Development and performance evaluation of a motorized vegetables and fodder slicer using response surface methodology
Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, P. M. B. 7267, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria.
Research Article
Global Journal of Engineering and Technology Advances, 2020, 04(03), 001-011.
Article DOI: 10.30574/gjeta.2020.4.3.0043
Publication history:
Received on 20 July 2020; revised on 02 September 2020; accepted on 05 September 2020
Abstract:
A motorized vegetable and fodder slicer was designed and fabricated. The machine consists of slicing blades, feed mechanism, support frames, collector and a1Hp gear electric motor as the driving power source. The machine has a capacity of 320kg/hr. During performance evaluation using Response Surface Methodology, it was found that the slicing efficiency increased proportionally with the speed of the machine and the moisture content of the sliced grass. The linear effects of speed of the machine and moisture content of the sliced grass significantly affected the slicing efficiency of the machine at 5% probability, (P≤0.05). The quadratic effects of the moisture content of the sliced grass and the interactions between the speed of the machine and moisture content of the sliced grass were also significant. These factors accounted for 91.06% of the variations in the slicing efficiency. The highest overall slicing efficiency of 89.57% was obtained when the moisture content of the grass material was 75% and the speed of the machine was 975rpm.
Keywords:
Vegetable; Fodder; Electric Motor; Slicing; Machine; Response; Surface; Methodology
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Copyright © 2020 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0