DEVELOPING AND EVALUATION OF A SHELLING/CRACKING MACHINE SOME AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS - (SHELLING OF JATROPHA FRUITS)

Mousa, Ahmed M.

doi:10.21608/mjae.2018.95533

DEVELOPING AND EVALUATION OF A SHELLING/CRACKING MACHINE SOME AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS - (SHELLING OF JATROPHA FRUITS)

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Ahmed M. Mousa

Lecturer; Agric. Mach. & Power Eng. Dept.; Fac. of Agric. Eng.; Al-Azhar Univ.; Cairo; Egypt.

10.21608/mjae.2018.95533

Abstract

This study aims to develop a shelling/cracking machine for dry agricultural products and evaluate performance of developed machine for shelling of Jatropha curcas L. fruits (JCFs) cultivated in Egypt. All shelling experiments of JCFs were carried out at average moisture content of 11.45, 8.48 and 13.89 % (d.b.) for whole fruits, seeds and shells, resp. The results showed that the suggested design of the prototype achieved high efficiency in shelling of JCFs. Under the tested speed range[200 (2.094) to 600 rpm (6.283 m/s)] and the tested clearance range [12 to 16 mm], the shelling efficiency of JCFs gradually increased with increasing the tested speeds and decreasing the clearances. The speed of 600 rpm is the optimal for the shelling efficiency at clearance of 12 mm. Under the tested sample mass range[250 to 1500 g], the results showed that the mass sample of 1000 g is the optimal for shelling efficiency and productivity of machine, whereas; the mean values of broken seeds percentage (%-age) were not significantunder the tested sample mass range. Also; the results revealed that the highest value of machine productivity was 226.08 kg/h. Meanwhile; the average values of shelling efficiency, %-age of broken seeds, unshelled fruits and intact seeds were 95.90, 0.43, 4.10 and 57.93 %, resp. Further; the mean values of power consumption and specific energy requirement were 694.95 W and 3.07 W.h/kg, resp. In addition to the level of emitted noise from developed machine was 97.2 dB and should be reduced to the permissible limits (90 dB) at exposure period of 8 h/day.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Agricultural Power and Machinery Engineering

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