Studies on Performance Parameters for Development of Finger Millet Thresher

Abstract

Aims: To study about the design parameters and optimizations of the performance parameters for the finger millet thresher development. Study Design:  Development of prototype to test the design parameters and optimization through experiments. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Swami Vivekanand College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology and Research Station, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur, between September 2021 to April 2022.  Methodology: A prototype was developed which consisted of threshing drum, concave unit and reciprocating sieve unit. A study was conducted by taking four feed rate (120, 150, 180 and 210kg/h), four types of threshing cylinder (peg type, canvas type, combination of peg and canvas type and flail type) along with three types of concave (bar type, perforated sheet and combination of both) to find out the optimized threshing parameters for finger millet. The statistical analysis was carried out by three factor randomised block design with the three replications. The various performance parameters were also calculated. Results: The result showed that the maximum threshing efficiency (97.25%), cleaning efficiency (99.25%), total broken percentage (2.08%) and threshing capacity (121.5kg/h) were observed with 180 kg feed rate, combination of peg and canvas type of  threshing cylinder, combination of bar and perforated sheet type concave. Conclusion: It was concluded that combination of peg and canvas type threshing cylinder works better compared to other and gives a combination of impact and rubbing action. This impact and rubbing action can be used to develop a thresher for such crop which needs impact with rubbing such as finger millet.