Manual Shelling Research Articles

Design and Fabrication of a Spiked-Shaft Maize Seed Separato

Maize shelling in developing and underdeveloped nations has been and remains a severe problem to its processing as it is tedious and requires more labour hours. This study aims to design and fabricate a motor-powered spike-shaft type Maize Seed Separator (MSS) machine. The design and selection of components like the motor, belt, frame, bearing, and shaft were made based on general design considerations. After the complete fabrication of the MSS machine, it was tested to find its shelling capacity and efficiency. The shelling capacity was found to be 220 kg/hr, which is 80 times faster than manual shelling and the maximum shelling efficiency was found to be 97 % at the feeding rate of 4 kg at a time. The machine consumes 1.28 kW of electricity, which, when operated for one hour,would cost about Rs. 14 per hour.

The effect of mechanized shelling and packaging on the quality of melon seeds

A comparative study was carried out between mechanized shelling and manual shelling of Egusi-melon seeds and the effect of different packaging materials on some quality attributes of shelled Egusi-melon seeds(Bara and Serewe). Egusi-melon seeds were manually shelled and mechanically shelled using the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM) mechanical melon Sheller (2018 and 2020 models) and a Rice huller (SB-10D Rice mill). Shelled Egusi-melon seeds were packaged and stored in kraft paper, glass bottles, laminated pouches, and a low-density polypropylene bag for 10 weeks. The Shelling efficiency of different machines compared to manual shelling (control) was evaluated. Manual shelling (control) was the most efficient in terms of output quality. The 2020 NCAM mechanical melon Sheller was the most efficient of the mechanized processes, while the rice huller was the least efficient. The shelled seeds were evaluated for shelling, free fatty acid, and microbial analysis. Results showed that Bara was more efficiently shelled by machines while Serewe was more efficiently shelled manually. Kraft paper seems to reduce seed spoilage over the storage period compared to the other packaging materials, the seeds shelled using the 2020 NCAM mechanical melon Sheller consistently recorded a significantly lower percentage increase in free fatty acid and fungal load. This research has provided valuable insight that selecting a suitable variety, shelling machine, and packaging material is crucial for the overall efficiency and high-quality output of large-scale production of shelled Egusi-melon.

Development and Performance Evaluation of a Hand Operated Maize Sheller

Maize is a popular food crop of the world. After harvest, maize is shelled traditionally by small holders of farms. This method has not proved to be effective due to drudgery attached, kernel breakage and poor shelling capacity. Over time, motorized shellers have been introduced to address the challenges faced by processors; they have not gained widely adoption due to unaffordable cost of owning one. There is the need to design a cost effective and eco-friendly solution that will suit the need of subsistence farmers in the industry. This work focuses on development of a hand-operated maize sheller. A major component is the lever arm fitted to a ball bearing to transfer rotational motion to stripping chute. The machine uses the principle of abrasion to shell maize. Model (Y=54.92+ 0.248 X1-2.68 X2 ± 1.187) obtained from evaluation reveals that shelling capacity is a function of two predictors, speed (X1) and moisture content (X2). For every unit increase in cranking speed at a particular moisture content (23.2%, 18.5% or 14%) shelling capacity increases considerably. When the experiment is run at much lower moisture content (18.5%) shelling capacity increases significantly. The machine reached highest shelling capacity (60 kg h-1.) at lowest moisture content (14%) and highest speed (120 rpm). The machine was developed at affordable cost of $61. Shelling efficiency is also a function of speed and moisture content at which it is processed. For this condition, maximum shelling efficiency is achieved at lowest moisture content possible (14%) and terminal speed of 80 rpm. Mechanical damage resulted when the speed and moisture content are inconsiderably high. The machine is suitable for use by small and medium scale processors; it can efficiently replace the manual shelling methods as it is affordable, less stressful and easy to maintain.

