Banana Flakes: Design of Controlling Molding Machine based on Proximity Sensors

: Banana flakes can be an alternative of nutrient-rich breakfast. It had been developed by PPTTG LIPI since 2016 and was carried out on a laboratory scale production. The scaling up was constrained at the cutting stage. The sticky properties of the dough required a 2-stages roasting treatment before become flakes. The cutting process manually on the dough that was flattened on a special grill paper. In this study, a control was developed using a Programmable Logic Control (PLC). The banana flakes molding machine consists of three main parts, the oil spray, the dough molding part, and the cutting part. Each part had a proximity sensor as a detector the presence of baking sheets which became inputs for the PLC. The sensor on the spraying part will control the electric pump oil. And the sensor on the molding part of the dough and the cutter will control the solenoid valve. Solenoid valve will transmits pneumatic power from the compressor to drive the dough molding and cutting. A simulation using CX programmer software to ensure the rate of the spraying part and the cutting part meet the rate of the dough molding.