MODIFICATION, FABRICATION AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF MULTI-CROP

GRATER USING CASSAVA (Manihot esculenta) AND POTATO

(Solanum tuberosum)

Acmad, Abas S.
1
Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Southeastern Philippines, Tagum-Mabini
Campus, Apokon, Tagum City, Davao del Norte Province.
ABSTRACT

Manual processing such as grating for cassava and potato is laborious and intensive where there is retard
process for producing such product. In rural areas, manual operation of these two crops processing is
practiced because there are no locally available machineries. As the world is emerging with various type
of technology for better quality of life and efficient production of food, automation and mechanization
technology for agricultural machines are used for faster, lesser labor agricultural production for
sustainable agriculture. This study aimed to modify, fabricate and evaluate the Multi-Crop Grater Machine
in terms of capacity and efficiency to lessen the burden of the farmers in grating and to reduce the spoilage
of the cassava and potato tubers. The performance of the Mechanically Operated Multi-Crop Grater was
analysed using Complete Randomized Design (CRD) having three (3) treatments namely the three (3) rpm
1088 rpm, 870 rpm and 725 rpm and replicated in three times. The result showed that the grating capacity
of the Mechanically operated multi-crop grater for cassava and potato is best at a high-speed operation of
1088 rpm having 24.15 kg/hr and 23.83 kg/hr respectively. For grating efficiency for cassava is 78.20% at
high speed and for potato had 74.60% at high speed operation. It showed that using Multi-Crop Grater
Machine is the best to use in grating cassava and potato in high speed operation.
Keywords: Processing, Grater, Grating, Potato, Cassava

INTRODUCTION

Agriculture is the heart of each
civilization; however, farmers are facing a
continuing population explosion which has
confronted mankind with various problems.
These problems include imminent
starvation. Hence, optimum production is
needed to attain demand for food nowadays.
To address the problem and ensure food
sustainability, alternative substitutes for
staple food (such as rice) is one way to avert
food scarcity in the Philippines. Among
with rice, corn, sugarcane as staple foods in
the Philippines, cassava and potato are one
of the largest sources of low-cost
carbohydrates among crop plants and
included as one of the major crops in the
Philippines because of its economic and
industrial potential. Its products are used for
food, feed for livestock, starch for
commercials and also biofuel.
Cassava is a commodity mostly
grown by small farmers on small plots of
areas where it is grown. It has a high tolerance to
drought and its minimum maturity is in one year
for harvesting of its tubers and not laborious on
maintenance of the field. Cassava is the most
perishable of root tubers and can experience
physiological deterioration within two or three
days after harvesting that it must be processed
after harvesting by unit operations involved in the
appropriate processing of cassava includes
peeling, grating, boiling/parboiling, drying,
milling, sieving, extrusion and frying to obtain
such products like flour, dried chips, cassava
grates, gari and etc.
Potato is a very rich source of starch. It
also contains phosphorus, calcium, iron and some
vitamins. Apart from use of fresh potatoes for the
purpose of making vegetables and gravy, they are
dehydrated in the forms of slices, sticks, cubes or
powder to impart better shelf life. Yet another
popular use is to make wafers or chips that are
why potato became popular food item not in home
but also in hotels, canteens, restaurant, etc.
land and some urban consumers and Materials Needed in the Study
factories obtain their cassava from rural
product. In rural areas, manual operation of • For Fabrication of the Machine
these two crops processing is practiced
because there are no locally available The materials needed for the fabrication
machineries. As the world is emerging with of the machine are available at any local hardware
various type of technology for better quality in the area. These materials include: Stainless
of life and efficient production of food, sheet, angle bars, round bars, pulley, V-belts, bolts
automation and mechanization technology and nuts, the electric motor as the power source.
for agricultural machines are used for faster,
lesser labor agricultural production for
• For Data Gathering
sustainable agriculture. Modern agriculture
requires modern approach which responds
1. Peeled cassava and peeled potato as
to the necessity of mankind.
commodities of the study.
This study therefore, focuses on the
2. One (1) digital weighing scale
modification and fabrication of a simple but
3. One (1) stopwatch
useful technology suitable for farmers and
4. One-unit design multi-crop grater.
entrepreneurs. The study aims to grate
cassava and potato efficiently and
Grating Operation
effectively than hand or manual grating
alone. Furthermore, this study also aims to
A. Materials Needed
determine the capacity and efficiency of the
1 kg Peeled Cassava and Potato per
machine according to its performance.
treatment
With this machine, it does not only reduce
1 weighing scale
time of working and labor requirement but
1 cutting knife
also lessen the farmers’ problem in spoilage
1 basin
and wastage as it can improve the crop
1 stopwatch to determine time per grating
market by increasing its utilization.
1 bag cellophane
Manual processing such as grating
1-unit design mechanically operated
for cassava and potato is laborious and
grater machine
intensive where there is retard process for
1 recording paper
producing such
1 phone for documentation