Manual Shelling of Preconditioned Cashew Nut Using Handtool and Its Impact on Occupational Health of Workers

India is the second-leading country in production of cashew nut. Cashew nut are roasted or steamed before shelling. The study was conducted in cashew nut processing industries situated in Selsella and Mankachar blocks of Meghalaya and Assam. The purpose of this study was to compare the cutting strength of cashew nut shells influenced by roasting and steaming. The impact of manual shelling of cashew nut on occupational health of workers was also assessed by using ergonomic tools. The moisture content, colour, and hardness of cashew nut shell were measured. The processing of cashew nut influenced the cutting strength of cashew nut significantly. Steamed cashew nut shell was stronger than the roasted cashew nut shell. Hence, manually shelling of steamed cashew nut shell required more force compared to with that of roasted cashew nut shell. Four cashew nut processing industries, two each from Selsella and Mankachar block of Meghalaya and Assam, respectively were selected purposively. A group of 10 female workers from each industry were selected randomly as sample for this study. Ergonomic parameters: working Heart Rate, energy expenditure, rated perceived exertion, hand grip measurements, RULA and REBA analysis were used to assess occupational health of workers. The results of the study showed that the workers of cashew nut industries were exposed to high occupational health and safety risk due to poor working environment, awkward working posture, repetitive and tedious job.

Designing and fabrication of Low-cost Melon Seed De-husking Machine using locally sourced Materials

A Melon shelling machine was designed, constructed and tested in order to reduce the stress associated in manual shelling of melon process. The melon shelling machine was made from locally sourced machine parts which were assembled by machining and joining processes. The machine operates on the principle of friction as opposed to the use of an impact force in the shelling chamber for shelling melon seeds. This results in minimum seed breakage thus, reduces the amount of wastage involved in the mechanized processing of melon seed. This machine consist of a feed hopper, shelling chamber, gear unit and electrical motor unit. The melon shelling machine operates at a maximum shelling speed of 1400rpm, feed rate of 4g per minute and a shelling efficiency of 75.2%. The effect of moisture content of melon seeds regarding the shelling performance was considered and the result shown that 10ml of water in 36.6g of melon yields good shelling efficiency.

Performance test and economic analyses of Semi Mechanic Corn Sheller

Corn seed shelling process could be done manually or mechanically using motor generated machine. Limited number of available shelling machines become limiting factor for farmer to produce seed with appropriate physical quality. Manual sheller would require enormous time and labour while mechanized sheller would require higher production cost. Simple corn shelling tools could help small scale farmer. Its material was easy to get that consist of pipes connector and screws, with production cost only Rp. 20.000/unit that could be manufactured by famer themselves. This study aims to test tools performance and to study labour efficiency from simple corn sheller tools. This study design with two treatments that with and without using corn sheller tools. The study was carried out by 10 farmers with 3 times replication for each treatment. Each study was carried out using 10 kg dry weight corn. Collected data were shelling time and yields. Data analyses were done using descriptive methods and ANOVA. Technical economic analyses were done to evaluate simple corn sheller suitability. This study showed that simple corn sheller tools from 2” pipe were more efficient 59 minutes 4 second compared to manual shelling from time perspective and reduce labour cost by 38%. Average tools capacity were 12.50 kg/hours and manual labour were 5.63 kg/hours. Tools effectivity from yields; simple corn Sheller was 75.7% while manual labour was 82.8%. Based in economy analysis, tools price was Rp. 20.000 with cost Rp. 800,6/kg and Break-Even Point were 90 Kg/year.

AN IMPROVED DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION WITH PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A MELON SEEDS SHELLER WITH A CONTINUOUS SEPARATOR

