DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF RAGI MILLET MAKING MACHINE

Ragi is used most commonly as south Indian food. The ragi ball is most important part of the food for most of the people. Ragi is potentially the best source of calcium and a good source of protein as well. The ragi dough can be made effectively by eliminating the dough matter. In this project, the ragi ball is made by combining beaters/agitator and screw extruder. The beaters helps in continuous mixing of the ragi dough at proportionate quantity. The extruder is used to fill the die with ragi dough so as to get the shape of the die (spherical). Continuous heating is done so as to maintain the desired characteristics of the ball. The density of the dough at the start of the heat and that of the ball must be checked always so as to maintain the same quality all the time. Due to the intense manual handling and care involved in preparing the ragi ball, most of the people have discontinued ragi ball as a part of their meals. If care is not taken while preparing the ragi ball uneven cooking of the ragi flour happens which results in bad taste and unsuitable for consumption. An attempt to eliminate the complications involved in making a ragi ball has been made by developing a machine which makes ragi ball. The developed machine must be able to meet the desired requirements and maintain uniform taste all the time.