Development of Blender-Hammer Mill for Multipurpose Use

Abstract

Few problems that have been identified with most of the existing developed blending and hammering machines/mills was strengthening on to achieved better performance. The aim of this project is to develop a blender-hammer crushing machine suitable for domestic and laboratory use for production of fine paste and coarse aggregates. The design was based on elimination of metal to metal contact, contamination of grinded material and excessive vibration. The blender-hammer mill consists of the following components; inlet hopper, grinding chamber, a combined crushing hammer blades vertically set and blending blade that are horizontally fixed. The mill was constructed from locally sourced martensitic stainless steel 420 series. A sieve was introduced beneath the hammer chamber to sieve the ground mass. The main shaft was mounted on two sealed ball bearings, and it rotates at speed of 2880 rpm transmitted by two 'B'V belt driven from a 3.75-kilowatt electric motor. The results showed that better efficiency for both dry corn and cassava. We conclude that a blender hammer machine developed is capable of grinding grains legumes, dry cassava, and yams into fine and coarse aggregates.