B. Grating Procedure
MATERIALS AND METHODS
1. Prepare all the materials needed
Design Criteria and Considerations
2. Select a fresh cassava and potato.
3. Peel the cassava and potato using
1. The machine is made out of
cutting knife. Be careful in peeling
corrosion resistant materials
the crops.
because it is use for processing for
4. Weigh the peeled cassava and potato
human consumption.
in 1 kg.
2. Simple and easy to operate.
5. Put the basin below the exit chute or
3. Strength.
channel.
4. Easy to clean.
6. Switch on the grater machine.
5. Low operating cost.
7. Load the 1kg peeled crops (cassava or
potato) in the drum hopper while the
rotating blade is rotating.
 8. Record the time duration, from the
beginning of grating until it is
finished.

9. Clean the machine after using.

Working Principle of the Multi-Crop

Grater

The electric motor provides the

primary rotary motion required to power the
machine. The motion and torque from the
electric motor are transmitted to the grating
barrels or blade via pulleys, shafts and
bearings then the grating barrels or blade Figure 11. Pattern in making perforated blade
rotate. The peeled cassava tubers and the
peeled potato tubers drop from the loading
platform or in the hopper section and reach
the grating points by gravity via the inclined
self-loading plates. The grated pulp drops
through the critical gaps between the
grating barrels and the trapezoidal plates
through the inclined exit channels into the
receiver. The inclined pulp exits channel
(chute) are in opposite directions.

Fabrication and Assembly of the

Individual Parts

1. Prepare the materials needed in

accordance.
2. Fabricate and assemble the different
parts:
Figure 12. Punching after making a pattern
a. Main Frame – Cut the materials
as stipulated in the plan and
design. Weld the angle bar to
create a stand and support the
machine.

b. Perforated Blade – cut stainless

sheet as stipulated in the plan and
design. Punch stainless sheet
using 3mm nail and hammer.
After punching and making hole,
roll the stainless sheet. Figure 11, Figure 13. Grating Surface Dimension
12, 13 and 14 shows how to
fabricate perforated blade.
Figure 14. Perforated Blade use for grating
C. Drum Hopper and Exit Chute –
Cut stainless sheet as stipulated in
the plan and design. Weld the Figure 15. Front View Figure 16. Rear View
cutted stainless sheet to the
constructed frame.

10. Assembly of whole parts

a. Use the bolts and nuts to connect

blade housing and bearing to the
main frame
b. Use the solid stainless round bar as
a shaft inside the rotating blade to
the frame.

11. Attach the pulley, bearing, belt and Figure 17. Left Side View
bolts and nuts that connected to the
motor.

12. Attach and weld the cutted stainless

sheet to the welded frame.

13. After all parts of the unit had been

installed and mounted according to its
plan and design; check them
thoroughly before any test run will be
tried.

