Design and Development of Semi-automatic Vertical Flow Pulse Thresher

Abstract

Vertical flow thresher was developed for complete threshing of a variety of pulses having diverse physical characteristics like different shape & size of seeds, pods & plants and crushing of entire crop residues into powdery mass suitable for animal feed simultaneously. Threshing & crushing mechanisms are totally different from axial flow threshers. Significant features are 99% threshing efficiency without breakage of seeds irrespective of different types of pulses, such as black gram, green gram, horse gram and red gram with >90% germination of threshed seeds. Combined threshing & crushing actions are executed by multiple progressive shears between a set of radial rotary beaters and a stationary beater inside a vertical hopper. The crops flow vertically downwards into shear zones by scissoring actions of the beaters and gravity. Therefore power consumption is reduced drastically and this machine is operated by 2.0 hp single phase electric motor for threshing of 150 to 250 kg seeds or 400 to 500 kg dry crops per hour. Winnowing of seeds is carried out by a winnower-cum-grader which can be attached to the thresher during need. Configuration and performance of this novel vertical flow thresher for threshing of different types of pulses are presented and discussed.