The ITS Community Service Program Team with one of the MSME activists, Fery Kurnia Sandy (center) after a tool grant

ITS Campus, ITS News – The Community Service Lecture and Community Service (KKN Abmas) Team of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) designed aportable coffee bean roasting machine for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the Kebomas area, Gresik.

The head of the ITS KKN Abmas team, Ir Ahmad Fauzan ‘Adziimaa ST MSc, explained that this tool was initiated to prevent losses experienced by MSMEs when they wanted to supply coffee beans in large quantities. This is because the determination of the quality of the coffee beans you want to buy can only be seen through the sampling or roasting process. “Quality coffee beans and a more efficient process can certainly increase MSMEs’ profits,” said the lecturer who is familiarly called Fauzan.

For this reason, a portable roaster machine equipped with an Internet of Things (IoT) based display was initiated. “We have also prepared an application called Blynk for monitoring, the application can be downloaded on the AppStore and PlayStore,” explained the ITS Instrumentation Engineering Department lecturer.

Detailed LCD display of a portable coffee bean roaster machine made by the ITS KKN Abmas ITS team

With this application, users can easily monitor the temperature, time and roasting speed via their smartphone. In designing it, the ITS KKN Abmas team first analyzed the needs of MSMEs and made designs according to their needs. Furthermore, several trials and errors were carried out so that the machine has the same function as a coffee bean roasting machine in general.

According to Fauzan, the process of converting a large capacity coffee bean roaster into a small capacity machine is not an easy thing. The placement of each component needs to be considered in order to function optimally. “This machine uses portable gas cylinders with a maximum capacity of 200 grams and a roasting time of 8-15 minutes,” he explained.

In addition, according to Fauzan, the roasting results of this machine are considered very satisfactory. Besides being able to be used as a sampling tool, this tool is also able to determine the type of coffee that is suitable for each roasted bean. “This machine shows whether the coffee beans are suitable for making espresso, filters, or other types of coffee,” he said.

The ITS KKN team is currently trying roasted coffee using a portable machine

How to use this machine is very easy. First, the user must turn on the machine and enter the coffee beans to be roasted. Furthermore, users can open the Blynk application on their cellphone to set the desired temperature and revolutions per minute (rpm). “Finally, they (users, red) only need to wait for a notification from their cellphone which will indicate that the roasting process is over,” he admits.

The activity which took place last August was attended by eight students from the Department of Instrumentation Engineering. Even though there were difficulties in detailing the technical fabrication and data communication systems, this community service activity was able to run smoothly thanks to the contribution of all the elements in it.

In the future, the ITS KKN Abmas team plans to educate coffee farmers about this roasting machine. “We hope this tool can help MSMEs in getting good quality coffee beans as well as marketing their coffee crops,” he concluded. (ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Erchi Ad’ha Loyensya