14. Clear all parts specially the frame

using sandpaper smoothly and paint
the machine by acrylic paint before
any painting job shall be done. At
least two applications of paint are
needed.
Figure 18. Perspective View
Design Analysis
A. Power Capacity of the drive

Design Power: Nameplate power x

Service Factor
Given (nameplate power of motor): 2200W
SF for Grater: 1.5
Design Power = 2200 x 1.5 = 3300W
B. Diameter of Pulley

Small Pulley: 2.50 inches

Large Pulley:
Treatment 1: 4 inches
Treatment 2: 5 inches
Treatment 3: 6 inches

C. Speed Transmission G. Belt Speed

N1 = 1740rpm
D1 = 2.5inches The belt Speed is computed as:
D2 = 4inches π x Ds x ηs
V= 1000
N2 = (1740 x 2.5)/ 4
π x 63.5mm x 1740rpm
N2 = 1087.5rpm = 1000
= 347m/ minute
N3 = (1740 x 2.5)/ 5
N3 = 870rpm
H. Shaft Diameter
N4 = (1740 x 2.5)/ 6
N4 = 725rpm Shaft diameter of 1 inch or 25mm is
recommended for this operation.
D. Speed Ratio
𝑁2 1087.5 5
SR1 = 𝑁1 = 1740 = 8 I. Grating Unit Design Analysis

𝑁2 870 1 Grating house volume:

SR2 = 𝑁1 = 1740 = 2
V= 22” [(14”x17”) – (9”x10”)]
𝑁2 725 5
SR3 = 𝑁1 = 1740 = 12 V= 3,256 cu.in. (0.0254 cu.m.)
V=0.053 cu.m. or 1.87 cu.ft.
E. Belt Length
π(Dl−Ds) (Dl−Ds)2 Performance Evaluation
Lb = + 2C + The considerations in machine testing are listed as
2 4C
follows:
π(4+2.5) (4−2.5)2
Lb= + 2(17.5) +
2 4(17.5)
1. A minimum of three test trials, with a
constant weight of 1kg per trial, shall be
Lb = 45.24 inches adopted.
where, C = 17.5 inches 2. The duration of each test trial shall start
with the feeding of all test materials into
the intake hopper and ends after the last
F. Belt Design discharge from the grater blade and shall
be recorded as operating time.

3. During test, all operation data from input

to output must be recorded for analysis.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Multi-Crop Grater Machine
The multi-crop grater machine was
made out of corrosion resistant materials
and are locally available. The machine was
designed to generate good quality and more
output in an easy and more convenient way
of grating cassava and potato. It can be
operated by one (1) person to load the
cassava or potato to the inlet chute. Figure
19 shows the finished design of multi-crop
grater machine. The frame is made of angle
bar as stand and support of the machine.
The perforated cylindrical blade, the inlet
and outlet chute and the casing were made
of stainless sheet to maintain the quality
standards of the products. The perforated
cylindrical blade is detachable for ease in
cleaning.
Figure 19. Finished Design of Multi-Crop
Grater Machine
The electric motor provides the
primary rotary motion required to power the
machine. The motion and torque from the
electric motor are transmitted to the
perforated cylindrical blade via pulleys,
shafts and bearings then the cylindrical
blade rotate. The peeled cassava tubers and
the peeled potato tubers drop from the
loading platform or in the inlet chute section
and reach the grating points by gravity via
the inclined self-loading plates. The grated
cassava and potato drop through the critical gaps
between the perforated cylindrical blade and the
trapezoidal plates through the inclined exit chute
into the receiver. The inclined grated cassava and
potato exits chute are in opposite directions.
The study gave an excellent result in
both crops. The result for cassava gave the higher
grating capacity of 24.15 kg/hr at high speed
operation of 1088 rpm. Also, the potato gave
higher grating capacity of 23.83 kg/hr at high
speed operation.
The mechanically operated multi-crop
grater was found to be more efficient in grating
cassava and potato at high speed operation with
78.20 % and 74.60 % grating efficiency
respectively.
The Actual Grating Operation
The operating time in grating was
measured using a stopwatch. The quality of the
grated cassava and potato tubers was determined
by the amount of the grated crops released in the
exit chute less by the un-grated crop that passes
through the gap between roller blade and drum
hopper. The respective weights of the grated and
un-grated cassava and potato tubers were taken
and recorded.
Figure 20. Actual Grating Operation of Cassava
and Potato
 Table 5 shows the total data
collected per treatment of cassava grates.
The table shows that treatment 1 with rpm
of 1088 has the lowest operating time of
6.58 minutes than treatment 2 with
operating time of 6.84 minutes and
treatment 3 with 7.43 minutes. In the table,
treatment 1 has the lowest total loss of 0.302
kg during the operation and has a high
difference of losses between treatment 2
with total loss of 0.314 kg and treatment 3
with total loss of 0.430 kg. This table also
shows that treatment 1 has a highest total
weight of 2.648 kg grated cassava and has
different result to treatment 2 and treatment 3 with
2.618 kg and 2.524 kg of total weight grated
cassava respectively.
The total weight of different crops used
in every treatment were three (3) kg. After the
process, grated crops and the semi-grated or
ungrated crops were measured including the time
of process from loading the peeled cassava and/or
potato to the inlet chute from the last drop of the
grated pulp in the outlet chute to the basin to
identify the capacity and efficiency of the
machine.

