- Design, development and performance evaluation of electrical motor operated cassava peeler
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Abstract
Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is one of the most important tuber crops that constitute a considerable portion of the daily diet of the peoples in Southern Ethiopia. Currently the plant is being distributed throughout the country as a tool to tackle food insecurity. However, to change cassava tubers to stable food staff there was a set of unit operation of which, cassava peeling was the one rather difficult or risky to accomplish manually. The main objective of this study was therefore, to design, developed and evaluates performance of electrical motor operated cassava peeler machine. During design, a 1hp electrical motor was used to rotate a 30mm in diameter shaft rigidly mounted to the cylindrical peeling drum by means of belt and pulley. The speed of the motor was reduced by means of speed reduction gear having speed reduction ratio of 50:1. The drum was made of perforated stainless steel to have a total volume of 0.111m3; 20%, 15% and 10% of the volume of drum was occupied by 15kg, 10kg and 7.5kg of cassava tuber respectively and the drum was rotated at 60rpm and 30rpm for 7 minute being mounted on the frame made of 40x40x3mm hollow square section. For 7 minutes of peeling operation the force required to peel cassava was 8.437N, the torque due to load on the drum was 0.967Nm and power required to drive the drum was 418W. Split-plot experimental design at two level of drum speed and three level of percentage drum fill was used to test the machine; and collected data where analyzed using SPSS statistical software. The optimum condition for balancing efficiency, throughput, and minimal flesh loss was 60 rpm drum speed with 15% drum fill. The developed machine was needed to be evaluated at more percentage drum fill, peeling drum speed and retention time. The future studies should evaluate other factors such as tuber size, peeling duration, and blade type to enhance the overall performance and the cost-benefit analysis should be conducted to determine the economic feasibility of different operational settings.
