Design of a Solar Powered Cassava Shredding Machine To Enhance Food Processing In Rural Areas

Manual processing of cassava tubers into its derivatives like tapioca, starch is tedious and time consuming, this drudgery has led to this study. The purpose of this study is to enhance agricultural performance via the design and fabrication of an improved cassava shredding machine that is capable of producing different sizes of cassava slices for further processing. The essence is to reduce processing time through increased surface area. This design produces different sizes for tapioca, ijapu, abacha, lafu and for other uses. The sizes range from 8-20mm in diameter. The machine consists essentially of a hopper where peeled cassava roots are put, beneath the hopper is the shredding plate with varied cutting blades coupled to a horizontal shaft which when in operation undergoes reciprocating motion. The horizontal shaft derives its motion through a slider crank mechanism coupled to an electric motor via a belt drive with a pulley for primary speed reduction and regulation. A rugged framework is provided for mounting of the machine and electric motor. The capacity of the machine is 150.2kg/hr. Maximum shredding efficiency of 96% was obtained with a shred aperture ranging from 5- 12mm at a shredding speed of 1200rpm.