Design and development of pedal operated maize sheller
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Date
2016
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Publisher
CCSHAU
Abstract
In India, Maize (Zea mays) is an important crop after the rice and wheat. Many
farmers grow maize but could not afford the cost of acquiring some of the imported threshing
machines because of their cost. Such people resort to manual means of threshing which results
into low efficiency, high level of wastage and exerting of much labor. This machine was
constructed to shell maize and separate the cob from the grains. It was constructed from locally
available materials and its cost is low and affordable. The operating speed of pedal operated
maize sheller was optimized for its operation at higher operating speeds in pedaling mode. Effect
of operational parameters of pedal operated maize sheller i.e. shelling disc r.p.m. (80, 130, 150,
230 and 280) and moisture content (7, 9, 11, 13 and 15%) of maize on machine capacity (kg/h),
unshelled grain (%), mechanically damaged grain (%), shelling efficiency (%) and cleaned outlet
grain (%) were studied. The capacity of machine was maximum 56.71 kg/h with maximum
shelling efficiency and cleaned outlet grain i.e. 99.25 (%) and 98.45 (%) respectively and
minimum mechanically damaged i.e. 3.88 % at shelling disc r.p.m (180 r.p.m) and moisture
content of maize was 9 %. After the optimization of operational parameters of the machine using
RSM, the results were found that capacity of machine and shelling efficiency were maximum i.e.
65.92 and 99.60 % respectively and mechanically damage was minimum i.e. 4.77 % at 216.4
shelling disc r.p.m and 8.17 % moisture content of maize.