Browsing by Author "Amuaku, Randy"

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    Cutting resistance assessment for three varieties of cassava roots
    (Journal of the Ghana Institution of Engineering, 2023-11-27) Amoah, Francis; Asante, Eric Amoah; Amuaku, Randy; Bobobee, Emmanuel Yaovi Hunnuor
    In this study, a model has been developed to assess the peel and root resistance to cutting. The evaluation was done with knife thicknesses of 1.0 mm, 1.5 mm and 2.0 mm using Duade kpakpa, Dudze and Sika bankye cassava varieties as experimental samples for three postharvest delays. The knife penetrated the tuber at 50 mm, 100 mm and 150 mm away from the proximal end. An average peel thickness obtained was in the range of 1.81 mm – 3.01 mm. The average diameters recorded ranged from 52.52 mm to 60.40 mm. The cutting resistance assessed for the Duade kpakpa, Sika bankye and Dudze cassava peels were 44.85 N, 50.01 N and 53.53 N, respectively with no significant differences (p < 0.05). The penetration resistance of the tuber decreased with increasing postharvest delay and increased with increasing knife thickness. The effect of the treatments on the response variables evaluated by factorial analysis showed that significant differences generally decrease with increasing interaction. Comparing the results, cutting resistances of 229.02 N, 223.09 N and 204.43 N in maximum were obtained for the Dudze, Sika bankye and Duade kpakpa cassava roots, respectively. The quantitative assessment by the PLSR model under the knife thicknesses (R2 = 0.9689; RMSE = 2.1020) was significantly better than the PLSR model under postharvest delay (R2 = 0.7845; RMSE = 4.0183). The technique employed in assessing the cutting resistance emphasized the cultivar differences and provided a measuring sequence and outstanding quantitative analysis.
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    Development and evaluation of agro-waste composite for sound insulation
    (Journal of the Ghana Institution of Engineering, 2023-11-30) Amuaku, Randy; Amanor, Godwin K.; Adu-Gyamfi, Fehrs; Asante, Eric Amoah; Kweitsu, Eric; Opare, Samuel
    The palm kernel shell is a by-product of palm kernel oil production and is commonly used in the natural biomass energy industry. Coconut husk fibre is extracted from the coconut fruit. To find a use for palm kernel shells and coconut husk fibre, a composite insulator plate was developed by the addition of a binder through a process of grinding, sieving, mixing, heating, hot-pressing and cooling in a mould. An Ahuja speaker AU60 was fixed at one end of a baffled tube and a sound level meter was placed 2 m away from the output to record sound transmission loss at 5s intervals for twenty minutes. The plates of 3, 4, 5, and, 6 mm thickness were fixed in the baffled tube at a distance of 475 mm away from the input one after the other to filter the input sound. The results showed that the setup without a composite insulator recorded the highest noise of 226.8 dB. The average recorded sound transmitted loss was 185.40, 72.47, 74.54, 76.06, and 82.85 dB for no insulator, 3, 4, 5 and, 6 mm composite insulators respectively. The introduction of the 3, 4, 5, and, 6 mm thickness composite insulators resulted in 55.3 %, 59.0 %, 59.8 % and 60.9 % reduction in noise level. The application of agro-waste composite material as a sound insulator in a baffled tube has proven to be effective by 58.7 % on average. The study has confirmed that agro-waste materials can be used in sound insulation applications.