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Theses

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1998 - 19993
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Subject: Agricultural Engineering × Author: KAU × End date: 1999 × Start date: 1998 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development and field evaluation of a cardomom polishing machine
    (Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 1999) Anu, Ray Mathew; KAU; Mohammad, C P
    Cardamom capsules when dried have a dried flower stalk which is hard to be removed by manual operation. For destalkinq, a power operated cardamom polishing machine was developed, tested and its performance was evaluated. A polishing drum with attached wooden blades seperated the dried capsules fed in. from the flower stalk attached and were collected seperately. A single phase 1 hp motor served as power source. A 3-factlJr, factorial experiment in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with drum speed, feed/batch, and retention time as independent variables was performed.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Erodibility and runoff potential of laterite soils under simulated rainfall conditions
    (Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 1999) Sajeena, S; KAU; Kurien, E K
    Soil erosion is one of the most serious environment degradation problems. However reliable measurement of erosion remains limited and estimates of soil productivity are even rarer. Assessing the extent and seriousness of erosion therefore remains a difficult task Nevertheless, identification and assessment of erosion problems could have an important role in influencing better land use and conservation practices. Rainfall simulators are considered as an effective tool in soil conservation research. Simulators make it possible to produce predetermined storms at any desired time and location. They make the replication of research easier and facilitate the study of storm sequences. Laterite soils are by far the most important soil group occurring in Kerala and cover the largest area. The objective of this study was to estimate the erodibility and runoff potential of laterite soils of three well defined series under simulated rainfall conditions. The rainfall simulator designed and fabricated by Kurien and George (1998) was modified for better performance. The modified simulator could produce rainfall intensities varying from 741 to 23.00 cmlh. Also uniformity of the rainfall produced could be increased to higher values of 88.10 and 91.53 per cent, thus giving a better performance. Intensity of rainfall increased as the 11 pressure of supply water to the simulator increased and a relationship was established between intensity and the supply pressure of water as 1= -87.205 p2 + 108.61 P - 10.786 (R = 0.99) Experiments were also conducted to study soil loss and runoff from three different series of laterite soils, i.e.Mannamkulam series, Naduvattom series and Vellanikkara series. The soil loss and runoff increased with increase in the rainfall intensity for all slopes studied for each series of soil. A general trend of increase In soil loss and runoff with increase in the slope was observed for all the three series of soils. Empirical equations were developed for estimating soil loss (E) and runoff (0) for various intensities of rainfall and land slopes for the three series of soils selected for the study. The equations are: Mannamkulam series E = 1167.797 I + 835.109 S - 21686.07 (R = 0.90) Q = 65.0161 + 16.747 S - 235.923 (R = 0.99) Naduvattom series E = 324.766 I + 112.799 S - 3912.219 (R = 0.97) Q = 74.542 1+19.434 S - 394.323 (R = 0.99) Vellanikkara series E = 115.662 I + 431. 064 S - 11512.284 (R = 0.98) Q = 58.742 I + 26.837 S - 310.019 (R = 0.99) ii1
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Performance evaluation of high discharge low head pumps
    (Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 1998) Rini Rani, S; KAU; John Thomas, K
    Paddy cultivation in Kuttanad and Kole lands is made possible only after large scale dewatering operations. These water logged lands have to be drained in the shortest possible time to initiate seed bed preparation. The short time available for seed bed preparation need adoption of high discharge low head pumps. The most commonly used centrifugal pump is incapable of giving corresponding increase in discharge rate even if the lift required is reduced to a minimum. So this study was undertaken to help to identify a suitable portable pump for meeting the specific requirement of drainage in Kerala. Mixed flow and axial flow pumps imported from Thailand were used for this purpose. The study included testing of lS-cm mixed and axial flow pump at the specially designed and constructed test bed at different speeds and at different water levels in the pumping sump. For each test, from the data obtained discharge, input power and efficiency were calculated. Using the calculated values performance characteristic curves were plotted and regression equations were developed for discharge efficiency, discharge - total head and discharge - input power relationship at each speed. Performance curves were also plotted keeping total static head const ant and regression equations of speed - discharge, speed - total head, speed - input power and speed efficiency relationships were developed. The maximum efficiency of IS-cm mixed flow pump was 42.16 per cent at a speed of 1000 rev/min, against a total head of 217.33 cm and a discharge rate of 49.47 L/s. The input power corresponding to this efficiency was 3.4 hp. The best performance of mixed flow pump was noted at a working speed of 1000 rev/min. The maximum efficiency of IS-cm axial flow pump tested was only 18.05 per cent at a total head of 160.55 cm and a discharge of 24.88 L/s. The corresponding speed was 2500 rev/min and input power was 2.95 hp. The best performance of axial flow pump was noted at a working speed of 2500 rev/min.