Design, Fabrication And Performance Evaluation Of Electric Motor Operated Animal Feed Grinder

Abstract

In Ethiopia, Different Stakeholders Emerge In The Field Of Animal Farming. Farmers And Stakeholders Who Engaged In The Field Of Animal Fattening Are Facing Feed Shortages During The Dry Season Because Of An Increment Of Agricultural Production Which Increases Cultivated Area And Decreases The Grazing Land. On The Other Hand, Feed Preparation Is Mainly Performed Through Traditional Systems Like Direct Delivery Of Feed Materials Leads To Mass Feed Loss. The Objective Of This Study Is To Design, Fabricate And Evaluate The Performance Of An Electric Motor-Operated Feed Grinder Machine To Solve The Above Problems. The Machine Has Designed By Considering Design Parameters, And Also The Machine Was Fabricated At The Mellkasa Agricultural Research Center Workshop. The Electrical Motor, Cutting Blade, Cylindrical Hopper, Housing And Frame Are The Main Components Of The Feed Grinder Machine. The Overall Dimensions Of The Prototype Are 1060 Mm In Length, 700 Mm In Width And 1200 Mm In Height. Catia V5 R20 Design Software And Microsoft Excel Was Used For Modeling The Machine Components And For Data Analysis Respectively. For The Performance Evaluation The Feed Rate, Moisture Contents, Sieve Diameter, Blade Type, Length Of The Cut, Grinding Capacity And Uniformity Were Considered As The Test Parameters. The Experiment Was Performed In Rcbd, With The Sieve Diameter And Blade Types As Main Blocks, The Moisture Content And Feeding As Sub-Block With Three Replications. The Treatments Were 10 Mm And 12 Mm Sieve Diameter By Considering Different Levels Of Feed (2.5kg, 5kg And 7.5kg) And Moisture Content (13.22% And 24.63 % Wet Basis). The Experiment Result Indicates That The Minimum And Maximum Capacity Of The Grinder Machine Was 76kg/Hr. And 289.6kg/Hr. At 10mm Sieve Diameter, 25% Mc With A Local Blade, 7.5kg Feed And At 12mm Sieve Diameter, 13.22% Mc With A Standard Blade, 2.5kg Feed Respectively. The 12 Mm Sieve Diameter Has A Better Performance On Output Capacity For Standard Blade And Locally Fabricated Blade, And Also, In Both Types Of Blades, When The Moisture Content Increases The Output Capacity And The Length Of Cut Decrease. Furthermore, It Was Observed That As The Feed Increases The Output Capacity Decreases, This Happens Due To The Maximum Hopper Filling Level And This Leads To The Limited Blowing Air In The Grinding Housing. Finally, The Machine Has A Capacity That Suits Its Purpose; However, By Adding Sieve HoleDiameter, Inclination Angle Of The Outlet And Rpm Of The Motor To The Machine, It Is Possible To Increase Its Performance