An improved designed and constructed melon seed sheller with continuous separator comprises of electric motors, hopper, shelling, and separator units for separating melon seed from its shell, was developed. This machine which was fabricated using locally sourced standard materials by eliminating the drudgery involved in the melon kernel separation. As we know that melon seed is a vital oil seed that is mostly used in food industries. Shelling of this crop is a problem due to the stress and time that is involved, prior to its usage. In order to address these challenges associated with shelling and separating the melon from its kernel, an improved design of melon shelling machine of melon seeds for both commercial and a small scale was presented and evaluated in this research work. Parameters evaluated include shelling efficiency, percentage seed shelled, and output volume with time and general machine capacity. The machine was constructed using locally available materials and consists of a hopper, frame, shelling and cleaning unit, chutes and prime mover. Shelling speeds of the machine and seed moisture content of melon affects the rate, efficiency and percentage seed damage. Adopting this design concept is recommended because it minimizes seed breakage during manual shelling, it also enhanced hygiene as human direct contact with the seed during shelling is reduced. KEY WORDS: Improved design, melon seed, melon kernel, performance evaluation, efficiency.

Design of the gordon euryale seed automatic shelling machine

In this study, Aiming at the inefficiency of the manual shelling of Gordon Euryale seed, a new automatic seeding Sheller with simple structure and easy operation was developed to improve the efficiency. According to the shape and size of the Gordon Euryale Seed and the material characteristics of its hard shell, the mechanical structure of the machine were designed. It included the feeding mechanism, shelling device and separating device. Experiments showed that it had met the requirements of rapid shell peeling. The shell peeling rate was over 98% and the whole kernel rate was over 97.5%. It had reliable operation, fast speed and low failure.

Study on the Comparative Evaluation of Cashew Nut Shellers

Cashew nut recovery remains major concern in the cashew nut production. The hand operated portable cashew nut sheller was developed on the principle of shearing. The comparative performance was tested for hand operated cashew nut sheller, hand and foot operated sheller and manual shelling, the test results showed that hand operated sheller can shell 2.32 kg cashew/hr with the whole kernel recovery of 86.26 per cent. The per cent whole kernel recovery for new sheller was 86.26, while that for foot pedal operated sheller was 80.1 and hand shelling was 71.0.

Skin Damage and Aesthetic Disadvantage Observed in Women in the Hand Craft Shelling Chain of Cashew Nuts in a Factory to Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Introduction: Occupational dermatitis has long been an unforeseen consequence of industrial progress. Today, most occupational diseases are dermatosis throughout the world. The morbidity and the various prejudices concern different actors, especially those of the cashew industry in Bobo-Dioulasso to Burkina Faso. We considered it appropriate to conduct this study in women who handle cashew nuts in the cashew nut shelling station at a factory. The aim is to contribute to the search for preventive and curative solutions adapted to this health risk. Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study with a descriptive purpose in May 2016. The study involved 112 women present in the factory in the shelling unit and having given their approval during our visit. This station is occupied by 118 women. Results: The prevalence of all dermatosis and dermatitis was estimated respectively at 98.21% and 88.39%. The manual shelling station with a shearing machine was exclusively occupied by illiterate women (72.3%) without personal protective equipment, with an average age of 33.74 ± 8.49 years. Among the clinical forms of contact dermatitis, the erythematous contact dermatitis was most observed (86.4%), followed by palmar keratoderma (70.9%), nail disorders (33.6%) and chemical burns (30%). The implication of Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) was established with identified promoting factors. Aesthetic damage related to hand injuries had a significant psychosocial impact in 97.32% of cases. Discussion: Few studies exist on dermatitis and the health impacts in the reality of cashew because they reach vulnerable subjects without social welfare and health protection. The cashew nuts shell contains a highly irritating brown oily liquid. Dermatitis occurs during contact with this oily juice. The international literature reports this corrosive effect throughout the history of the chain. Human factors, technical factors and work environment aggravate the situation and compromize workwomen health. Conclusion: Cashew huskers had dermatitis with an impact on daily life. Working conditions and security of employment, hygiene attitudes and anacardic acid were identified as causes of this situation. It is imperious to take measures in collaboration with the occupational physicians to ensure these women’s health at work and improve their quality of life.