Table 5. Total Data Collected per Treatment – Cassava Grates

TREATMENT Total initial Total Weight Total Total Operating
Weight of Cassava Grated Cassava Losses Time
(kg) (kg) (kg) (min)
T1 3 2.648 0.302 6.58

T2 3 2.618 0.314 6.84

T3 3 2.524 0.430 7.43

Table 6. Total Data Collected per Treatment – Potato Grates

TREATMENT Total initial Total Weight Total Total Operating
Weight of Potato Grated Potato Losses Time
(kg) (kg) (kg) (min)
T1 3 2.558 0.350 6.53

T2 3 2.542 0.340 6.93

T3 3 2.480 0.366 7.09

Table 6 shows the total data
collected per treatment of potato grates. The
table shows that treatment 1 with rpm of
1088 has the lowest operating time of 6.53
minutes while treatment 2 and treatment 3
gave a slight difference in total operating
time of 6.93 minutes and 7.09 minutes. The
table also shows that treatment 1 has a
similar result of total losses of 0.350 kg and
total weight of 2.558 kg of grated potato to
treatment 2 with total losses of 0.340 kg and total
weight of 2.542 kg. Appendix figure 3, shows the
different sizes of losses of the cassava and potato.
After the data collected, the machine clean
and wash by water to proceed to another crop.
 Grating Capacity
Based on the tabulated data as
shown in Table 7 and 8, grating capacity of
the Multi-Crop Grater Machine used in
cassava and potato does have a significant
difference in each other. The machine has a
high grating capacity using treatment 1 with
1088 rpm and slight difference in grating
capacity using medium speed of 870 rpm.
The low speed of 725 rpm shows the lowest
capacity in grating cassava and potato
tubers.
The Analysis of one-way ANOVA
in Appendix Table 1b and 3b. One-way
ANOVA for Three Treatments (Grating
Capacity) for cassava and potato tubers
performed in ASSISTAT showed that there
was a significant difference among the three
treatments as far as grating capacity was
concerned.
The results showed the p-value was
0.0035 for cassava lesser than the significant level
at p=0.05 (0.01<0.0035<0.05). Also, for potato
has p-value of <0.0418 lesser than the significant
level at p=0.05 (0.01<0.0418<0.05). This implies
that using multi-crop grater machine had a
significant difference in comparison to each
treatment used on the considered amount of crop
used in the trial. A Tukey Pairwise comparison
test was performed to determine where such
difference existed. In Appendix Table 1c and 3c.
Tukey Pairwise Comparison test on the (Grating
Capacity) can be observed that the Treatments 1
had different effects to the amount of cassava
grated per hour.
It was observed that the capacity is
directly proportional to its speed and has a higher
capacity of more than 4 kg/hr compared to manual
grating.

