DESIGN, FABRICATION AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF PEDAL OPERATED GROUNDNUT DECORTICATOR

Department: AGRICULTURAL AND BIO-ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

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ABSTRACT

Table of Content


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover Page  
Title Page 
Certification 
Dedication
Acknowledgements 
Abstract 
Table of Contents
List of Tables 
List of Figures
List of Plates
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1    Background to the Study
1.2    Statement of the Problems
1.3    Objective of the Project
1.4    Justification of the Project
1.5    Scope of the Study 
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 
2.1    Physical Properties of Groundnut 
2.1.1    Determination of Size
2.1.2    Determination of Coefficient of Friction 
2.1.3    Determination of Moisture Content
2.1.4    Angle of Repose
2.1.5    Porosity 
2.1.6    Surface Area
2.2    History of Groundnut in Nigeria 
2.3    Agronomy of Groundnut 
2.4    Post Harvest Losses of Groundnut Seeds 
2.5    Economic Importance of Groundnut Seed 
2.6    Factor Affecting Shelling Operation  
2.6.1    Cylinder-Concave Clearance
2.6.2    Sieve Shake
2.7    Description of some Threshing Equipment 
2.7.1    Maize Sheller
2.7.2    Maize Dehusker-cum Sheller: 
2.7.3:    Hand Maize Sheller
2.7.4        Groundnut Striper 
2.7.5:       Groundnut Thresher 
2.7.6:       Groundnut Decorticator Manually Operated
2.7.7       Power Operated Groundnut Decorticator 
2.7.8        Pedal Operated Thresher (Paddy Thresher): 
2.8    Terminology Related to Thresher 
2.8.1    Feed Rate
2.8.2    Clean Grain
2.8.3    Concave Clearance 
2.8.4    Cleaning Efficiency
2.8.5    Threshing Efficiency 
2.9     Review of Existing work
CHAPTER THREE: MATERIAL AND METHODS   
3.1    Physical Properties of Biological Materials 
3.1.1    Sample Preparation
3.1.2    Determination of Size and Shape
3.1.3    Determination of Moisture Content 
3.1.4    Determination of Mass, Volume and Density
3.1.5    Determination of Coefficient of Static Friction
3.1.6    Determination of Angle of Repose
3.2    Description of the Groundnut Pedal Operated Machine
3.3    Design Consideration 
3.4    Design Calculation and Analysis
3.4.1    Design for Hopper
3.4.2.     Design for Decorticating Unit
3.4.3    Design of Chain Drive
3.4.3.1    Determination of Chain Length between the Pedal and Idler Shaft 
3.4.3.2    Determination of Chain Length Between the Idler Shaft and Decorticating Shaft 
3.4.3.3    Determination of Chain Length Between the Idler Shaft and Blower Shaft 
3.5    Material Selection 
3.6    Fabrication Procedure and Assembly
3.6.1    Fabrication of Main Frame
3.6.2    Fabrication of Hopper
3.6.3    Fabrication of Bicycle Pedal and Chain Drive
3.6.4    Fabrication of Decorticating Drum
3.6.5    Decorticating Screen
3.6.6    Operator Seat 
3.6.7    Aluminum Spike Tooth 
3.7    Principle of Operation of the Machine 
3.8    Cost Analysis 
3.9    Performance Evaluation
3.9.1    Sourcing of Experimental Material 
3.9.2    Sample Preparation
3.9.3    Experimental Procedure
3.9.4    Instrumentation Used for the Experiment
3.9.5    Design Layout 
3.9.6    Output Parameter
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION   
4.0    Results And Discussion 
4.1    Results 
4.2.    Discussion 
4.2.1     Physical Properties of Groundnut Pods 
4.2.2    Effect of Operator Parameter Threshing Efficiency 
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS   
5.1    Conclusions 
5.2    Recommendations
References  
Appendix A 
Appendix B 


ABSTRACT
Shelling of groundnut pods (Arachis hypegea) by hand is tedious, laborious and unhygienic with low efficiencies. As a result farmer get low income due to amount of broken kernels and a lot of time is lost in the tedious shelling operation. To overcome this problem, pertinent parameters that influence shelling efficiency of pedal operated groundnut decorticator were identified. Pedal operated decorticator were designed and fabricated with chain and sprocket of bicycle and aluminum spike tooth is used and evaluation was done in the department of Agricultural and Bio-Environmental Engineering Technology, Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin because it was affordable and locally fabricated. A rotary motion mechanism was employed to drive the decorticating drum while concave screen was fixed. The selection of the screen aperture was based on the size and shape of the groundnut seed. The factors considered in this project work were feed rate and operators characteristics (height, weight and knuckle lengths). The evaluation of machine was conducted while time was taken for each tests. The result of the pedal operated groundnut decorticator revealed that operator III has the maximum shelling efficiency of 65% was achieved at 9minutes, 16 seconds and breakage of 9% and throughput capacity of 15.3kg/hr. Operator II was the optimum shelling efficiency of 56% at 12 minutes 44 seconds and breakage of 8% and throughput capacity of 14kg/hr. Operator I has the minimum shelling efficiency of 47% at 11 minutes 44 seconds and breakage of 16% and throughput capacity of 15kg/hr. The total amount used for the fabrication of the pedal operated groundnut decorticator was totaled to Ninety-two Thousand and Seven Hundred Naira only (N92,700.00). The result of the fabricator implies that the characteristics of Operator III is recommended to farmers who shell for seed can now obtained more seed shelled with low breakage and will get more income.

CHAPTER 1


CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1    Background to the Study
Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) is a species in the legume or beans family (Ashish and Handa, 2014; Atiku et al., 2014).  It was first cultivated in Peru. Its seed contain about 63% carbohydrate, 19% protein and 6.5% oil. Groundnuts are grown in tropical and subtropical climate regions and warmer parts of temperature regions and it is low growing annual plant and has a variety of uses.  Prior to its usage however groundnut need to undergo preprocessing which include drying and shelling.  Removing of kernels from the pod is generally referred to as shelling or “decorticating” (Maduako et al., 2006).  In Nigeria groundnut is mainly decorticate by hands (traditional method).  This method is not hygienic as dirt from hands and mouth could pose health risk from the nuts. (FAO. 2001).
Shelling is a fundamental step in groundnut processing as it allows the kernel and hull to be used as well as other post harvesting technologies to take place such as oil extraction or in hull briquetting (Pradhana et al., 2010). Shelling is usually carried out on the farm just before the farmer sells his product for the following reasons: Kernel do not store as well as nuts in the shell and groundnuts in the shell are fifty per cent heavier than kernels alone and therefore costlier to transport. Shelling can generally be done by hand or machine. Hand shelling is the process in which the pod is pressed between the thumb and first finger so that the kernel is released.  In mechanization now we use large and smaller machinery for groundnut shelling. These machines are used in industries where large production is required. There are different methods of shelling and different machines have been fabricated and used to shell wide variety of crops under different conditions (Nyeaanga et al., 2003., Atiku et al., 2004; Gitau et al., 2013; and Maduako et al., 2006).  The peasant farmer cannot afford this machine because they are too costly and complex in operation and maintenance.  Also the operator had to be trained and spare part imported.  These factor increase the overall cost production which does not make any economic sense to the farmer.

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