ABSTRACT

A plantain chipper of 540kg/hr was designed and fabricated. The plantain chipper is made up of the cutting device, a feeding mechanism, the support frame and an electric motor as a source of power. The cutting mechanism consists of the stainless steel blades, , a guide frame for the blades, pulleys. The blades are arranged perpendicular to the plantain tubers. The feeding and the discharge mechanisms consist mainly of the Geneva drive meant to deliver intermittent motion to the conveyor, thereby causing the conveyor to move in a start-stop fashion. The drive shaft is supported by two ball bearings mounted on the base frame and which provide support for both radial and thrust loads. The result of the test shows that the machine is rigid and reliable during operation by the use of locally available materials for its construction. It was observed that the machine produced uniform sized chips without discoloration and maintained ergonomic factors especially in noise and vibration factor hence, the objective of this research project which includes fabrication of a motorized small scale plantain chipper and to test developed chipper for performance during operation was achieved.