SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND PRODUCTION ENGINEERING

COURSE TITLE: MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PROJECT

COURSE CODE: MPE 590

AUTOMATIC FEEDING SUKUMA WIKI CUTTING AND SLICING MACHINE

Supervisor:

Presented by:
 INTRODUCTION

The English name for sukuma wiki is collard green. Collards are a member of cabbage family

and a staple side dish in East Africa (MasterClass). Collards are vegetables that have large green

leaves and tough stems, which are removed before eating. The leafy parts that we eat are called

“collard greens.” There is a continuous demand for sukuma wiki throughout the year. The middle

and the lower class Kenyans form the largest market for sukuma wiki. The technological

advancement in farming of sukuma wiki has result to increase of its production. On a large scale,

sukuma wiki are produced to suit the supermarket, hospitals, schools and other institution, and

food industries that mostly do canning. Sukuma wiki can be consumed as a whole or it can be

reduced in size depending with the consumers’ preference.

The major problem arises in reducing the size of sukuma wiki for it to be consumed. Several

methods are used to carry out the reduction in size of sukuma wiki. Cutting and slicing have

prevailed over a long period of time in performing the task. The common method used to for this

purpose is the traditional method that makes use of knives. This method has posed to be tiresome

and great time consuming especially in the current busy life. It is very challenging to apply the

method for a large scale size reducing production. And for this to be possible there will be need

for a number of workers and a long time given for the process. Using of knives is associated with

accidents as most people cut themselves whilst trying to make suitable cuts and slices. As a

result the traditional method requires highly skilled personnel. During the peak hours (from 12-

2PM and from 7-9pm), the demand for sukuma wiki is high on a daily basis. Some customers opt

for other food alternatives as there is delay in the vegetable stores.

are other methods that are used for this purpose. These methods pose a challenge as they are

expensive. Lower and middle class Kenyans are not able to affordably use the methods.

Automated machine have become a vital component of human life. They have continuously

saved most of the people’s time to carry out a certain task and this enhancement has greatly led

to a more and more competitive and faster way of doing things. Modern equipment used in the

size reduction process is in a great need in the worldwide market because of their absolute

efficiency. An automatic feeding sukuma wiki cutting and slicing machine will help eliminate

the complication associated with the use of knives.

Traditional method (using of a knife) use in cutting and slicing sukuma wiki is associated with a

number of complications. The process is tiresome, time consuming and, it is associated with

accidents. The method cannot be effectively applied in large scale size reducing production of

sukuma wiki. The other methods are expensive and only few people can manage to employ their

application.
 OBJECTIVES

Main objective

 To design and develop an affordable, fast, efficient and an automatic feeding sukuma

wiki cutting machine.

Other objectives

 To design and develop a machine that will eliminate the risks associated with the use of

knives in cutting and slicing sukuma wiki.

 To design and develop a machine that will increase the rate of size reduction process in

order to meet customers demand at the best convenient time.

 To design and develop a machine that can be effectively applied in large scale cutting and

slicing of sukuma wiki.

Most vegetable stores can’t reach their maximum customer satisfaction because they employ the

use of knives to cut and slice sukuma wiki and other vegetables. The use of this tool has been

proven to be time consuming and tiresome. Customers prefer to buy foods and other stuffs at

places that won’t inconvenient their schedules. The delay in vegetable store is alarming. It is a

major challenge to both the customer and the supplier. The use of knives cannot be effectively

employed in large scale sukuma wiki reduction process. Using a knife to cut and slice vegetable

is associated with accidents as the person might cut her/himself. For this reason a highly skill

personnel is required to perform the task. An automatic feeding cutting and slicing machine will

help solve all the problems associated with the use of knives. It will also be used in large scale

cutting and slicing for example in schools, hospitals and restaurants.

Source of power and power transmission

An electric AC motor will be used to provide power to the main shaft. From the main shaft

power will be transmitted to a flywheel that is connected to the cutter/slicer using a belt. The

speed of the flywheel and the cutter/slicer will almost be equal to the speed of the main shaft

connected to the motor. The feed roller in the feeding inlet is connected to the main shaft using a

bevel gear. The bevel gear is used to change direction of the main shaft rotation and to decrease

the speed of the feed roller. This will effectively help to get high quality size of the sukuma wiki

output.

Components of the machine

 Motor

 Feeding inlet

 flywheel

 Cutter/slicer

 Feed roller and the bevel gear

 Output basket

 Support frame and housing

An AC electric motor is preferred in this machine because it is cheaper to purchase and require

minimum maintenance. The motor is coupled to the main shaft. For this work the analysis was

restricted only to motor selection. The selection is based on

 High torque

 Low weight

 Adequate power

Power P= voltage (V) ×current (I)

Torque T= P (kW) × 60×1000/ 2×π×N

V, I and N depend on the motor specification

Cutter/slicer assembly

Cutter/slicer is connected to the flywheel shaft. The cutting unit consists of:

 Cutter shaft: this shaft carries the blade plate for fixing the blades.

 Shear plate: it is used to support sukuma wiki at the time of cutting.

 Feed roll: a feeding roller is used to feed sukuma wiki continuously. It gives a horizontal

force to vegetable to avoid bending or buckling during shearing.

resistant to wear and tear, it is also corrosion resistant.

 Cutting clearance: it is the distance between the cutting edge of the cutter and the shear

plate. Clearance should not be big because there will be folding or bending and it should

not be too small because there will be unnecessary friction between the blade and shear

plate.

Blade design

Two alternate razor sharp cutting blade are fixed on both sides of a wave-shaped blade plate. Part

of the recurve blade cutting edge project from the blade plate. The design of the plate and the

blade is

Blade plate: width= 40mm, Arc radius= R

Cutting blade design: width= 40mm, Arc radius=R, cutting edge width=15mm

Length of cut= L

Through an experiment, the force required to cut the hardest sukuma wiki will be determine.

This will help to get the maximum torque required by the blade plate shaft for effective cutting

of the vegetable.

Output basket

After sukuma wiki is reduced to the preferred size. It is collected from the output basket. Any

kitchen container can be used to collect the chopped vegetable

Feeding inlet
The feeding trough has large opening and the side walls are raised to provide guide way to the

vegetable and to prevent falling of vegetable pieces from the trough. The feeding trough is made

of stainless steel. The size of the trough is 250mm wide, 300mm long and the walls are 200mm

high. The feeding roller is incorporated in the feeding inlet. The feeding roller pulls and conveys

the incoming vegetable automatically to the shear plate.

Flywheel