ABSTRACT

Yam is a daily nutritional food requirement for man, which can be prepared for consumption in several ways, one of which is the “pounded yam”. Over the years, man have been facing the problem of yam pounding operation and this has resulted into pounding yam using bare hands through the help of mortar and pestle. This process is time consuming and less efficient as a result, many families who do not know how to pound yam end up not eating pounded yam. In order to facilitate the processing of pounded yam for consumption, a yam pounding machine has been developed using mainly some locally sourced materials.

Mild steel material and galvanized sheet was used in the design of the machine based on its availability, strength, appearance, cost, and corrosion resistance. The machine consists of a shaft, bearings, electric motor and its control circuit, yam beaters, bowl and the frame. The machine was developed to enhance the hygienic processing of yam for domestic consumption, while eliminating the tedious and laborious indigenous process of preparing pounded yam.

The end product of the yam to be pounded by the machine is expected to have the same quality as the ones that are pounded through indigenous process. The maximum volume of yam pounded was gotten to be 1919120.414mm3 while a power requirement of 1hp was needed to drive the machine. From experiments, , the crushing pressure of boiled yam was found to be “17.59N/cm2” while the density of yam before and after boiling was found to be “1.25*10-3kg/cm3” and “1.95*10-3kg/cm3” respectively. From study & survey, white yam produced the desired texture at a density of “0.00111kg/cm3”.