Md. Abdullah
Principal Scientific Officer
Farm Machinery and Post Harvest Process Engineering Division
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute
Joydebpur, Gazipur-1701.
Sultn Ahmmed
Senior Scientific Officer
Farm Machinery and Post Harvest Process Engineering Division
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute
Joydebpur, Gazipur-1701.
BARI Farm Machinery and Post Harvest Process Engineering Division has been working on the development of hand and power maize shellers since 1987 and has successfully developed the power maize sheller. BARI developed power maize sheller has been modified with respect to Size, materials, feeding hopper, cob thrower to bring the manufacturing cost down to the purchasing capacity of small and marginal farmers in Bangladesh. Performance of the sheller has been tested at BARl and at farmers’ field in Kaliakoir and Kasimpur, Gazipur district and Dinajpur. Power requirement the sheller 4-6 hp motor or engine and an average output of 1.0- 1.5 t/h was found during the test. The sheller capable of shelling maize at different moisture content up to 28% effectively. Manufacturing cost is about Tk 9000 per unit without power and with power unit about Tk 17000. The power maize sheller may be demonstrated in large scale to the maize growing areas.
Capacity, cost, maize, moisture content, performance, shelling
Gazipur, Dinajpur
Farm Mechanization
1. To modify the power maize sheller for improvement of its performance
2. To test the modified power maize sheller in the farmers field for evaluation of its performance
The sheller is made of M.S. sheet, angle lat bars, belt pulley etc. The main features of the unit are a drum and concave a rotary cylinder specially made of angle bars and fitted to the driving shaft which contains the booster unit, teeth and cob thrower. The feeding hopper, discharge chute and blower are some of the main parts of the sheller. BARI developed power maize sheller has been modified with respect to Size, materials, feeding hopper, cob thrower to improve its performance. Performance of the sheller was tested at BARl and at farmers’ field in Kaliakoir and Kasimpur in Gazipur district. The maize sheller also tested in the farmers field of Birgonj of Dinajpur district. The shelling capacity, shelled maize, unshelled maize in the cob, moisture content of maize grain during shelling, broken grains etc. data were recorded during testing.
Research Report
1.The average shelling capacity is about 1.0 1.5 t/h. However the capacity largely depends on feeding rate and moisture content of the grains.
2.The sheller can effectively shell grain at different moisture content up to 28% However, Performance shows better and efficient shelling at lower moisture content at 18%.
3.During operation it is noticed about 2-5% grains spills out along with the cobs through the outlet chute which later creates hazard in separating out grains from the cobs.
Report/Proceedings