Engineering & Technology

Engineering & Technology

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Design of a Multi-Purpose Crushing Machine for Processing of Food Grains in Nigeria

Volume: 9  ,  Issue: 1 , July    Published Date: 07 August 2018
Publisher Name: IJRP
Views: 788  ,  Download: 1577 , Pages: 125 - 133    

Authors

# Author Name
1 A.E. Ikpe
2 E.K. Orhorhoro
3 O. Erhinyodavwe

Abstract

Crushing of farm produce for easy storage and consumption is still a problem in most rural areas in Nigeria. Large tons of
food crops are lost annually in Nigeria as a result of unavailability of storage facilities. This necessitated the design of a
multi-purpose crusher to save crushing energy with minimal grain losses, being the primary aim of this study. The major
components of the designed crushing machine consists of a hopper, crushing chamber, shaft, hammers, screen, bearings,
discharge outlet and a 2HP electric motor. A number of tests were carried out with the designed crusher using 4.8kg of dry
maize and crushing efficiency of 85%, crushing loss of 0.15% and crushing capacity of 65kg/hr. were achieved as
optimum performances. From the test results, it was observed that the final crusher design had a higher capacity and
efficiency, and this produced finer end products compared to existing ones.

Keywords

  • Food grains
  • crushing