Prototype Design and Performance Analysis of a Sieving Machine for Improved Food-slurry Processing in Nigeria

This study is on the modification and improvement of an "Ogi" (ground corn slurry) sieving machine that was earlier designed based on suction principle. A vibration machine for the sieving of a major staple food and primary infant diet in many countries in Africa popularly known as "Ogi" has been fabricated in this work. Experimental performance tests were carried out using the modified machine and the results were compared with the conventional or manual sieving process. In Nigeria, and many African countries, the domestic and medium-scale processing of various food slurry such as those for corn, sorghum, soya beans and millet have been done manually over the years with little or no technological development. These manual processes are associated with obvious constraints such as excessive length of time, tedium and boredom coupled with inherent unhygienic conditions surrounding these processes. Results showed that the newly designed vibration sieving machine was more efficient than the manual process. It had an average filtration rate of 1.6 x10^-5 m³/s against 8.68x10^-6 m³/s for the manual method, thereby bringing about over 82% improvement over the manual sieving process. Hence, this work presents a remarkable contribution to the processing of various staple foods in Nigeria and Africa as a whole by applying the principles of vibration to the design of new sieving equipment.