Bio-diversity

The overall objective of this project is to design, manufacture and commission a vibrating sieve that is required to overcome a process problem currently being experienced by a Gabane Community Based Project that processes morula fruit into pulp. The problem is that during the separation of skin and flesh of the morula fruit from the stones (seeds) in the macerator, some very small seeds are collected along the skin and flesh and are fed into the colloid mill for processing into a homogeneous thick paste. These undesired stones present, which are a hard wood, then cause damage to the blades and block parts of this very expensive machine. The proposed project will be carried out through the design of the sieve, the motor responsible for the vibration, selection of appropriate materials, detailed component design and manufacture, and redesign of the manufacturing process. The project team anticipates that the proposed design of the vibrating sieve will be able to trap all the seeds (At present women workers are using their bare hands to separate the seeds from the morula pulp as shown in fig 1. In addition safety are highly compromised,thus preventing them from entering into the mill where they cause damage to the blades. This will ensure optimum machine availability which leads to increase in productivity through minimization of breakdowns. This project is significant in that through enhancing the productivity of the manufacturing facility, but also reduces the maintenance/replacement cost of the Milling machine and guarantees employment to people in that community who are mostly women and thus raising their standard of living.

Botswana