Performance Evaluation of a Power Rotary Slicing Machine

Abstract

This paper presents the performance evaluation of a power operated rotary slicer capable of slicing plantain, cocoyam, cassava among others. The machine is designed and fabricated to aid production of chips in plantain, cassava, cocoyam and other related farm products for frying and as well drying for immediate consumption and storage purposes. The machine is made up of two blades cutter and operated at speed of 1440rpm to overcome drawbacks of existing hands or power operated slicer and to meet the demand of small scale processing industries. Samples was taken for plantain, cocoyam and cassava to evaluate the efficiency and capacity of the machine. The machine has 83% efficiency and capable of producing 22.9kg/h.