AM 308: DESIGN OF AGRO-

PROCESSING MACHINERY

CHAPTER 5
APPROACH TO DESIGN OF
AGRO-PROCESSING MACHINES
Introduction
Chapter Objective
To show the application of design
engineering to the development of agro-
processing machines and equipment for
various crops such as the following.
Cereal grains, fruits, tubers,
vegetables, legume grains and sugars.
Introduction
Crops
Cereal grains include: maize, wheat,
rice, millet, sorghum, oats, barley and rye.

Barley Rye
Introduction
Crops
Legume grains (or pulses) include:
common beans, chickpeas, peanuts,
pigeon peas and soya beans.
Oilseed grains include: sunflower and
rapeseed.

Rapeseed
Introduction
Crops
Tubers include: cassava, sweet potatoes,
Irish potatoes, ginger, yams, taro, carrots
and onions.

Tubers
Introduction
Crops
Fruits: oranges, bananas, mangoes,
pawpaw, apple, pineapple etc.
Vegetables
Fruit vegetables: eggplant, tomatoes, okra,
cucumber etc.
Tuber vegetables: carrots, ginger, onions, bell
(green/red) pepper, chili pepper.
Greens: mchicha, cabbage, broccoli, spinach,
lettuce.
• Sugars: Sugar cane
Introduction
Approach to this chapter
Selecting popular crops (especially
those grown in Tanzania), then:
Developing their processing chains.
Identifying machines/equipment needed
at different stages/areas of the chain.
Discussing such areas to get ideas of
required or existing machine
technologies.
Introduction
Approach to this chapter
Selected crops, for which processing chains
have been developed include the following:
Maize, cassava, sweet potato, banana, mango,
orange, beans, palm, sugar cane, tomato,
millet, groundnuts, ginger and coconut.
The above list covers the various categories
of crops.
The method of using the processing/value
chain provides a chance of considering
crops for total agro-processing.
Introduction
Design Approach
The normal design methodology under the
phases listed below is applicable to the
development of agro-processing machines.
Need identification (e.g. through processing
chain analysis)
Design information collection and analysis
Product Design Specification (PDS) writing
Conceptual design
Embodiment design
Detail Design
Prototype manufacturing and testing
Introduction
Design Approach
Typically, among other requirements, agro-
processing machines are designed with
consideration of the following key
requirements:
Intended processing performance at high
efficiency and minimization of losses
Capacity of the machine, e.g. kg/hr of output
Power requirement
Proper selection of materials
Ergonomics and safety of user
Environmental conservation
1. Processing Chain of Orange
Orange – Ideas for agro-processing
machines
Product Ideas
1. Orange harvesting technology
2. Orange domestic peeler and juicer
3. Sorting and cleaning machine
4. Industrial orange peeling machine
5. Peels boiling/pressing technologies
6. Orange peels drying and grinding technologies
7. Industrial orange juicer machine
8. Juice pasteurizer and packaging technologies
9. Pulp drying and grinding machines
10. Seed drying and grinding machines
11. Orange seed (wet) pressing machine
Orange juice extracting machine
Orange juice extracting machine
Orange peeling machine
Machine handle

Peeling knife

Lead screw for

advancing the knife
Orange peeling machine
Orange peeling machine
Domestic orange juice extractor
2. Processing Chain of Beans
Beans – Ideas for agro-processing
machines
Product Ideas
1. Beans harvesting equipment/machine or
system
2. Beans drier ready for threshing
3. Green beans sorting and cleaning machine
4. Beans thresher; cleaning & de-stoning;
grading technology
5. Machine for removing green beans from
pods
6. Beans baking technology (from raw beans
to packed beans)
Video: Removal of green beans from pods
 Beans Thresher
(Would this design work? Discuss!)
 Bean Thresher
How does this one work?
Bean Thresher
Bean Thresher
 Pea Sheller
(Shelling technology used? Discuss)
3. Processing Chain of Palm
Palm – Ideas for agro-processing
machines
Product Ideas
1. Palm bunch harvesting technology
2. Palm bunch sterilizing (steaming) and threshing
technologies
3. Palm fruit digester
4. Palm oil refining technology
5. Palm nut cracking technology
6. Machine for separating mid-rib from leaves
7. Nut kernel/shell separation technology (after
cracking)
8. Kernel drying technology
9. Kernel oil press/expeller
Palm Fruit Digester
4. Processing Chain of Sugarcane
Sugarcane – Ideas for agro-processing
machines
Product Ideas
1. Sugarcane harvesting technology
2. Domestic/small scale juice extraction machine;
Cleaning and Slicing systems for small vendors.
3. Sorting and cleaning machine
4. Industrial sugarcane juice extraction machine
5. Sugarcane juice fermentation technology
6. Sugar production technology (water removal,
purification and de-colouring)
7. Biomass boiler/Bio-gas plant
8. Baling machine
9. Bio-gas plant
10. Drying and baling technology
Sugar cane Crusher/Juicer
 Encased quality-sugar cane Juicer
(motor powered)

Cane Feed

Juice Discharge
Sugar cane juicer (three rollers)
5. Processing Chain of Groundnut
Groundnut – Ideas for agro-processing
machines
Product Ideas
1. Ground nut uprooting tool/machine
2. Hay baling machine
3. Threshing machine (separation of kernel
from shell)
4. Roasting, de-skinning (i.e. blanching),
peanut butter making technologies
5. Ground nut oil pressing machine
6. Kernel roasting/boiling machines; packing
machine; flavour adding machine
7. Kernel grinder (to powder form)
6. Processing Chain of Banana
Banana – Ideas for agro-processing machines

