Development And Performance Evaluation Of Diesel Engine Operated Cassava Grating Machine

Abstract

Cassava Is One Of The Most Crucial Tuber Crops With An Edible Root, Which Grows Mostly In Tropical And Subtropical Areas Of The World. It Is The Fourth Most Important Crop For Farmers In The Tropics And Sub-Tropics After Rice, Wheat, And Maize. In Ethiopia, Cassava Generally Grows In Almost All Parts Of The Country But The Bulk Of Its Production Is In South, South Western And Western Parts Of The Country. As The World Is Emerging With Various Types Of Technology For Ease Of Processing, And Efficient Production Of Cassava; Automated And Mechanized Technology Was Of Great Importance. The Major Limitation Of Cassava Is Its Rapid Postharvest Physiological Deterioration And It Should Be Processed Immediately After Harvest Because It Is Highly Perishable. The Objective Of This Study Wasto Develop And Evaluate The Performance Of A Diesel Engine Operated Cassava Grating Machine. In This Research Work, A Cassava Grating Machine Was Fabricated From Stainless Steel Sheet Metal. The Experiment Was Carried Out By Randomized Block Factorial Design And The Collected Data Were Analyzed Using Statistix 8 Software. Analysis Of Variance Revealed That The Main Effects Of Drum Speed, Feed Rate, And Their Interaction Effect Were Significant At The 5% Level. The Highest Throughput Capacity Of 471.4 Kghr-1 Was Observed At A Drum Speed Of 1400rpm And Feed Rate Of5kg/Min, While The Lowest Throughput Capacity Was 272.5 Kghr-1Observed At A Drum Speed Of1100rpm And Feed Rate Of 5kg/Min. The Highest Grating Efficiency Of 97.33% Was Observed At ADrum Speed Of 1400rpm And Feed Rate Of 15kg/Min, While The Lowest Grating Efficiency Was 81.6%Observed At A Drum Speed Of 1100rpm And Feed Rate Of 5kg/Min. The Lowest Percentage Of Mechanical Loss Of 2.45% Was Observed At A Drum Speed Of 1400rpm And Feed Rate Of 15kg/Min, While The Highest Percentage Of Mechanical Loss Was 18.4% Observed At A Drum Speed Of 1100rpmAnd Feed Rate Of 5kg/Min. The Fuel Consumption Of The Machine Was Measured As 1.82l/Hr. Finally, The Regression Analysis Result For Throughput Capacity Showed That 95% Of Throughput Capacity Was Accounted For By Two Independent Factors Collectively, F (2, 33) = 311.17, R = 0.974, P =0.000. And The Predicted Throughput Capacity Was Equal To 249.05 + 53.29v - 11.86f. This Machine Was Recommended For Cassava Grating At Operating A Drum Speed Of 1400rpm.