DEVELOPMENT OF A GINGER SPLITTING MACHINE

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Date
2008-06
Authors
NGULUWA, GUWO AYUBA
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Abstract
A ginger splitting machine was developed based on the physical and mechanical property data of two ginger varieties namely, Tafin Giwa (yellow ginger) and Yatsun Biri (black ginger). The effects of moisture content, cutting speed (impeller speed) and crop variety were investigated on splitting efficiency, percentage of bruised and broken ginger rhizomes, material loss and throughput capacity of the machine. Three levels of moisture contents (wet basis), five levels of impeller speed and two ginger varieties were used for the study. Data for the performance evaluation were subjected to the analysis of variance for test of significance of the experimental factors and their interactions. The results showed that splitting efficiency decreased with increase in impeller speed and with decrease in moisture content for the speed and moisture content ranges studied. Highest splitting efficiency of 82.1 and 67.9% were obtained at impeller speed of 240rpm and at 84.35% moisture content for Tafin Giwa and Yatun Biri ginger varieties respectively. A higher splitting efficiency was obtained for Tafin Giwa variety compared with the Yatsun Biri variety. The Percentage of bruised and broken ginger rhizomes increased with an increase in impeller speed and with a decrease in moisture content for the two ginger varieties. The lowest percentage of bruised and broken ginger rhizomes of 17.93 and 32.05% at 240rpm and 84.4% were obtained for the two ginger varieties. Yatsun Biri ginger variety had higher percentage of bruised and broken rhizomes than Tafin Giwa ginger varieties at all moisture contents and speed ranges studied. Material loss of the two ginger varieties was in the range of 4.0 to 5.82% for all the moisture contents studied. At critical speed of the machine, a throughput capacity of 67.95 and 55.76kg/h were obtained for Tafin Giwa and Yatsun Biri varieties respectively.
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A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE POST GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ZARIA NIGERIA. JUNE, 2008
Keywords
DEVELOPMENT,, GINGER SPLITTING, MACHINE
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