M Arshadul Hoque
Senior Scientific Officer
Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division,
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur-1701.
M Ayub Hossain
Principle Scientific Officer
Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division,
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute,
Gazipur-1701.
M Abdul Wohab
Principle Scientific Officer
Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division,
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute,
Gazipur-1701.
M Nurul Amin
Senior Scientific Officer
Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division,
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute,
Gazipur-1701.
M Shoeb Hassan
Chief Scientific Officer
Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division,
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute,
Gazipur-1701.
A manual reciprocating type groundnut sheller was designed and fabricated in Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division (FMPE), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur during 2009-2010. The sheller was fabricated with MS angle bar, MS flat bar, MS rod, MS sheet, MS wire, rubber pad etc. Clearance between rubber pad and sieve can be changed by adjustable screw. Handle of the sheller was redesigned to reduce the forces and make operation easy. An inlet hopper was designed to get uniform supply inside the operational chamber. When continuous operation was considered, the maximum shelling capacities were 133 and 80kg/h for Dhaka-1 and Tridana Badam respectively. Allowing 5 minutes break time of operator, after 15 minutes operation, shelling capacities were 100 and 60 kg/h for Dhaka-1 and Tridana Badam respectively. The maximum breakage was found to be 2% at 12 mm concave clearance and 13.5% moisture content (wb) of Dhaka-1. The unshelled percentage was 10% for Dhaka-1. It was found that the maximum shelling efficiency and minimum breakage were 99% and 1% at 13% moisture content (wb) of Tridana Badam respectively.
Capacity, efficiency, groundnut, groundnut sheller, manual
Farm Mechanization
(i) To design and develop a oscillating type manual groundnut sheller
(ii) To test the performance of the sheller
A groundnut sheller was designed and fabricated at the workshop of the Farm Machinery Division of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Joydebpur, Gazipur. It was made of locally available materials to make it low cost. Efforts were made to keep the mechanism and operation of the machine as simple as possible. The materials used for the fabrication of different parts of the machine were MS angle bar, MS flat bar, MS rod, MS sheet, MS shaft, rubber pad, ball-bearing, and other small items. A concave was made with 10 × 24 mm size sieve. The data were collected according to the RNAM test code. The performance test of reciprocating manual groundnut sheller was done with Dhaka-1 and Tridana Badam (DM-1) from local market of Gazipur Sadar. Sun derided groundnut were weighed and made samples. One man or woman can oscillate the rubber pad of the concave of the sieve by forcing on the handle. The concave can set in three different clearances 12 mm, 11mm and 10 mm. Machine was operated to observe the capacity, breakage and efficiency.
Research Report
(i) The manual groundnut sheller was operated without any trouble.
(ii) The maximum shelling capacity was 133 kg/h and 80kg/h for Dhaka-1 and Tridana Badam respectively, when continuous operation was considered.
(iii) But considering 5 minutes break time for operator after each 15 minutes operation, shelling capacity was 100 kg/h and 60 kg/h for Dhaka-1 and Tridana Badam respectively.
(iv) The maximum breakage was found 2% at 12 mm concave clearance and 13.5% moisture content (wb).
(v) This might be due to under seized samples (less than 10 mm diameter).
(vi) It was found that the maximum shelling efficiency and minimum breakage were 99% and 1% at 13% moisture content (wb) of Tridana Badam.
(vii) The unshelled percentage was 10% for Dhaka-1.
Journal, Report/Proceedings, Booklet/Leaflet