Table 7. Grating Capacity of the Multi-Crop Grater Machine– Cassava (kg/hr)

REPLICATION
TREATMENT ____________________________________________ Mean
R1 R2 R3
T1 23.94 24.50 24.00 24.15
T2 22.64 24.51 21.93 23.02
T3 20.80 20.23 20.14 20.39
Note: Actual Average rpm
T1= 1088 rpm T2 = 870 rpm T3 = 725 rpm

Table 8. Grating Capacity of the Multi-Crop Grater Machine– Potato (kg/hr)

REPLICATION
TREATMENT ____________________________________________ Mean
R1 R2 R3
T1 22.26 23.78 25.44 23.83
T2 21.39 22.95 21.76 22.04
T3 20.99 21.29 20.69 20.99
Note: Actual Average rpm
T1= 1088 rpm T2 = 870 rpm T3 = 725 rpm
 Grating Efficiency
Ease of operation in grating cassava
tubers normally differs with different grating
methods used. A higher rate of grating
operation must be possessed by the multi-
crop grater machine in order to have a higher
grating efficiency. The grating efficiency
was measured by using equation 6.
The analysis of variance (ANOVA)
in Appendix Table 2a and 4a. One-way
ANOVA for two Treatments (Grating
Efficiency) performed in ASSISTAT
showed that Treatment 1 has a significant
difference than treatment 2 and treatment 3
as far as grating efficiency is concerned. It
can be observed that the p-value is equal to
<0.001 for both cassava and potato lesser
than the significant level at p=0.05
(0.01<0.001<0.05).
This means that Treatment 1 had
significant difference between two treatments (a
significant effect to the evaluated efficiency of
each other). As shown in Table 5 and 6, there is
a comparatively little in total losses in grating
cassava and potato and high result in the total
weight of grates collected. This implies that
treatment show an efficient result in grating
cassava and potato.
Using Tukey Pairwise Comparison Test,
Treatment 1 has a significant difference in
Treatment 2 and Treatment 3 to the efficiency of
each speed used in operation as shown in
Appendix Table 2b and 4b.

Table 9. Grating Efficiency of the Multi-Crop Grater Machine– Cassava

REPLICATION
TREATMENT ____________________________________________ Mean
R1 R2 R3
T1 76.60% 78.40% 79.60% 78.20%
T2 76.40% 76.00% 78.00% 76.80%
T3 69.00% 69.00% 71.40% 69.80%
Note: Actual Average rpm
T1= 1088 rpm T2 = 870 rpm T3 = 725 rpm

Table 10. Grating Efficiency of the Multi-Crop Grater Machine– Potato

REPLICATION
TREATMENT ____________________________________________ Mean
R1 R2 R3
T1 72.20% 74.40% 77.20% 74.60%
T2 74.00% 71.60% 74.60% 73.40%
T3 46.13% 47.73% 47.07% 46.98%
Note: Actual Average rpm
T1= 1088 rpm T2 = 870 rpm T3 = 725 rpm

Based on the data gathered, as fabricated machine performed an average

shown in Table 9 and 10, the multi-crop
grater machine has the highest efficiency at
higher speed. Grating cassava has efficiency
of 78.20% and grating potato has higher
efficiency of 74.60% at higher speed. The
capacity of 23 kg/hr. This gave this machine an
efficient estimated processing time of 0.043
hr/kg.
Benefit Cost Ratio of the Machine
In determining the feasibility of the
machine, the cost was analyzed and
evaluated. The cost can be computed using
the parameters which include the fixed cost
and variable cost. Fixed cost includes
depreciation, interest on investment and
repair, maintenance cost and tax and
insurance while variable cost includes oil,
electricity, transportation and wages for the
labors.
Variable cost is the cost that
fluctuates directly with the changes in
output. Assumption rate for annual basis is
21% interest, 10% repair and maintenance of
the initial cost and 6% taxes and insurance of
the initial cost. Power consumption was
included in the variable cost since it is
motorized.
The benefit cost ratio was defined as
the ratio of the gross income to the total
operating cost. Appendix table 5e shows the
calculated benefit cost ratio of the multi-crop
grater machine of 1.51 which means the
study was economically feasible.
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