STUDENT INNOVATION: DEVELOP TEMPE FERMENTATION TECHNOLOGY TOOLS
Teknokrat University PTS ASEAN continues to support its students so they can develop innovation and technology that can benefit society. Zainal Arifin, an undergraduate student in Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, succeeded in developing a technological innovation to speed up tempe fermentation. This tool is intended to speed up the temperature fermentation process compared to the conventional fermentation process, which usually takes 2-3 days or even more if the weather is unstable. This fermentation tool applies technology by using lights as a heater and a fan as a cooler, which can be monitored automatically, which is connected using a microcontroller embedded system, and can determine the maturity level of the tempe based on the weight loss of the tempe and the visual image of the tempe. The results of the research, which was tested seven times, showed that the fastest fermentation time was 17 hours and the longest time was 26 hours, with a reduction in tempe weight of 5 grams when the tempe was ready, with the criteria that the tempe had grown mold evenly and had no smell or rot. This research was accompanied by Electrical Engineering Lecturer Jaka Persada Sembiring, S.Kom., M.Cs., and Elka Pranita, S.Pd., M.T., as supervisors. In the future, the results of this research will be developed and refined further and will then be applied in tempe manufacturing factories to help meet the needs of the community in running MSME businesses in Bandar Lampung. Deputy Chancellor of the Teknokrat University, Dr. H. Mahathir Muhammad, SE., MM. We welcome the results of students’ work, which can later help facilitate business or community work. “Teknokrat University will continue to strive to support and facilitate its students so they can develop their interests and talents, as well as ideas for developing innovations like this.” Said Dr. Mahathir.
