DESIGN AND FABRICATION

Perennial crops (Plantain, cucumber and banana) and tuber crops (yam) are one of the alternative sources for low cost carbohydrates and is considered as one of the major crop in the Nigeria. They are perishable perennial and tuber crops that tends to easily deteriorates which in turn pose a problem in the society. Thus, the processing of plantain, cucumber, banana and yam after harvest is necessary to extend the shelf life of products in their raw form. Therefore, the aim of the project is to design and fabricate an automated slicing machine capable of slicing plantain, cucumber, banana and yam into chips that can also be readily made available in other processed forms whilst taking into consideration, fast and less labor processing, ease of use and hygienic design. The major components of the machine that were incorporated in the machine to achieve the set out aim and objectives included the spring, pulley, bearing, electric motor, mainframe, belt drive, cutting disc, and slicing shaft. The machine was powered by a single-phase, 1440rpm, and 0.75KW electric motor. These machine specifications were induced to achieve the results. The performance of the machine was evaluated in slicing four selected agro-based crops (yam, plantain, cucumber, and banana) grouped into small sizes at machine speeds of 40 rpm, 80.12rpm, and 630rpm respectively. The parameters that were investigated were performance efficiency and capacity. In performing the machine test, each fingers of plantain, cucumber, banana and yam were first peeled manually with a knife to remove its pericarp (outer covering), and then, these peeled sets of cucumber, plantain, banana and yam were loaded into the feeding inlet after the spring compression. During this process, the slicing process took place and the machine’s capacity, efficiency, and thickness were determined in order to evaluate the machine’s performance to slice plantain, cucumber, plantain and banana. A capacity of 59Kg/hr, performance efficiency of 92.1% and at speed of 40 rpm was obtained for yam, while a capacity of 62.4Kg/hr., performance efficiency of 89.99% at a speed of 630 rpm was obtained for banana, a capacity of 48.5Kg/hr., efficiency of 90.5% at a speed of 80.1rpm was obtained for cucumber and capacity of 72.7Kg/hr. and efficiency of 89.95%, at a speed of 630 rpm was obtained for plantain. The result of the study shows that the machine can slice root and tuber crops satisfactorily with slices ranging from 2mm to 2.5mm mean thickness. This machine was made with the intention of assisting cucumber, yam, plantain and banana chips producing industries