Product Ideas
1. Machine/tools for banana harvesting
2. Banana leaves dryer
3. Industrial machine for peeling banana
4. Domestic tool for peeling banana
5. Industrial banana juice making technology
6. Banana drying and grinding technologies
7. System for decomposing banana peels
8. Banana juice fermentation system
9. Banana flavour enriching system
10. Banana fibre extraction system
7. Processing Chain of Tomato
Tomato – Ideas for agro-processing
machines
Product Ideas
1. Tomato harvesting machine
2. Dryer – how?
3. Seed extraction machine – what
technology?
4. Industrial processes
8. Processing Chain of Maize
Maize – Ideas for agro-processing
machines
Product Ideas
1. Maize harvesting machine
2. Baler
3. Maize sheller
4. Maize huller; Maize milling machine
5. Mixer for seeds with preservative
6. Popcorn making machine
7. Corn oil extraction machine – what
technology?
8. Maize cob crusher for animal feed – what
technology?
Schematic representation of a plate mill
Schematic representation of a
mechanical stone vertical mill
Schematic representation of
a hammer mill
Cyclone Flour Separator
The flow pattern in a cyclone is very
complex and highly turbulent.
The main features of cyclone flow, as can
be seen in next slide, include an outer
downward directed vortex and an inner
upward directed vortex at the centre.
The rotating flow is maintained by the
tangentially directed inlet flow.
Cyclone Flour Separator
Cyclone Flour Separator

It has been observed that the gas spiral

changes direction and spirals upwards,
towards the outlet (vortex finder) in the
centre of the cyclone.
The high turbulence of gas velocity inside
the cyclone leads to transfer of gas
between outer and inner flows, which
affects the efficiency of particle separation.
 Sizing of Cyclone

Various cyclone dimensions of which guidelines have been

recommended for reference during cyclone design
Sizing of Cyclone
Collection efficiency and the pressure
drop in a cyclone are chiefly governed by
its dimensions, i.e. the cross sectional
areas and lengths of the individual flow
channels.
The diameter of a cyclone strongly
influences its collecting efficiency.
The decrease in diameter causes an
immediate increase in the centrifugal field
intensity formed inside the cyclone, thus
increasing the separation efficiency.
Sizing of cyclone
Smaller diameters (200 to 600 mm)
provide greater flour collection efficiency.
Other sizes have been related to the
cyclone diameter as follows:
B = (0.18 – 0.40)D
Z = (2 – 4)D; Increasing cyclone overall height
will increase its collecting efficiency
Other typical ratios: De = D/2, h = 0.6D,
S ≈ D/2; Cone apex angle = 10-20 degrees,
smaller angles for higher efficiency.
Cyclone inlet duct shape
Cyclone inlet duct shape
Maximizing tangential velocity results in a
finer separation.
An involute inlet feed is designed with
rectangular duct having height greater than
width to increase arc tangential inlet surface.
The involute feed entry extensively minimises
the turbulence in the inlet and speeds the
creation of centrifugal airflow.
Allows finer separation than in the conventional
tangential entry, and therefore increasing flour
collection efficiency of the cyclone.
Cyclone inlet duct shape
In other words, the involute feed entry
creates rotational momentum (centrifugal
force) of fluid flow stream without
collision with the inlet flow, thus
minimizing material short-circuiting into
inner vortex and therefore enhancing flour
collection efficiency.
Cyclone inlet duct shape
The conventional cyclone has tangential
feed inlet, which causes the feed fluid
stream to collide with the spiralling fluid
already in the cyclone.
This causes turbulence and consequently
leads to inefficient separation of flour from
the air stream.
Optimum cyclone performance relies on
minimizing turbulence while maximizing
tangential velocity.
New Flour Cyclone with Involute Inlet

New cyclone with

involute inlet New cyclone in use
9. Processing Chain of Millet
Millet – Ideas for agro-processing
machines
Product Ideas
1. Millet harvesting Machine/Tool/
Mechanization?
2. Thresher (separation of millet grains
from bunch)
3. Millet de-husking machine
4. Millet grain oil pressing machine
5. Millet grinding machine
6. Animal feed baling machine
7. Millet cleaning and sorting machine
10. Processing Chain of Cassava
Cassava – Ideas for agro-processing
machines
Product Ideas
1. Cassava harvesting tool/machine
2. Cassava peeling machine
3. Animal feed baler
4. Vegetable (“Kisamvu”) processing technology
(cutting/grinding/pounding); drying; packaging
5. Flour processing technology: grating, de-
cyaniding, drying, grinding, packaging
6. Starch making technology
7. Crisps making technology
8. Briquette making machine
Cassava Grater
Typical punched plate grating drum
 Cassava Grater
Hopper

Handle for
manual operation

Drum shaft Discharge chute

Pedal operated cassava grater
11. Processing Chain of Mango
Mango – Ideas for agro-processing
machines
Product Ideas
1. Mango harvesting machine
2. Ripen mangoes peeling machine
3. Raw mangoes chopping/slicing machine
4. Mangoes meat blending machine
5. Mango kernel pressing machine
6. Mango pickle making machine
7. Timber cutting machine
8. Charcoal making machine/Firewood chopping
machine
9. Toothpicks making machine
10. Mango leaves decomposing technology
Video – Ripe mango peeling