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Development of Electrically Powered Reciprocating Cocoa Pods Breaking Machine
Development of Electrically Powered Reciprocating Cocoa Pods Breaking Machine
INTRODUCTION
Cocoa is one of the cash crops of great significance
grown in the world. In Nigeria, Cocoa is a prominent
perennial cash crop planted in the south western part of
Nigeria. Cocoa production has been a supporting factor
Fig. 1: Transverse Cross Section of a Matured Cocoa
for the economy of producing countries because of its
Pod.
high export earnings. The cocoa seed usually referred to
as cocoa beans is exported to the western world for
processing where several products are manufactured and
imported back to Nigeriaand other developing countries
at a relatively high cost (Adewumi, 1997). Cocoa is key
import goods for consuming countries due to its various
uses and its economic value.
The principal use and economic importance of cocoa are cocoa dehulling and winnowing machine. From the
in medicine, production of chocolate, oil, petrol, candles, performance evaluated, the machine is easy to operate
lightning oil, ointments, and soaps (Opeke, 1987). Cocoa with only the adjustment of roller clearance. The
butter, made from the fat extracted from the beans, is a machine was found to have high dehulling and
stable fat used in the production of cosmetics and winnowing efficiencies at the optimum roller clearance.
pharmaceutical products. The beans are milled into Faborode and Oladosun (1991) developed a machine to
powder for making beverages, chocolates, ice cream, break cocoa pods and extract wet beans. The machine
soft drinks, cakes, biscuits, flavouring agents and other consists of a hopper, meter plate, hammer and a
confectionaries (Ramji, et.al, 2018). Syamsiro et. al. reciprocating sieve. The pods were broken by the
(2012) revealed that cocoa husk is a promising biomass hammer. The husk was separated by the vibrating sieve.
for renewable energy production which can replace The beans were then collected through the discharge
fossil fuel and reduce CO2 emissions. chute. In 2010, Adzimah and Asiam designed a cocoa
pod splitting machine which was manufactured from
The productivity of the cocoa farm can be increased by locally available scrap materials. It was assembled and
simplifying the bean removing process (Arivu et. al, maintained at a relatively low cost. The knives were
2018). Cocoa beans processing for human consumption actuated by simple hydraulic mechanisms devoid any
is growing into different products from time to time major stresses, forces or moments acting on them. These
(Akinnuliet.al,2015).The processing of cocoa for mechanisms were powered by hydrostatic hydraulic
production of cocoa butter, beverage and cake includes pumps of power rating of 87.5 kW (65.625 hp). The
the breaking of the pods; extraction, fermentation, machine can be assembled and/or disassembled easily
drying, dehulling and winnowing of the beans, and quickly, and, therefore can be owned by a group of
(Ademosun, 1993; Adewumi, 1997; Faborode and cocoa farmers who can easily bear the cost.
Oladosun, 1991). The breaking of pods is a size
reduction process, whose aim is to extract the beans The problems identified from the existing technology are
from the pod. According to Audu et al.,( 2004); Vejesit to: reduce the human effort, improve the production, and
and Salohkhe, (2004), and Adewumi et al., (2006) make working process simple and easily controlled by
compressive, impact or shearing forces are the forces farmers. The aim of this work is to design a cocoa pod
involved in breaking of cocoa pods depending on the breaking machine. The objectives are to design a simple
type of machine and process used. When done manually, electrically powered reciprocating cocoa pod breaking
a lot of seeds are damaged in the process when machine and to carry out the cost estimation of the
cutlass/machete is used in the splitting of the cocoa pods, design of the machine towards its development.
reducing the quantity of beans suitable for fermentation.
The process is time consuming, dependent on the METHODOLOGY
strength of the manpower, and prone to accidents The aim of breaking cocoa pod is to extract cocoa beans
(Bamgboye, 2003). Fonsso et al.,(2016) observed that a from placenta. The machine was designed and fabricated
major problem facing cocoa farmers during breaking using locally available materials. Thorough design
process is Cocoa seeds damage. Over the years, efforts analysis was done. The size of the cocoa pods in terms
have been put in place to simplify the procedures of of length and diameter were found to range from 160
processing cocoa through mechanical means. mm to 234 mm and 88 mm to 118 mm respectively.
Jabagun (1965) reported that the first cocoa pod breaker The dimension of hopper outlet and the clearance
in Nigeria was constructed and tested at the Cocoa between the hammer and the breaking surface is
Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN).This machine determined by the size of the cocoa pod. Physical
required at least two operators in which one will be properties of wet cocoa pods are shown in Table 1 and
feeding the cocoa pods and the other one will collect the the properties of wet cocoa beans are shown in Table 2.
beans. Ademosun (1990) designed a medium-scale
The angle of repose of cocoa pods, husks and beans were Maintenance of the Machine
determined. For a solid material to flows down an Since usage of this machine is seasonal and only used
inclined surface freely, the angle of inclination of the when there is ripe cocoa, it should be water washed after
surface to the horizontal must at least be equal to the use. The surfaces that made contact with cocoa should
dynamic angle of repose of the material (Maduako and be covered with film of oil. This will prevent corrosion
Faborode, 1990). and increases the life span of the machine.
[14] Maduako, J. N. and Faborode, M. O. 1990.Some [18] Vejesit, A. and Salokhe, V. 2004. “Studies on
Physical Properties of Cocoa Pods in Relation to machine-crop parameters of an axial flow thresher
Primary Processing. Ife Journal of Technology 2 for threshing soy bean”. CIGRE journal Vol. 6.
(1): 4-5
[15] Opeke, L. K. 1987.Tropical Tree Crops. John and Biography of Author(s)
Sons, Clichester, Pg 108 – 119. O. O. Caleb (B. Eng. Mechanical Engineering, M. Eng.
[16] Ramji, K. S. H.; Kumar, P. S; Yogeshkumar, T. Building Services Engineering) is a lecturer at the
and Bharathkumar, M. 2018.Design and Department of Mechanical Engineering Federal
Development of Semi-Automatic Cocoa Pod University of Technology Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria
Splitting Machine. International Journal for
Scientific Research & Development. Vol. 6 (01), B.O Akinnuli (B. Eng. Mechanical Engineering, M.
2321-0613. Eng. and Ph. D in Industrial and Production
[17] Syamsiro, M; Saptoadi, H; Tambunan, B. H. and Engineering,) is associate Professor at the Department of
Pambudi, N. A. 2012.A Preliminary Study on Use Industrial and Production Engineering, Federal
of Cocoa Pod Husk as a Renewable Source of University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.
Energy in Indonesia. Energy for Sustainable
Development 16:74-77.