The Loss of Vigour and Sowing Value of Yellow Lupin Seeds (Lupinus luteus L.) as a Result of Mechanical Harvesting

AbstractThe aim of the study was to determine the effect of mechanical harvest on the seed quality of yellow lupin. Two effects were studied: the cultivar of yellow lupin (the indeterminate cultivar - Mister and the determinate cultivar - Perkoz) and harvest methods: hand-picked plants with manual shelling of seeds as a control and mechanical shelling with a plot harvester. In comparison with manual shelling of seeds, the mechanical harvest reduced the seed germination and increased the number of abnormal seeds both cultivars. Determinate cultivar was more sensitive, because the loss of its quality was higher (germination of 10%) than indeterminate cultivar (6%). Perkoz had also higher electrical conductivity, with the mean value of 34.3 μS × cm−1× g−1. Manual shelled seeds were characterized by a significantly lower leakage of exudates (24.9 μS × cm−1× g−1), and hence, it exhibited greater vigour than mechanical harvested seeds. Most relations of Pearson correlation coefficient between vigour tests and germination were strong or practically functional.

Development and ergonomic evaluation of pedal operated cashew nut desheller

India is the largest producer, processor, exporter, importer and second largest consumer of the cashew in the world. The manual shelling process is done with pedal operated cashew nut sheller in standing posture. The objective of this study was to develop the pedal operated cashew nut desheller in such way that it could operated in sitting postures to reduced the drudgery involved in the deshelling operation. The dimensions in the design of seat were used from available anthropometrics and strength data of women worker of Konkan region. The modified pedal operated cashew nut desheller was ergonomically evaluated on six women ranging from 20 to 45 years. The mean values of working heart rate, corresponding oxygen consumption, energy expenditure, per cent VO 2 , ?HR were 93.56 bpm, 0.39 l/min, 8.31kJ/min, 29.33 per cent, 10.54 bpm which were less than limit of continuous performance (LCP). The operation categorized into 'moderately heavy'. With the help of developed pedal operated cashew nut desheller, kernel recovery of cashew nut obtained 7.68 kg/day. The overall performance of the developed pedal operated cashew nut desheller was good.

Influence of Groundnut and Machine Characteristics on Motorised Sheller Performance

Groundnut shelling is a fundamental process in post-harvest management. Manual shelling is inefficient and laborious with low throughput. Motorised shellers experience less than 100% shelling efficiency and varying levels of kernel damage, hence, the need for optimization. Research work involving many factors require large numbers of experimental runs, resulting in high costs and are time consuming. Taguchi design of experiments enables to arrive at best parameter combination for optimal conditions with least number of analytical investigations. In this work, Taguchi method with S/N and ANOVA techniques were applied to optimize groundnut sheller performance involving the influence of six machine and groundnut factors on three output parameters. Best output results were obtained as follows: Throughput per unit power consumption of 921.03 (kg/h)/kWh at 12.2 m/s shelling speed, rubber paddle shelling blades, CG 7 variety, 6% mc, 1200 kg/h feed rate and 10 mm concave clearance. Shelling efficiency of 99.08% at 12.2 m/s shelling speed, rolling steel pipe shelling blades, Valencia red variety, 6% mc, 2000 kg/h feed rate and 10 mm concave clearance. Kernel mechanical damage of 1.25% at 7.4 m/s shelling speed, fixed rubber pipe shelling blades, Valencia red variety, 12% mc, 800 kg/h feed rate and 15 mm concave clearance.

Brazil nut sorting for aflatoxin prevention: a comparison between automatic and manual shelling methods

The impact of automatic and manual shelling methods during manual/visual sorting of different batches of Brazil nuts from the 2010 and 2011 harvests was evaluated in order to investigate aflatoxin prevention.The samples were tested as follows: in-shell, shell, shelled, and pieces in order to evaluate the moisture content (mc), water activity (Aw), and total aflatoxin (LOD = 0.3 µg/kg and LOQ 0.85 µg/kg) at the Brazil nut processing plant. The results of aflatoxins obtained for the manually shelled nut samples ranged from 3.0 to 60.3 µg/g and from 2.0 to 31.0 µg/g for the automatically shelled samples. All samples showed levels of mc below the limit of 15%; on the other hand, shelled samples from both harvests showed levels of Aw above the limit. There were no significant differences concerning the manual or automatic shelling results during the sorting stages. On the other hand, the visual sorting was effective in decreasing the aflatoxin contamination in both methods.

