Design and construction of a sugar cane peeling machine.

Abstract

Vending of street food in urban areas is a growing and worldwide phenomenon street foods have in many studies been associated with microbiological contamination and low hygienic standards (WHO, 2006). Hence, street food vendors are of massive importance for public health since they have influence on the health of thousands of people every day. Fro-m the study carried out by Azanu et al 2015, it was discovered that peeled sugarcane sticks sold on the streets of Kampala Uganda, pose a serious health danger to the public due to the poor hygienic standards during the peeling process. It was due to this reason that a study was carried out to come up with a design and a prototype of sugarcane peeling machine. The mode of operation of the designed sugarcane peeling machine prototype is in such a way that, cut sugarcane nodes are through the hopper into the chamber, and a piston running on the principle of simple slider crank mechanisms pushes the node on a stationary adjustable peeling blade. The peeling blade shears off the cover (peelings) which in the peelings collection bag, while the peeled sugarcane node continues to the splitting blade and later the peeled sugarcane sticks are collected and ready for chewing.