V. Bhope e-mail: dvbhope@rediffmail.com © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 V. R. Kalamkar and K. Monkova (eds.), Advances in Mechanical Engineering, Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3639-7_45 385