Design of a Flour Milling Machine (Disk Mill) for Household Scale Industry with a Capacity of 180 Kg/Hour

Abstract

The background of this research is the high demand for wheat flour made from local food commodities such as corn, rice, and cassava as an alternative to imported wheat flour. One of the main challenges for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is the lack of affordable and efficient flour milling machines suitable for household-scale production. This research aims to design and develop a disk mill type flour milling machine with a target capacity of 180 kg/hour and to evaluate its performance by testing corn with various moisture contents. The research method consists of several stages, including design planning using SolidWorks 2021, fabrication of the machine frame and components, assembly, and performance testing. The machine is designed using a Honda CX 200 gasoline engine with a power of 6.5​​HP, Transmission system (3”:3”), and 100 mesh sieve. The test results showed that the highest capacity achieved was 71.4 kg/hour at 10% moisture content, 48.0 kg/hour at 16% moisture content, and 38.1 kg/hour at 23% moisture content. This finding indicates that the moisture content of the material has a significant effect on the machine capacity, and its actual performance is still below the target design capacity. The conclusion of this study is that the designed disk mill machine can be used to grind corn into flour, but further optimization is needed on the ratio, disc geometry, and material conditions required to approach the target. capacity