Abstract

Domestic extraction of oil from different types of seeds and agricultural products is a common practice in many agricultural countries. Consumers depend mostly on local mills to extract the desired oil from different agricultural products in those countries which involves few difficulties and limitations. Consumer surveys were conducted locally to identify the related difficulties associated with the oil extraction processes. From consumer surveys, it was identified that, poor oil extraction efficiency, high power consumption, large space requirements, high purchasing cost and lack of portability due to increased weight are the most common problems in locally available oil expeller machines. Since these problems are highly prominent in those available machines, an improved screw type oil expeller machine was designed for domestic uses considering the consumer requirements. Focusing on the improvement of oil extraction efficiency (OEE) and elimination of those existing difficulties, few necessary modifications were done while designing the product using Taguchi design methodology and design of experiments (DOE). Consequently, structural analysis for different parts of the product based on its operating conditions were performed using ANSYS^TM before developing the product. Finally, the conclusion and scope of improvements are presented.