Abstract
A comparative performance evaluation of an existing and modified acha dehuller was carried out. The modifications undertaken on the existing dehuller were for the cylinder type, cylinder-concave clearance, cylinder speed and hopper opening. The modified acha dehuller was run at a higher cylinder and fan speeds of 2800 rpm as against the existing cylinder and fan speeds of 934 rpm. The performance evaluation for the existing and modified acha dehullers determined were for their throughput, total grain loss, dehulling efficiency, acha recovery efficiency, cleaning efficiency and the dehullers’ performance index. The performance of the existing and the modified machines were compared using t-Test at p≤ 0.05 to determine if the modified acha dehuller was significantly better than the existing machine. The results obtained showed that the modified machine was 30%, 31%, 30%, 22%, 23% and 19% better than the existing machine for percentage of undehulled acha, total grain loss, dehulling efficiency, acha recovery efficiency, cleaning efficiency and dehuller performance index respectively. However, the throughput and percentage of blown acha of the two machines were not significantly different. The modified dehuller showed an improvement over the existing one.Keywords: Acha, fonio, dehuller, performance evaluation
Highlights
A comparative performance evaluation of an existing and modified acha dehuller was carried out
Acha (Digitaria exilis) known as fonio is a minor cereal in many countries of West Africa ethnic group where it is staple food crop for several millions of tribal people (Vietmeyer et al, 1996)
The modifications undertaken for the modified acha dehuller were for the cylinder type, cylinderconcave clearance, cylinder speed and hopper opening
Summary
The acha dehuller (Plate 1) comprises basically the hopper, the dehulling unit (cylinderconcave), the fan unit, dehulled acha chamber, air chamber and the cleaning chamber. The modifications undertaken for the modified acha dehuller were for the cylinder type, cylinderconcave clearance, cylinder speed and hopper opening. Acha grains (Plate 2) are introduced into the dehulling chamber through the hopper (A). The existing acha dehuller was evaluated at the designed speed of 934 rpm with its open cylinder type (Plate 3). The modified acha dehuller was evaluated at a cylinder speed of 2800 rpm with the use of an abrasive cylinder (Plate 4). The cylinder speed (2800 rpm) and abrasive cylinder type chosen to evaluate the modified acha dehuller was based on preliminary evaluation of the machine which was obtained as the optimum.
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