Design of Breadfruit Shelling Machine

Breadfruit (Treculia Africana) or simply breadnut is very important both as food and as a potential source of oil. The economic importance of this tropical seed on domestic and commercial basis has necessitated the design of a mechanized shelling method. This would reduce the tedium of the traditional manual shelling methods which though are quite efficient, are rather time-consuming. In the engineering design of this machine, the action zone consisted essentially of two rollers; one adjustable and the other rotating. A separating unit that cleans the seed while pneumatically separating it from the shell was incorporated. The design of this separating unit was such that practically 80% cleaning was achieved at an averageair flow rate of 740m3/hr. Overall, the efficiency of the machine was about 78%. African Research Review Vol. 2 (4) 2008: pp. 1-16

Occurrence of ochratoxin A in cocoa beans: Effect of shelling

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the shelling process on the presence of ochratoxin A (OTA) in cocoa samples. Twenty-two cocoa samples were analysed for the determination of OTA before (cocoa bean) and after undergoing manual shelling process (cocoa nib). In order to determine OTA contamination in cocoa samples, a validated high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with fluorescence detection was used for the quantitative analysis of ochratoxin A (OTA). In both types of samples, OTA was extracted with methanol–3% sodium hydrogen carbonate solution and then purified using immunoaffinity columns prior to HPLC analysis. Due to the fact that different recovery values were obtained for OTA from both types of samples, a revalidation of the method in the case of cocoa nibs was needed. Revalidation was based on the following criteria: Selectivity, limits of detection and quantification (0.03 and 0.1 µg kg−1, respectively), precision (within-day and between-day variability) and recovery 84.2% (RSD = 7.1%), and uncertainty (30%). Fourteen of the twenty-two cocoa bean samples (64%) suffered a loss of OTA of more than 95% due to shelling, six samples suffered a loss of OTA in the range 65–95%, and only one sample presented a reduction of less than 50%. The principal conclusion derived from this study is that OTA contamination in cocoa beans is concentrated in the shell; therefore, improvements of the industrial shelling process could prevent OTA occurrence in cocoa final products.

PH—Pastharvest Technology: Performance Evaluation of a Local Maize Sheller

Manual shelling of maize is a time-consuming and tedious operation. The few existing mechanized shellers on Nigerian farms are imported and out of reach of the rural peasant farmers that are characterized by small holdings and low income. The power requirement of such shellers is high and hence, the prime mover is very expensive. The work reported here is on the performance evaluation of a locally fabricated maize sheller. Cob breakup, shelling efficiency, kernel damage and separation loss were measured for three varieties of local maize ( Zea mays) over three harvest dates. Harvest date was found to have significant effects on most of the variables studied because of the variations in moisture contents. The kernel damage and cob breakup decreased significantly with later harvest date. The shelling efficiency was not significantly affected by changes in the harvest date for ‘Nsukka Super’ and ‘Nsukka Local’ maize varieties but the effects on the ‘Agbuda Special’ maize variety were more variable. The shelling capacity was not significantly influenced by harvest date or maize variety. Generally, the performance of the maize sheller was not influenced by maize the variety; therefore, the maize sheller can comfortably be used to shell local maize varieties.

Impact Egusi Shelling Machine

ABSTRACT EGUSI (melon) are protein-rich seeds very important in the Nigerian diet. Mechanized shelling is necessary to remove the tedium involved in manual shelling of the seeds. Relevant physical properties of egusi were determined. A spinning disc sheller was then designed and a prototype which shells by impact and pneumatically cleans the shelled seeds of chaff was constructed and tested. Shelling efficiency was about 96 percent, breakage 8.9 percent and cleaning efficiency practically 100 per-cent at an average capacity of 145 kg/h.