Marinduque college develops banana-chipping machine
September 26, 2004 | 12:00am
A machine that may yet revolutionize the local banana chips industry has been developed.
The machine was designed by an inventor of the Marinduque State College-School of Engineering and Technology (MSC-SET) in Boac, Marinduque.
The MSC-SET faculty researcher, Manuel Malapad, said his compact, electricity-run invention, which weighs only 10 kilograms, is appropriate for village-level processing enterprises and family households.
The device was exhibited by MSC during the Asia-Pacific Conference on Higher Education Research held recently at the Manila Hotel.
MSC, currently headed by officer-in-charge Dr. Victor Vitto Sr., is a member-agency of the Southern Tagalog Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (STARRDEC), one of the 14 government regional R&D consortia coordinated by the Los Baños-based Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD).
Dr. Carlos J. Andam, MSC vice president, said the machine had earlier been cited during the college’s first research review this year for its simplicity, speed, and affordability.
For instance, it can cut a piece of saba (the raw material for banana chips) into one-millimeter pieces in 7.5 seconds. The common manual chipper currently in use takes about 20 seconds to do the same.
The new prototype machine was subsequently been tested using 50 kg of saba for banana chips acceptable in the world market. Its slicing or chipping speed was compared with that of a manually operated one.
"In the three chipping trials conducted, the machine’s speed was three times faster than that of a commercially available manual chipper used by some households," noted Dr. Andam and PCARRD’s Ofelia Domingo in a joint report.
They added that the material cost in the development of the prototype was only about P3,000.
The invention is expected to revolutionize the local banana chips industry. Banana chips ranked first in the country’s exports of dried fruits in 1994, with 15.4 tons valued at $16 million, according to government records. – Rudy A. Fernandez
The machine was designed by an inventor of the Marinduque State College-School of Engineering and Technology (MSC-SET) in Boac, Marinduque.
The MSC-SET faculty researcher, Manuel Malapad, said his compact, electricity-run invention, which weighs only 10 kilograms, is appropriate for village-level processing enterprises and family households.
The device was exhibited by MSC during the Asia-Pacific Conference on Higher Education Research held recently at the Manila Hotel.
MSC, currently headed by officer-in-charge Dr. Victor Vitto Sr., is a member-agency of the Southern Tagalog Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (STARRDEC), one of the 14 government regional R&D consortia coordinated by the Los Baños-based Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD).
Dr. Carlos J. Andam, MSC vice president, said the machine had earlier been cited during the college’s first research review this year for its simplicity, speed, and affordability.
For instance, it can cut a piece of saba (the raw material for banana chips) into one-millimeter pieces in 7.5 seconds. The common manual chipper currently in use takes about 20 seconds to do the same.
The new prototype machine was subsequently been tested using 50 kg of saba for banana chips acceptable in the world market. Its slicing or chipping speed was compared with that of a manually operated one.
"In the three chipping trials conducted, the machine’s speed was three times faster than that of a commercially available manual chipper used by some households," noted Dr. Andam and PCARRD’s Ofelia Domingo in a joint report.
They added that the material cost in the development of the prototype was only about P3,000.
The invention is expected to revolutionize the local banana chips industry. Banana chips ranked first in the country’s exports of dried fruits in 1994, with 15.4 tons valued at $16 million, according to government records. – Rudy A. Fernandez
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