DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF PEANUT COATING MACHINE USING LOCALLY SOURCED MATERIALS

Abstract

Coated peanut exist in the supermarkets in many parts of the world. However, machines for coating peanuts with additives does not exist in Nigeria. Therefore, a machine for coating peanut with wheat flour and egg suspension was designed and fabricated for market oriented production. The procedures employed include the design. Construction, testing and performance evaluation. The machine components are the  rotating drum, frame, shaft, pipe, holder, machine cover, the speed reduction gear, the electrical motor and the driving and driven pulleys. The shaft rotates the drum by the transmission system through the shaft system in order to carry out coating operation. The machine runs on a single form 0.754kw, 1420rmp, electric motor cum reduction gear system at speed or 30rpm. The rotating drum is mounted on the shaft. Supported by 2 bearings with the shaft rotation in a stationary position. The rotating shaft is arranged horizontally on the shaft to be powered by the reduction gear cum electrical motor. The performances of the coating machine was tested with 2 weight sample of egg suspension (0.16kg/1.52kg) and wheat flour (0.82kg/1.97kg). 3 level of coating speed (10,20.30rpm) 5 level of coating time (5,10,15,20 and 25 minutes) arranged in randomized complete design (RCD) of a 2x2x3x5 factorial experience replicate in each and comparise between treatments mean were done by least significant difference (LSD) at P < 0.05. The result shows that the highest effective coating  capacity was 2.47kg/minuets with the coating speed of 10rpm. The coating machine is recommended for small and medium producers in order to enhance their production output