Empirical Investigation on the Design and Fabrication of Cassava Grating Machine of 4.5kw

Abstract

Abstract: Cassava products has been diversified ranging from one product to another, such as the use of cassava in livestock feed, means that more maize and other feed materials used in the past can now be available for other uses. Diverse uses of cassava flour food products such as its glucose for pharmaceuticals products as well as food supplements, and to make alcohol and other beverages, would enhance farmers to cultivate more because of its financial benefits. There is a gap between industrial processors and producers of cassava products that must be strengthened. The Federal government of Nigeria’s mandate to include 10% HQCF (High Quality Cassava Flour) flour in all products of wheat flour for bread-making has led to farmers and food processors demanding equipment and machinery to increase production. The aim of this research is to design and fabricate a cassava grating machine of 4.5kw and to carry out performance evaluation of the machine which met the objective of effective grating replacing the wooden grating machines. The materials were sourced locally which led to cost effectiveness of the machine. After, the machine was designed and fabricated, the performance evaluation of the machine was tested, the feed rate and grating rate were obtained as a function of time. The average feed rate of the machine was found to be 30kg/min which gave an input capacity of 1800kg/hr. Authors reported that it takes 1 hour to completely grate 740kg of cassava tubers. Keywords: Power Transmission: Tacking: Stitching: Rotational Torgue: Speed Transmission: Design Calculations, Tabe Shear, Bending Machine: Welding machine