Design and Development of Young Areca Nut Slicing Machine

Abstract

The selling price of thinly sliced young areca nut is higher than that round areca and splited areca nut, but the manual slicing process takes a long time, about 8 minutes/kg, and this process has a high risk. The young areca nut slicing machine was developed to solve the problem of manual slicing. The purpose of the research is to conduct machine design, machine testing (verification test, machine performance test, service test), and economic analysis. The young areca nut slicing machine was made and tested at the Metal Workshop and Agricultural Machine Tool Laboratory of the Payakumbuh State Agricultural Polytechnic from June to September 2021. The machine was made according to structural and functional designs. Verification tests were carried out with the aim of technically matching the data with the results of machine measurements. Parameter measurements were carried out to explain the performance of the young areca slicing machine. The parameters measured were: slicing capacity, slicing quality (average thickness and percentage of damage), specific power requirements, and power transmission efficiency. Economic analysis was carried out to explain fixed costs, variable costs, basic costs, and the break-even point. The results of the verification of the areca nut slicing machine are that with vertical type, specifications 65 x 45 x 75) cm, the driving motor is a 1 HP electric motor with a rotation speed of 1480 RPM that is transmitted through a v-belt connected to a pulley speed reducer and transmitted via a v-belt to slicer shaft. The results of the slicing capacity performance test are 50 kg/hour, slicing quality (4.2 mm thickness, and 8 percent broken percentage), the specific power requirement is 0.015 kw-hour/kg and the power transmission efficiency of 8.6%. The results of the economic analysis of the areca nut slicing machine are: fixed costs of IDR of 1,425,000/year, variable costs of IDR 11,397/hour, basic cost of IDR 239,8/kg, and the break-even point of IDR 1.845,7 kg/year. The developed areca nut slicing machine can increase the capacity, quality, and effectiveness of slicing young areca nut.